Cambridge, MA
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This report comes to us from team leader Marissa with our team in Cambridge, MA:
Yesterday was our first outing as the Cambridge SPSE team, and it exceeded our expectations! I felt that we were part of something much bigger than ourselves – glory to God for that! Seven of us hit the streets – three women and four men. Most of us had spent the past several months gathering together at my place every few weeks to watch the Basic Evangelization Training videos. (After the core team gets a couple outings under our belts, we will invite the rest of you to join us! We just want to make sure we know what’s going on before we bring more people aboard!)
We began our time praying aloud before Jesus in the tabernacle of the local parish. I should note, in case any budding evangelist who is afraid of praying out loud is reading, I began this prayer, and that is something I would have never seen myself doing. I’ve always been very afraid of praying out loud in a freeform fashion in front of others, and I see the newfound ability to do so as a grace of getting involved with this ministry. It’s something I’ve been pushing myself to do more and more in the past few months in preparation for hitting the streets, and I’ve been finding it far less scary than I had originally imagined! If I can do it, you can too!
Anyway, back to the story! It was a cold, but brilliantly sunny day. We went to Harvard Square, a bustling hub in Cambridge, bringing with us a double-sided chalkboard A-frame sign. On one side we wrote, “Need a prayer?” and on the other side we wrote, “Exploring faith?” We had free rosaries, Miraculous Medals, and “How to Pray the Rosary” pamphlets, all from the SPSE store. Others on the team also brought along Divine Mercy images and Bibles.
When we first stationed ourselves out there, I was quite unsure what to expect. Earlier in the day, prior to our outing, I was really wondering, “What if no one talks to us?” and reminding myself that even if we were only to touch one soul, the whole venture would still be worth it. Initially we were waiting for people to come to us, but it became evident quite quickly (probably within the first ten minutes) that we would have to extend more of an invitation by saying, “Would you like a free rosary?” The vast majority of people turned us down, which was not unexpected.
Praised be Jesus Christ!