Today was an exciting shake-up from our normal evangelization routine. On the feast of All Saints, after attending a 10am Latin-Rite Mass at All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Floyd, VA, our group of 6 evangelists (3 new, 3 seasoned) ventured into the downtown area. We set up right in front of and across from the farmer's market.

The small town of Floyd, Virginia reminds me of Sedona, Arizona. Relativism, New Age spirituality, and the occult seem to abound in an aggressive way that is different from the others areas we've evangelized. It was challenging. We spoke with many people who either stated or conveyed "All religions are true." Indeed, one woman, who happened to be an old friend of one of our evangelists, left the Catholic Church for the Lutheran church "just to try something new." One man said he performed some ancient meditation practice which involved basically annihilating one's mind, which is a direct affront to the Greatest Commandment. As I started saying, "Don't you worry that...", he immediately left, quickly blurting out something like, "Worry is a product of the mind" as he went. One girl who I intuited be a witch walked as far as she could around our set-up just to avoid an interaction. Finally, the larger group of evangelists chatted with a man who was either undergoing psychosis or demonic influence. He immediately grabbed 4 rosaries and placed them on his head like a crown. After speaking nonsensically ("What year is it?" "We are all god" "We are one with everything"), he crumpled up and tossed a pamphlet and left. Then, he threw the blessed rosaries on the ground, which an evangelist retrieved. He eventually retired to the side of the building, assumed a meditative lotus pose, took off his shirt, and started digging in the dirt. My street buddy Joan and I said many Hail Marys for the struggling individuals we encountered.

I also received some words from God. Today was the second time in my life that I have heard someone directly tell me, "Oh, I'm a recovering Catholic," and I've always been struck speechless. I implored God for some guidance the next time I encounter such an individual. He said, "Say: Oh, me too."

I grew up with yoga (Hindu worship) practiced in my Catholic grade school and teachers who assumed learning Catholic doctrine would prepare me to be a Catholic. Our family did obligated Mass every week and sometimes evening prayers, but we had limited exposure to functional/evangelical/Live-the-Narrow-Way Catholic culture or role models. In short, I did not understand the crucial importance of our mission on earth, and I've needed to unlearn the lukewarmness instilled by modern culture (which has corrupted many Christians to a huge degree). "Oh, me too" is a great conversation starter, as I'm also a recovering Catholic -- I'm recovering from the pitfalls of "beige Catholicism" (a Bishop-Baron term) and aggressively pursuing God's Will in all things, because--as we heard in the homily today--Sainthood is the ordinary calling for every Christian.

Despite the hard work (it was emotionally taxing!), we passed out maybe 10-20 rosaries and certainly had an impact on those we met because of the work of the Holy Spirit and the intercessions of All Saints! 10/10 would do again.

All Holy Saints and All Holy Souls in Purgatory, intercede for us poor men. All Angels and Holy Creatures, defend us from the schemes of the evil one.