matthew 4:17

"I don't believe the Church will be around in 20 years."

…

Didn't think that I would be getting this in my theology classes.

Tonight I encountered this statement. I was very shocked - to the point when I raised my hand to fight against it I couldn't even really make a coherent sentence. It pretty much came out as a "I disagree - summer missionary - camp - March for Life - I see a rising up in the young people of the Church - Jesus." Not my most eloquent comeback. 

The thought that the Church would stop existing has just never come into my mind. I have never encountered anything that would show that it would fade away. I've only encountered Christ and His love. That doesn't fade. So I don't expect the Church to fade either.

What I've experienced is the true beauty of the Church. I've seen rain fall while singing the Alleluia at Mass. I've seen non-Catholics fall to their knees and sob in front of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I've seen teens literally run to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and witnessed the Holy Spirit healing their wounded hearts. I've heard men sing the Salve Regina in Latin. I know amazing people who have given their lives to the religious vocation willingly and joyfully. I've seen beautiful and holy families, fully open to the will of the Lord leading their lives. I've been in a tiny chapel with eighty college students praising the Lord at the top of their lungs and there was no question that God was there. I've been to huge public conferences and also had quiet and personal prayer. I've seen thirty guys get in a circle and chant: "Men of God, rise up!" This is real. This isn't a joke. The Church isn't just a group of people in a cult getting together for no reason. The Church is real - not a fading fad or a phase humanity is going through.

And let me tell you this - I can say without a doubt that I do not believe the Church will fade away. Ever. 

I firmly believe that God is here. The Kingdom of God is at hand. And after having conversations like this all I can think is how saddened I am that not everyone has seen what I've seen. And woah - that's the Christian mission. I am a Christian. I know the beauty of Truth and I firmly believe in it. And it is the mission of the Christian to go out and spread the knowledge of Truth to those who have not recognized how big of a role God plays in their lives. We must spread what we have witnessed.

Once you witness something, you become responsible. You become responsible to sharing and investing your life in that experience. If you are a Christian, you have been changed. You are a witness. You have a responsibility to share God's love and bring that love and Truth to all you encounter. Even in a classroom.

I've seen a stirring of young people rising up and listening to the call of the Lord. You may think the Church is failing - but I believe that the opposite is occurring. The Lord is working fiercely in the young people of the Church. I've seen the Joy in others. I've personally felt the Joy. Two thousand years of endurance should never be pushed aside as if they don't matter. There's a reason we're still around: Because God cannot be shaken. The Church is the realest thing I have ever experienced… and it is real because it is rooted in God. 

And let me tell you, the Church isn't going anywhere.

Live with Joy.

wisdom 3:5-6

Dear Saint Thérèse de Lisieux,

Thank you. Thank you for your constant guidance. Thank you for your constant prayer.

Thank you for directing me to Jesus.

Today I went online and saw that it was the Day of the Little Way (#LittleWay) on social media websites. A day to share your little way in 140 characters or less. I don't think that I can show my love for you, Saint T, any other way than to write you a little letter showing how your little way has led me into deeper relationship with our God.

Saint Thérèse, thank you for your little way. Thank you for showing me how to live missionary right where you are. As the patron saint of missions and also a cloistered nun, you knew how to spread Christ right where you are and to hit everyone right in the heart with Truth. Thank you for living missionary and sharing your life through your beautiful words.

Thank you for being one of the best friends I could ever ask for. For being a confidant and loving me and letting me share my prayers with yours. Thank you for interceding for me and for letting the Lord use you as a way to speak to me. I am so blessed that the Lord gave me you as a light in this world of how to take my little life and pray big through it. Thank you for showing how to take the little life the Lord has given us and let Him magnify it in prayer and bring us closer to Heaven.

Thank you for spending your time in Heaven helping me out. I know that I am not the best at prayer, I am not the best at faithfulness, I am a doubter and my strength is constantly failing. I seriously don't deserve your intercession. But, I know that through you my prayers are answered in ways that I could never expect. Even when I'm a brat and I stomp my feet and pray that things would just work out how I want them, your patient reassurance and example of a beautifully little life gives me hope and calms my crazy heart.

Thank you for being an example of true Catholic womanhood that can be applied to any life.

Thank you for giving women everywhere an example of humble strength. Oh how we need to recognize that in ourselves more often! Thank you for showing us how to live fully for Him, to recognize the beauty in each of our differences, and letting us know what prayer really is:  "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."

Thank you for giving women a voice of hope and true joy that does not fade - no matter what is going on in her life. Thank you for showing us how one mission field is never enough. Thank you for showing us that it is an important mission to "bring light to souls, like the prophets and doctors; to go to the ends of the earth to preach Your name, to plant Your glorious Cross…on pagan shores." 

Thank you for reminding us that our vocation is to love. Nothing more. Nothing less. Our vocation is love. 

I am so grateful for your intercession - even when I don't want to hear what you might have to say. I know that you are praying for me and have my best interest in mind. Thank you for sending help when I need it. You're really cool.

Please continue to pray for me and direct me toward the Lord. Thank you for letting the Lord use you to bring me closer to Him. 

Oh, and thank you for this quote and for showing me how to live with Joy every day: 

"I learnt from experience that joy does not reside in the things about us, but in the very depths of the soul; that one can have it in the gloom of a dungeon as well as in the palace of a king."

I love you so much, Saint Thérèse. Help me to live your little way. Help me to live missionary. Help me to praise God with every fiber of my being every second of the day. 

Thanks for having my back.

In Him,

Bailey

Live with Joy