Hi y’all,Wow! We had a wonderful day out evangelizing at the Barnyard this last Saturday. Zach joined us for the first time and did very well. Ernesto was there too. Before I begin with our report I would like to share that a few weeks back Fr. Tomlinson shared with me that a woman approached him and reported that after a short conversation with us at the Barnyard her husband, who had been away for sometime, started attending Mass. Most of the time we feel like we are planting seeds and rarely witness the final outcome, but this is a good report and we thank our God for helping this man return home!I’ll give you my take on some very important interactions:

A young man, Braxton, returned to us. We had met him briefly back in March when Fr. Davison came out with us. Then he asked a simple and straightforward question: What is the difference between being Catholic and Christian (he means Protestant). Fr. Davison gave him a simple, powerfully true, answer: We follow the Pope. Apostolic succession. At that time he didn’t linger long and seemed to be in a hurry to move on. This time he came back, asking the same question, but decided to stick around for a good amount of time. I gave him a summary of apostolic succession, with Peter having the primacy, the importance of the ministry of the Pope and the unity of the Church. Christ never intended division and denominations. I shared a bit about my testimony and that I was a Christian before becoming Catholic, but feel I become more of a Christian by becoming Catholic. I was also able to share with him another big difference - the seven sacraments. I went over every one, giving a brief explanation. He listened intently. He then asked me about the Miraculous Medal. I explained the history and the importance of Mary and her intercession, also that many miracles have been associated with the medal by asking for her prayers. He took one and took a crucifix for his father. He reminded me he has a Catholic friend and lives in Spartanburg - he’s thinking about becoming Catholic.

A young couple with a toddler stopped by the table. The husband, Charles, began talking to Zach and Ernesto. His wife, Lashanda, stood by me. For a bit she just gazed at all the literature. I could tell she is pregnant. She told us they overheard our conversation, as Zach was asking me about my experience as a missionary. They asked what was the main lesson I had learned and I shared that it was learning how to follow God’s will and not my own, His expectations. She asked me how she could find out what His expectations were for her. I told her she had to begin with the Word. She could find it in Sacred Scripture. In the Old Testament, we have the 10 Commandments. In the New, we have Christ’s teaching. Someone could stop at the externals and not go deeper, but Christ goes deeper. God says don’t commit adultery and someone might say, I haven’t slept around but they are looking at others with lust in their hearts and Christ equates that with adultery. God says don’t kill and someone might say, I’ve never killed anyone, but they hate their brother and they are unwilling to forgive them. Christ brings it to the heart and wants us to realize it begins within us and then moves to our actions. Ultimately the expectation is to love God and each other, even ourselves. I then told her that we don’t just read the Bible and interpret it on our own. God entrusted the Scriptures to the Church and the Church handed them on to us, therefore we accept the Church’s interpretation of them. The Church teaches God’s expectations. I then shared with her the reality that even good Christians have a hard time fulfilling the expectations. There is a struggle within all of us, an inherited struggle. A struggle with evil. We know the expectations. I mean you don’t have to be a Christian to know it’s wrong to steal or lie or murder or commit adultery - and yet something inside us still incites us to do these things. That is why we need God’s help and mercy constantly. She listened intently the entire time. I told her ultimately we follow more than a book, we follow a Person - Jesus - the Word of God. He shows us how to live the life God wants us to live.

Her three year old son, Bralias, asked me what a rosary was and whether he could have one. I gave him a glow in the dark one and told him we use it to pray the Gospel. His mom then asked me if the Bible was just a metaphor. I told her that the Church interprets the Bible in two major senses according to the Catechism - the literal and the spiritual - God can use both at the same time. God inspired the writers and used them in their cultural contexts and circumstances, so with the literal we look at what the author intended. Did he intend to write a metaphor, a poem, or a historical story? And then even literal events have spiritual and deeper meaning, because God is directing them. For instance, we believe in a literal ark of the Old Covenant, a box made of wood that the Israelites held in the greatest honor that contained the Ten Commandments, which we believe were written on literal stone tablets, the manna from heaven, which we believe was real substantial food for the Israelites while they wandered in the desert, and the rod of Aaron the high priest, which we believe was really made of wood and really budded. But these things, though literal, also point to something deeper, as they were types of what was to come. Christ, who established the New Covenant, was more than the Law, he was the Law giver. He was more than the perishable manna that the Israelites ate, He is the true bread from heaven and called himself such. He is the true High Priest who died on the wood of the cross for the sins of the world. And we believe Mary, the mother of Christ, was set apart and made holy because in her womb she carried Christ, the Word, the Bread of Heaven, and our High Priest, therefore we call her the ark of the New Covenant, and that’s why we honor her so much, just like the Israelites honored the ark of the Old Covenant. She seemed overwhelmed and for a second I was worried. It might have been too much. However, after some pause she asked if she could take something from the literature rack. She took every pamphlet, about 24 in all, on all subjects ranging from “Why be Catholic” to “Lectio Divina”. After Charles was done talking to Zach and Ernesto we all prayed together.

Another young man came by briefly (he didn’t have much time) saying he was a Protestant but studying Catholicism. He asked a specific question: What about the Catholic Church anathematizing anyone who didn’t venerate images in the 16th century. I told him I didn’t know that an anathema was issued if someone didn’t venerate an image in the 16th century. I told him I did know that the last ecumenical council in Constantinople in the 8th century was held in response to the iconoclast heresy and that most likely whoever taught against the veneration of images was anathematized, but I didn’t know that any catholic who did not venerate an image would be anathematized, only those who taught against it. He seemed to want to ask more but had to rush off. Maybe we’ll see him again like we did Braxton.

For me evangelizing and everything I do for God requires trust and some level of suffering, but it is very rewarding. We always pray prior to and after going out to take Jesus to total strangers. We pray that first of all the Holy Spirit will guide us on what to say and do. Also we ask God to bring us people who need to hear the truth and of course we pray that when strangers pass by our table, that all evil influences, prejudices, aggression and negative brainwashing will give way to the love of God and curiosity about the goodness that God wills and offers them.

On this Saturday we had our typical measure of suffering because some people showed disdain when they saw we were advertising: "Catholic Truth" on our sign. Whatever religious background they had, evidently they were not open to Catholic Truth. Not even to ask what we were offering. These passerbys must have been of several religious persuasions, maybe even Catholics. Pride is always used by the Evil One to separate us from goodness.