Chicago, IL

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This report comes to us from evangelist Roberta in Chicago, IL:

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I attend Mass and volunteer at The National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe at Marytown in Libertyville, IL. The church is 17 minutes away from my home, so I take an Uber to get to and from the church. With each Uber ride, I meet a new driver. So every week, I meet six new Uber drivers. It turns out that God was using these rides as my modern-day “Road to Emmaus” as I evangelize the drivers during my 17-minute car ride this Lent.

The first driver’s name was Jim, and he picked me up from the assisted living facility where I live. He asked me, “So you’re heading to church?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “I was on the prayer team at my church for 15 years. Prayer works. I used to get all these letters from people we had prayed for who were cured of all kinds of illnesses, cancers, etc.” I responded, “Yes it does! Maybe you can pray for me.” Jim asked, “You need prayers?” I said, “Yeah, that’s why I live here. Everyone who lives here has a disability.” He asked, “What’s your name?” I told him my name, and then we talked more about God. I found out he was Protestant. When we arrived, he asked, “Is this a Catholic Church?” I said, “Yeah.” He replied, “Oh you’re Catholic!” As I was getting out of the car, I said to Jim, “Thank you so much! Let’s pray for each other!” He said, “I can’t pray for you right now because I’m at work.” I replied, “It’s okay! Let’s keep each other in our prayers! God bless you Jim!” With a huge smile, he replied, “God bless you!” Hoping that he would wait awhile before taking off, I prayed the “Hail Mary” in Latin for his conversion as I hurried toward the church entrance. As soon as I entered, I saw one of the church staff members. I asked her if she had a rosary or a pamphlet or any kind of Catholic education material for the driver. She quickly found a rosary. So I grabbed a church bulletin with the rosary and went back outside. Thankfully, Jim was still there! I said to him, “Jim, I have a gift for you!” and handed it to him. He received the gifts cheerfully. I said, “That’s called a rosary.” He immediately replied, “I know what that is. Thank you so much!” I wish I had spent more time talking to Jim about how the Catholic Church is the church that Jesus Christ Himself founded.

Praised be Jesus Christ!