Hearts Quietly Seeking God

Every Wednesday, my team visits a local public high school during the students’ lunch hour. We eat lunch with the students, talk with them, play cards, play ping pong, and make an effort to speak to them about our ministry. We have been told to be cautious when talking about faith in the schools, as one may imagine that many students are not open to the subject. Every week is hard, and it’s often difficult to stay optimistic when our opening remarks to students sometimes result in glares or uninviting comments. Even for me, having recently graduated from high school, I find it really hard to connect with youth who are even just a year or two younger than me.

This past week, though, was a different story.

 We have printed off many event cards to distribute to the different people we meet, in hopes we can communicate with them and invite them to our events. During the lunch hour visit, I had a few conversations with different students, and played cards with them and some of my teammates. Long story short, I personally handed out seven event cards to the students I met. I told them a little about our events, and invited them to participate. They seemed a little hesitant at first, but they gladly accepted the cards and went on their ways.

God gave me the opportunity to hand out event cards to those students for a reason. I do not know the students very well, and I definitely don’t know where they stand in their relationships with God, but that’s okay. It's possible that they won't even come to any of our events but in giving them the event cards, God helped me to plant a seed. I did what I could; now I allow God to work. These students and so many others are thirsty for truth and for real love, and they’ll look everywhere to find answers. God can use every single one of us to reach out to people and help show them that their questions can be answered and their longings can be satisfied. 

Evangelization is literally a matter of life or death. Every person we encounter is a soul that we could help save. It is our duty as Catholics to spread the Gospel message, even though it’s not easy. I find it so sad that there are people living their lives and have yet to hear that God loves them, though I find myself struggling to spread that message because I fear judgment from others.

I think the most important thing that I’ve been learning recently is that the students don’t need me - they need God. I’m simply there to help them find the path to Him. Evangelization is like this: I hand someone a map, with Heaven being the destination, and the Gospel being the directions to follow to get to God. We can’t force people to listen to us, but at the very least they deserve the opportunity to hear God's message of love. If we don’t spread God’s love to the lost, who will? 

“We cannot forget that evangelization is first and foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have always rejected him. Many of these are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition. All of them have a right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone.”
(Pope Francis) 

Rebecca Atkinson
Les Équipes NET
(Sara, Mickel, Zak, Lisa, Josée, Andrée-Anne, Matt)