Easter, Friendship & Evangelization!!

Aelred of Rievaulx, famous Cistercian monk and writer

from the middle ages, once said

“No medicine is more valuable, none more efficacious, none better suited to the cure of all our temporal ills than a friend to whom we may turn for consolation in time of trouble, and with whom we may share our happiness in time of joy.” Those words point us ultimately to friend- ship with God through Jesus but also to the incarnated relationships that we have with others here on earth. From the very beginning of creation, we were made for deep relationships. In the garden we walked with God and one another “naked and without shame”…completely exposed and vulnerable but without fear or falsehood.

Sadly, something changed drastically when our first parents chose to trust in the counsel of the serpent rather than to distrust the love of God. That mistake has driven a wedge between people everywhere and has led to centuries of wars, hatreds, distrust and ultimately to human use and abuse.

The good news that we celebrate during this season of Easter is that Je-

sus came to reverse the curse of our separation and to make a way

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! Ps 133:1

where we can be reunited to God and to one another. In Catholic Christianity, we have many excellent rituals, rules, dog- mas and ceremonies that enrich our faith. As good as those things are, they are not the central focus of our faith in Jesus. Jesus came, not to create a religion with MORE rituals… His Jewish faith already had more than their share of those. He came to save us from ourselves and for Himself.

That saving work has at its core a restoration of relationship with God and with others. When speaking of conversion, the document s of Vatican II state “This conversion must be taken as an initial one, yet sufficient to make a man realize that he has been snatched away from sin and led into the mystery of God’s love, who called him to enter into a personal relationship with Him in Christ. For, by the workings of divine grace, the new convert sets out on a spiritual journey, by means of which, already sharing through faith in the mystery of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, he passes from the old man to the new one, perfected in Christ.” -Decree on Missionary Activity, §13. Vatican II (emphasis mine)

In healthy evangelization, we lead people to the sacraments not because the rituals are so important but because they lead us to a deeper personal relationship with Christ and with one another. We literally feed on the body and blood of Jesus! Nothing could be more personal than that. And while many Catholics avoid the confessional if they can, nothing quite beats the grace that is powerfully present in that sacrament to bring healing and reconciliation to our closest hu- man relationships.

All of this points to the impact that relationships can have in leading someone to Christ. Most of the ministries that we support in this grant use relationships to evangelize. They meet and build relationships with others NOT as projects but as humans who are in need of love. Through those friendship relationships, they lead others to the ultimate friendship with Christ. It sounds simple, and it is, but it’s also a lot of work. We all desire to connect deeply with Christ and that connection usually starts with an encounter with his Body the Church. Through vibrant witnesses in the Church, people come to see that Jesus really is not the cosmic kill joy but the cosmic love joy who is leading to a cosmic festival in heaven. That vision of Christ is transformational and Please pray for our missionaries as they lead other to the joy of a relationship with Christ.

SPOTLIGHT on Sophee Coulter

Originally From: Wichita, KS

Serving with: Vagabond Missions in Wichita, KS

Studied: Secondary Education

About: Sophee grew up in an economically disadvantaged biracial family with both parents struggling with addictions. They spent much of their time going from place to place being evicted from their homes. Here dad was not around and her mother was incarcerated when she was 5 and so she was raised by her grandparents. They were Catholic and baptized her Catholic but her younger years

continued to be ones of turmoil as she was bullied and mistreated by classmates in her Catholic school where she was the only black child from 2nd-8th grade. In spite of the fact that these students made fun of her skin color constantly, it seemed that God still was calling to her and became a close friend. During her senior year she would spend an hour or more in their perpetual adoration chapel on a regular basis. In college she encountered Vagabond Ministries through her interest in becoming a secondary school teacher and began volunteering with them. There she met students who came out of almost the exact same background that she grew up in and felt God calling her to serve. She has been working with VM ever since.

Sophee video (https://photos.app.goo.gl/gHP1h8JC6m1LDGDQ7)

SPOTLIGHT on Jessica Ruffins

Originally From: Detroit, MI

Serving with: FOCUS Ministries at Northern Michigan University Studied: Psychology at Northern Michigan University

About: Jessica was raised in a Baptist church and attended church in her younger years. Her parents gave her a strong moral foundation, but she wrestled with a wounded view of who God was. She believed in Him, but she didn’t believe He was close, loving, or personally interested in me. That inner disconnects slowly grew, and by the end of middle school, she no longer considered herself a Christian. At this point she began chasing achievement, attention, approval and comfort but the deeper she got the emptier she felt. That tension came to a head and just before leaving for college she decided to give Christianity another try. She told herself, “If I’m going to do this, I want to do this right.” So, when she arrived at campus, she began looking for a Christian Community and God led her to the Catholic Campus Ministry Center. When she walked through the doors, she could sense something different. The students there radiated a joy and peace she couldn’t explain. They weren’t faking it. There was something in them that felt whole, alive, and grounded and she knew she wanted to be part of it. That desire pushed me to begin what felt like a terrifying but hopeful journey: converting to the Catholic Church. The Eucharist shattered the image she had of a cold, dis- tant God. Instead, she met a God who longed to be so close to her that He gave Himself to her in a real, tangible way. It was over- whelming in the best way. In spite of the strain that this caused in her family she also decided to move towards life as a FOCUS missionary. God has surprised her in this journey and, as a black woman, longs to see other African Americans embrace this life- giving faith.

Jessica video (https://photos.app.goo.gl/t1F7anWRXJYgwwZf9)

SPO Campus 

Ministry...

Community 

and More!!

Most of you already know that in addition to working to build this nonprofit ministry, I’ve also been serving within the ministry of St. Paul’s Outreach (SPO). When I took an early retirement to begin mission work, I had no idea that I would end up working for a mission organization that serves mostly people in the USA. 

This was not my original plan, but God’s plans are always better than the plans that we make for ourselves and this has proven to be the case with SPO. If you’ve been with the CEM POC family, you’ve already read about the ministry of FOCUS which is a much larger ministry that is similar to ours. Both ministries focus on reaching college students for Christ. FOCUS uses bible studies and faith sharing groups to spread the faith.

SPO, by contrast, uses household communities to engage students in the faith. This means that in addition to bible studies and faith sharing groups, when we start working on a campus, we find a house for the men and a house for women. Typically, the missionaries live in these households and teach the students how to live as Christians 24hrs a day/7 days a week. In a way, it’s like living in a religious community like the Franciscans or the Dominicans only to a much less intense or committed way. The students pray together, eat meals together and learn that picking up your dirty underwear is actually an act of Christian charity and service! Brotherhood and sisterhood is deeply cultivated in these homes and they then use the houses as a center of vibrant life and hospitality to the other students on campus. This communal dimension makes the bible studies and the faith sharing 

groups richer and deeper.

Growth in SPO’s ministry is slower because of the need to secure suitable living spaces, but those houses are filled with a contagious joy and love that rivals how Christians in the Church lived during its earliest years as described in the book of Acts. Enjoy the faces of the missionaries that have served in those ministries in this newsletter.