Profiles in Catholicism
- Apr 11
- 22 min
Evangelism
A Message from the Editor Our responsibilities to evangelize are in the Bible. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every...
special prayer
Prayers
A prayer for Evangelists
“Go out into the whole world”
Oh Lord of wonders and wonderous Lord of all,
Easter came in the night with a candle lit from a fire,
Bearing the hope of the resurrection in the dead night,
Entrapped as we are in sin and fear, hopelessly tight.
You rose from a terrible death, bursting from the tomb,
Appearing to those with whom you walked and talked
And told them: “Go out into the whole world” and tell
Your witness of the great events of deliverance and life!
Lord, I dressed smartly, and my neighbour asked why?
Because it is Easter! And we celebrate Easter for a week!
And then we continue the feast until Pentecost brings the
Celebration of the mission-presence of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, I said “good morning” to many people I did not know,
Who would have otherwise passed silently, without the smile
That came between us, others neither speaking
Nor looking but who, strapped in by fears, went on without a
Word, gesture, or pause, silencing further attempts to speak.
But not as we were, as now I pray for the locked-in-silenced.
Lord, we had been away with you on a long weekend and, on
Return, I dared to say “God is good and loves you” at the bus
Stop and a man answered, how unusual to hear God spoken of.
There are those, Lord, who wrote about you for the rest of us:
They are called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and there are
Those who left everyone and everything, and went to meet you
In the desert, in monasteries and convents, and there are those,
Men and women, who sailed across the world, witnessing with
Their lives, their health and their deaths, that there is a love that
Transfigures everyday actions into acts of eternal life and love!
But, Lord, just as your active presence is present in the beginning
Of each one of us, so you accompany us throughout our lives, not
Neglecting to send us messengers of your love as visibly here as
You are invisibly there, too, calling us to act out of the truth-in-love.
Oh Lord, we do not announce you alone, as alone we are not clothed
In the life of those from whom we have been formed and through
whom we are called to travel as far as the stars and as near as those
Next to us, on the street, amidst the crowd, at the end of a letter or
Message in the internet bubbles that float through the known world
Visiting all who will visit it and inviting them to humility and prayer
Remembering that God was there at our beginning as
He will be at Our end, as He has been through our time through now to evermore.
Oh Mary, who alone expresses the inexpressible presence of the
Indwelling mystery of the divine dwelling that manifests itself as
An outward glowing of coal from the very fire of God, ever bright
With the light and warmth of His Being, but being forever blessed
From the roots of your existence, showing forth the radiance of all
Relationships rooted in you and flowering in your Church and in
All those tending to you, near and far, young and old, of every race and colour who, listening to the voice among the voices of the earth,
Hear and say, here I am Lord, I come to do your will in loving truth.
So let us cry out in our hearts, speaking at the garden fence, the bus
Stop, or by the media mediated to many who we will never meet, that there is time to meet the lover of all mankind and His forever
by Francis Etheredge Catholic married layman, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven, and an author.
A Quote to Remember
“To convert somebody, go and take them by the hand and guide them.”
by Saint Thomas Aquinas