Yesterday we had our first outing as the Cambridge team of St. Paul Street Evangelization! I think I speak for the whole team when I say that it exceeded our expectations. I felt that we were part of something much bigger than ourselves yesterday - and glory to God for that!

First, let’s start with the basics. 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 SPSE 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 together 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 never in a million years would have 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 brilliantly sunny day (but definitely cold!). 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 with our sign prominently displayed, I was quite unsure what to expect. Earlier in the day, prior to our outing, I was really wondering, “What if no one will talk 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.

I’ll share some of the highlights of our encounters, without revealing the names of those we spoke with or any personal details about them. (Boston-Cambridge can feel strikingly small sometimes, so I wouldn’t want to reveal anything identifying!)

The first conversation I personally had was with a very good-spirited man who identified himself as a “Jewish believer [in Christ]” (he didn’t say “Messianic Jew,” but it sounded a bit like that to me, in my non-nuanced understanding). He attends a non-denominational church and was very well-studied (he knew the Bible extremely well!). It was a very pleasant and ecumenical conversation. I learned from him some things I did not know about connections between the Old and New Testaments - as a Jewish believer, he was very knowledgeable on this! We gave him a rosary and a pamphlet on how to pray the rosary. One of my fellow evangelists explained how we pray for Mary’s intercession, not to her as a deity. Our new friend was very receptive to the idea of the intercession of the saints. At the end, I prayed aloud for him, which felt surprisingly natural. I’m really grateful to this new friend of ours that he was the first person I encountered - his joviality and receptivity made me optimistic for future encounters on the street! It also felt affirming, as someone still fairly new to praying out loud, how he murmured things like “mm-hmm” as I was praying. (I understand this is fairly standard practice in Protestant circles to say things like, “Amen” or “mm-hmm” to denote agreement as others are praying.)

Roughly at the same time I was having this encounter, three other evangelists were having a different encounter with a woman. It was recounted to me as follows. The evangelists asked her whether she needed prayer for anything. She thought for a moment, and as she was sharing her prayer intention, the tears began to stream down her face. She had a good long hug with one of our female evangelists as she cried. The evangelists prayed with her. I don’t know any details of this woman’s situation, as the evangelists decided to keep that private (a very mature judgment call, I believe). The woman had grown up Catholic and expressed that she feels connected to God reading Scripture, at which point, one of our evangelists offered her a new Bible, which she accepted. (She was also given a miraculous medal and rosary over the course of the conversation.) The female evangelist who gave the hug ended up getting the woman’s number. She also invited her to visit the nearby parish, where the two were able to pray and continue the conversation. On their way to the parish, as the woman passed by my half of the group, she said something to us like, “Thank you so much for what you’re doing here.” It was so sincere; there was a depth to the way she said it that made me think something big had happened for her that day. Thanks be to God! Please pray for her if you’re reading this! [PS - Shoutout to the aforementioned female evangelist for helping me edit this paragraph!]

After a little over an hour in the cold, we decided it was time to move into the T station, where it’d be warmer. (Boston-Cambridge calls its metro system “the T.”) We had a couple rather entertaining, lighthearted encounters there, as well as some deeper ones.

The first lighthearted encounter came with a man to whom we gave a rosary. He already knew how to pray it. He had a good sense of humor. The T was free yesterday, so as a stream of people came down the steps and escalators, he helped us out by announcing, “Free rosaries, free T!”

Another entertaining encounter came when a woman, whom I’d seen pass by on the street up above, passed us by yet again underground and doubled back, asking one of our evangelists what group we were with. He replied that we’re Catholic. She said she’d never seen Catholics doing this before, and continued on her way.

We had a more serious encounter in the T station as well. We spoke to a man who expressed to us that he was not sure he was on the right path. We prayed with him, for him to know that God is with him right now, guiding him on his way. We prayed that he would know God’s love and mercy. Something cool that happened was that as we started praying, he reached out to hold our hands. After we finished praying, we gave him a miraculous medal, in addition to the rosary and pamphlet we’d already given him. I kind of wish I’d presented the kerygma to him - it felt apt at a certain point, but I didn’t do it. I can’t beat myself up about it too much, though! Next time! Jesus and Mary will work it out for him, I’m sure!

After about a half hour in the T station, we concluded our time evangelizing, and some of us went out to eat together and debrief on our experiences.

This first outing was an incredibly invigorating experience. I can’t wait to go out again! Something I found striking was how beautifully our team came together as the Body of Christ, each using his/her unique charisms, talents, and dispositions to make for a fruitful outing. We could not have done individually what we were able to do collectively. And we could not have done anything at all without the Holy Spirit. It was all very humbling in the best way possible. While the call to evangelize sounds daunting at first, it’s a lot less stressful when you remember that the Holy Spirit is doing all the work!