To
Bear Witness
By Melanie
Rigney
But now, compelled by
the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not
know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me
that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance
to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the
Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:22-24)
Sing to God, O kingdoms of the
earth. (Psalm 68:33a)
I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the
world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your
word.” (John 17:6)
Piety
Lord, teach me how to do Your will.
Study
I made my Cursillo in November 2006 at the Josephite Pastoral
Center in Washington, D.C., and sat at the table of the amazing graces.
Two weeks earlier, I’d been on my first-ever parish council
retreat. It was one day, held at a beautiful wooded setting that was just
inside the Beltway but felt a world away from the hustle and bustle of DC.
It was a day of good work, ministry leaders getting to know
each other, thoughtful discussion and sharing, plans for the coming year. It
was already dark when about twenty of us went into the center chapel for a
closing Mass.
Our pastor, Gerry Creedon, struck an entirely different note
in his homily than I’d ever heard back at the parish. There, his themes
generally were social justice or stories about growing up in a very large
family in County Cork or his years of ministry in the Dominican Republic. At
the retreat center, he was challenging, almost scolding. His message was that
yes, we had accomplished some things and written up some nice plans, but what
if? What if we were like the early Church, and gathering threatened our lives?
What about the early martyrs? What about the martyrs of today? “What are you
doing to bring souls to the Kingdom?” he asked.
I spent a lot of time contemplating that challenge on my
Cursillo, and found myself coming up woefully short but not really knowing what
to do about it. Then I kind of forgot about it, until now.
None of us on that parish council retreat envisioned a
pandemic that would mean closed churches for weeks or months, and an entirely
different experience at churches able to reopen. Financial donations are down,
and religious institutions are laying off or furloughing staffers and reducing
services for those on society’s margins just when they are most needed. There
are fewer hands available, fewer dollars to buy food or clothing or medicine
other supplies. Nice plans have fallen by the wayside.
Gerry died a few years ago, but I think I know what he would
have done. He wouldn’t have stayed safe in the rectory. He would have figured
out a way to charm or guilt or beg people like me out of more money than we’re
used to giving. He would have come up with ways to distribute whatever his
parish bought with those dollars. Some people who didn’t really need assistance
would have gotten help dollars, because there wouldn’t have been a lot of forms
to fill out. He would have borne witness.
And so I’m wondering anew: What am I doing to bring souls to
the Kingdom? Maybe we should all be considering that—and doing it intentionally
in whatever way we’re called. My personal pledge to God going forward is to
think about it every morning—and to have an answer, small or large, every
night.
Action
Consider what you’re doing to bring
souls to the Kingdom.
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