Succinct. And true. ALL Christians are called to evangelize. The Catholic Church has renewed its efforts to evangelize, to spread the Gospel. It is not merely for Christians, but for all people, and abandoning the call to evangelize has led to this watered-down modernist “church” we accept in the name of some egalitarian, non-judgmental god.

My parish is a small, rural, and poor one. We have two churches and but one pastor, so visiting priests say Mass for us each week. One visiting priest is a definite hippie-boomer. He wears his Birkenstocks, bare-footed, under his robes and cassock – I’m not particularly opposed to this practice, but it seems so odd, juxtaposed with his priestly vestments. He does not use the pulpit but walks among the pews to address the congregation, and peppers his speech with lingo and neologisms, and uses the terms “our Muslim friends” and “our Jewish friends” when speaking of non-Christians. I’m not certain how well-like or well-received he is, but we take what we can get.

This past Sunday was the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the founders of the Church who gave her her body and spirit. Our deacon gave the homily, and gave us some brief history on each man and his mission, and how we are to conduct ourselves in order to spread the Word. Sometimes, this does mean ridicule, and loss of wages, or of life. The society built on Christian principles is now turning against that which made it great and prosperous. The ancient first Christians, the martyrs and saints whose lives are an example for us, knew they must go on, the spirit was upon them, as it was on the healthcare worker who prayed with the Muslim. A new society will be forged from this fervor and spirit. If I don’t get to see it, then I hope my children, and their children, will be a part of building it. Everything seems like a sign of the end of time, lately. I wonder if that is just my age and motherhood whispering to me, or is there something more real, less imaginary, happening?

Quite right. Has not been fixed… since I am back from work