Our team has started setting up outside the Samaritan Food Pantry when people are lining up before the doors open. We get quite a few people coming over to talk, asking for rosaries or miraculous metals, or seeking prayer. Last week Friar Mark and I (Joan) set up under the trees along the sidewalk outside the parish office. It was hot and humid and Friar Mark decided to bring along his water cannon. Parishioners reading this may remember getting ambushed on their way into Mass prior summers. Well, he’s at it again. ? Every time someone walked by, Friar would ask, “Are you hot?” and if they said ‘yes’, he’d get ’em. The kids loved it, as did some adults. As they were leaving with their groceries, one little boy said, “I’m still hot…and so’s my mother!” The heat was quite supportable (evidently even with a habit on, though I was in shorts and sleeve-less top) and it was a wonderful time.

It’s been 5 times now that I have been out and it is interesting how I feel like, when I am evangelizing others, I’m also evangelizing myself. I don’t really know how to explain it. But I know there isn’t anything that lifts my spirit more than doing street evangelization. When we set up we pray for God’s help and for all the people God wants to send us that day. When we pack up and leave, we always say a prayer of thanksgiving. And I just feel so happy and at peace the rest of the day. Everyone should try evangelizing, and street evangelizing is just the easiest kind of evangelizing there is. Just share your faith with a stranger (Hi, I’m a Catholic), offer a rosary to the person next to you on a plane. It’s not that hard. Just do it. It gets easier with practice. In the back of church there are pamphlets “10 Things We Want You to Know About Catholics.” Think about taking one, put it in your pocket, and then when you go to the store, offer it to the cashier or slip it in the aisle. Occasionally I will slip one in the greeting card section under “Thinking of you”. When you do your morning prayers, ask God to send someone today who you can be Christ for, and see what happens. It’s great. Just do it.