It was a warm sunny day in June in Liberty, Missouri at the Liberty Farmer’s Market near Kansas City. Our Team Liberty leader and two other evangelists set up in our usual spot with our table stocked full of miraculous medals, rosaries, books, brochures, and other goodies to give away to folks passing by on their way to the Market. A fourth team member was our prayer support warrior for the morning who eagerly volunteered to set up shop in the chapel at our Parish before the Tabernacle. We were convinced that our off-site prayer support boosted our encounters with many folks who stopped to chat. We had some wonderful and fruitful conversations.  We originally scheduled the event the previous weekend, but rain rescheduled our plans.

Many Catholics, both practicing and fallen away, stopped by and complimented our efforts on spreading the Good News. One older gentleman visiting from Lenexa, Kansas offered some money to contribute to our cause. Even though we initially refused he was very insistent that we accept because he was very pleased to see practicing Catholics evangelizing. Another very kind lady from the downtown Kansas City Cathedral parish was also very pleased to visit with us. Mareesa and her husband are a young couple and converts from atheism that now attend Old St. Patrick’s, a mission parish they adore because they were attracted by the reverence of their celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. Mareesa donned many tattoos from her former life, but her left arm has now become her “Catholic Arm” where she proudly displays her favorite Our Lady, Star of the Sea tattoo. And of course, we had some very nice visits from many fellow parishioners from our church in Liberty as well. Lord, thank you for the kind outpouring of love from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that day.

There were many families with younger kids that passed by our table and we were very successful in striking up some fruitful conversations and offering miraculous medals, colorful rosaries, brochures, and other printed materials. How gratifying it is to see those same families later on in the day with their kids happily wearing the medals and fidgeting with their rosaries. Even though many times the parents were either not religious or non-denominational Christians and initially wanted to keep on walking, when we joyfully engaged their kids with free stuff, they seemed more receptive to speaking with us about Jesus and the Christian faith. One family was non-religious, but ironically the mother works with the local Sisters of St. Joseph and mentioned their kindness and how much she enjoys working with them. Another very friendly mother of three young kids attends the local non-denominational Liberty Christian Fellowship Church. We had a delightful conversation about much of the common ground we share as Christians and sent them off with miraculous medals. Holy Spirit, open their hearts to the fullness of the Catholic faith.

Two of our favorite encounters involved women on the verge of conversion and searching for their way. Biancha was a young lady pushing her toddler daughter Olivia in a stroller as they were passing by our table. Her daughter was getting a bit fussy in the heat, and one of our perceptive evangelists offered her some cold bottles of water and distracted Olivia with a colorful plastic rosary and some comical baby talk. When we asked Biancha if there was anything we could pray with her about, we learned that she struggles with addiction to alcohol and recently had a falling out with her husband who also battles addiction. We assured her that even in the midst of our brokenness, we need to open our hearts to the love of Jesus Christ, because that’s when we can truly let His grace and forgiveness pour in. Many reassuring tears were shed, and she parted with a miraculous medal, a rosary, and some helpful resources. Later on, Barbara, a fallen away Catholic whose son recently lost his wife has not been to Mass in many years. She was angry with God. But then eventually she softened and recalled the reverence at the Traditional Latin Mass from when she was very young. She had tried to go back to Mass over the years, but was frustrated with the lack of reverence she was seeing in the Ordinary form following Vatican II. I mentioned that a parish in a nearby community has a new, reverent priest who celebrates the Mass Ad Orientem (facing toward the East away from the congregation) with parts prayed in Latin. She was intrigued. I mentioned that their priest, Fr. Drew would absolutely love to hear her confession so she could return to sanctifying grace. I reminder her that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need repentance. We all prayed together for Jesus to soften her heart and return her to the Church.

Our team of evangelists are very grateful to God for the many fruitful and prayerful interactions we experienced that day, and we look forward to our next event in July.