We are nearing the close of the dry season in Portland, and in some sense, the season of evangelization. Though we'll still walk from November through February, the "sweet spot" for evangelization is March through October. I remember walking last Winter with Chris. We shrugged off head colds and bad weather, and we tried to get out and pray in the muck. I remember wondering what the coming Spring would be like for the apostolate, whether there would be a big harvest.
Well, the harvest exceeded our hopes, and it was a dizzying season of evangelization. Just as the world is lulled into quiet in Winter, only to burst with life in Spring, so went the apostolate. First we met Meagan and watched in wonder at her multi-fold talents in evangelization and organization. Then Jeff joined us and pretty soon we were following him in chanting the rosary in Latin. Next we spread out into many new parts of the city as Archbishop Sample had prompted. Our friend Shawn started walking with us, and yesterday we were joined for the first time by another young man, Justin. We also have several friends of the apostolate in retirement (Dave, Tom and Willie). We like to share ideas with them and ask for their prayers for our friends on the streets.
I'm having three new tunics made (sizes XL, L and M) since it seems like we'll need them. We've also begun to take a serious look at starting our Jesus Caritas House. It would be a place of hospitality, fellowship and prayer for our group and our friends on the street. Some of our group would live there and share a common life of prayer. We would meet at the house for fraternity, BBQs, book discussions, and whatever builds us up as men of faith. Our friends on the street would be welcome to drop by and share a meal, pray and hang out with us, and we would help them in whatever way we are able. In sum, it would be a place of deep prayer and radical hospitality. Perhaps we might even open such a house in 12 months...
The Men's Conference we attended had some disappointing moments, but it ended on a high note (at least for the apostolate). There was a lot of talk at the conference about prayer, but since one of the speakers kept running over his allotted time then the Angelus and Divine Mercy chaplet were dropped from the schedule. That was a terrible idea, not least because one of the plagues of the Church today is talk, talk talk. That's why Cardinal Sarah wrote a book called, The Power of Silence. Also, conference talks are quickly forgotten, but what is not forgotten is when hundreds of men kneel and pray and adore the Eucharist together for an hour or more. That is powerful, and that is what we should have done. The same speaker also kept mistaking his right wing American sensibilities for "the faith once handed down". A great deal of his talk was on self-defense, but not against the world the flesh and the Devil, but against addicts and ex-cons who might molest one's property or family. But those are the very people with whom we spend our precious free time! Maybe more Catholics should push past their anxiety and actually minister to the homeless, addicts and ex-cons? Isn't that the life of Beatitude and the will of God?
One of the beautiful parts of the conference was that people recognized us and mentioned that they've seen us on the streets. The director of Mater Dei radio, Patrick Ryan, said that he's seen us many times, and that we are appreciated, especially by Fr. Boyle OSM at The Grotto. I'm delighted, especially since we'd like to start our Jesus Caritas House near The Grotto. I'm also proud of the fact that our efforts are appreciated by a diverse group of priests and laypeople. We try to show by example that there's no tension between loving beautiful liturgy, prayer and Catholic tradition as well as loving and serving the most neglected. That is what the saints have always done, including St. Francis and Blessed Charles de Foucauld. May we always be an edifying and thought-provoking example to all we meet. In fact, just yesterday we met a Dutch Jesuit priest near The Grotto who was traveling and on sabbatical. He gathered us together and gave us his priestly blessing right there on NE 82nd. Maybe he'll start a group like ours back in Holland?
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