Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

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This report comes to us from team leader Donna in Cuyahoga Falls, OH:

It was very cold out but great to meet in Chagrin Falls with a few people from the St. Helen’s Newbury team. Traffic was brisk and everyone walked with a purpose. Very few people gave us a second glance, some even ignoring our hellos and offers for prayer.

I prayed with Brian who requested healing prayer for his father, Glen. Antonio stopped and spoke with us. He accepted a Miraculous Medal and literature on “Why Become Catholic” and “The Eucharist.” Antonio said he belonged to no church and just prayed on his own. My conversation with him led us to a discussion of what the “body of Christ” means and why we need “church” to help us. He also loved Scripture which led me to ask him about John 6:53-54 which is how we segued into “The Eucharist” being “one good reason” to be Catholic. Sue shared the beauty of Catholics reading the same Scripture at Mass throughout the world. We invited him to consider becoming a Catholic, and then prayed the “Our Father” together.

Rita had a lengthy encounter with a young couple. She writes:

“I am not accustomed to being completely ignored. Most of my surroundings are in polite society and so when someone acts as if they don’t hear me, I sometimes press…”Hello, sir?”. It can dampen the heart, much to my chagrin.

“I was then privileged to meet a young dating couple. The young man was all smiles, friendly. He said he was a believer and then said something about the universe. ‘And do you have a relationship with the God of the universe? We Catholics here worship only the triune God. How’s your relationship with Him?’ He said he looks like Jesus because of his long hair. I said you are a beautiful image of Jesus. They both explained their Catholic background, she a cradle Catholic and he, the son of a Catholic mother. He crossed himself and I said did you know that’s a prayer and he said he had just learned that. I then explained why body motions and touching sacramentals help us along our faith walk. I then explained the rosary and they each excitedly took one. Then the questions came. They wanted to know about love and if I believed that there was just one soulmate for a person, created by God. I got to explain free-will in choosing Jesus, the meaning of love being to will the good of another and the purpose of marriage being to help your spouse get to heaven and live a holy life. She asked if people who never hear the gospel of Jesus go to heaven. At the end, we prayed following the ACTS method with our supplication being, send your Holy Spirit to guide us on our journey in seeking truth. Afterwards he boldly hugged me…long and big. I told him this (hugging) is why Jesus wants to have a physical relationship with man. He knows how much we need to touch Him and each other.”

All in all, we left knowing we had planted a few seeds. Our meditation in our Advent faith sharing this morning at church was Psalm 46. It reminded me how sad the day before had been, that surrounded by Christmas decorations and activities, very few wanted to talk about the reason for it all—Christ.

Praised be Jesus Christ!