Floyd, VA

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The following report comes to us from team leader Zach with our team in New River Valley, VA:

Today was a shake-up from our normal routine. On the feast of All Saints, after Mass, our group of 6 evangelists went into downtown Floyd. We set up right across from the farmer’s market. Relativism, New Age spirituality, and the occult seem to abound in this small town. It was challenging. We spoke with many who believed that, “All religions are true.” One woman, an old friend of one of our evangelists, left Catholicism for the Lutheran church “to try something new.” A man we met said he performed a meditation practice of annihilating his mind, a direct affront to the Greatest Commandment. As I started saying, “Aren’t you worried that…”, he immediately left, quickly blurting out something like, “Worry is a product of the mind”. Later on, a girl who I thought was a witch, walked as far as she could around our set-up just to avoid interaction. Finally, the larger group of evangelists chatted with a man who was either psychotic or demonically influenced. He grabbed four rosaries and placed them on his head like a crown. After speaking nonsensically (“What year is it?”, “We’re all god”, “We’re one with everything”), he threw the blessed rosaries on the ground and moved to the side of the building, sat down, took off his shirt, and started digging in the dirt. We said many Hail Marys for the struggling individuals we met.
I also received words from God. Today was the 2nd time in my life someone’s told me, “I’m a recovering Catholic.” I implored God for guidance the next time this happens. He said, “Say: Oh, me too.” (I grew up in an indifferent Catholic grade school. Our family went to Mass weekly and sometimes prayed, but had limited exposure to real Catholic culture. In short, I didn’t understand our mission on earth, and needed to unlearn the lukewarmness instilled by modern culture. “Oh, me too” is a great conversation starter, as I’m also a recovering Catholic–recovering from “beige Catholicism” (a Bp. Barron term), now fervently pursuing God’s Will.)

We only passed out 10-20 rosaries, but certainly had an impact on those we met because of the Holy Spirit and the intercessions of All Saints!