Day 26
You Have What It Takes
Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon you in a particular way. You will hear the words of the Church spoken over you, calling upon the Holy Spirit to confirm your faith, to seal you in his love, to strengthen you for his service. You will then take your place among fellow-Christians throughout the world, full citizens now of the People of God. You will witness to the truth of the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ. You will live your lives in such a way as to make holy all human life. Together with all the confirmed you will become living stones in the cathedral of peace. Indeed you are called by God to be instruments of his peace.
— St. John Paul II, Homily for Pentecost, May 30, 1982
The Church’s deepest identity is found in her mission to evangelize, to proclaim and foster the growth of Christ’s kingdom. And God calls every Christian, every member of the Church, no matter how apparently small or unqualified, to join in that mission and make a unique, unrepeatable contribution to it that will reverberate throughout eternity. Making that contribution is every Christian’s best way to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
This mission can make us feel excited. But it can also make us feel scared, intimidated, and inadequate. You might think, The great saints were capable of something like that, something so transcendental and amazing, but that’s not for me. I can barely keep myself together in the hustle and bustle of daily duties and never-ending mini-crises! Who am I to think that I can help build Christ’s kingdom and love like that?
Feelings Bolstered by Faith
It’s understandable to feel that way. But sometimes our spontaneous feelings only give us a partial glimpse into reality, especially in the realm of faith. Feelings need to be educated, taught to incorporate the truths of our faith into all the information they process and communicate to us. And on this point, about the capacity of every Christian to become a saint and make a unique, unrepeatable contribution to Christ’s kingdom, our faith rescues us from every feeling of fear or inadequacy, for one simple reason: Our efforts are not just our efforts.
Naturally, depending only on hard work and our own natural powers and gifts, the call to holiness and evangelization is indeed far beyond our capacities. Christ’s kingdom, as we have seen, “does not belong to this world” (John 18:36). It is a supernatural kingdom, built up by the power of grace and the Holy Spirit. If we were to try to take our place in that kingdom by leaning solely on our earthly smarts and strengths, we would be perennially frustrated, fruitlessly aiming again and again and again at a target impossibly beyond our reach.
New Things Have Come
But part of the good news Jesus brings is that, through baptism and confirmation, our natural gifts and talents — however many or few they may be — are healed and enhanced by grace. They are plugged in to the divine life itself. Baptism makes us adopted children of God, not just as some kind of formality, but in truth. Anyone who is baptized has “come to share in the divine nature. . . . So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
We are members of Christ’s own body, and through the sacrament of confirmation, the same Holy Spirit that animates Christ and the Church has been abundantly poured into our own lives, animating each one of us as well: “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it . . . hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us . . . ” (1 Corinthians 12:27; Romans 5:5). And so our human and material limitations, our wounds, our struggles and hardships — none of these things have to inhibit us from engaging in this uniquely fulfilling mission of evangelization. God can work through them all, and when we let him do so, he is glorified even more than when we try to serve him from a place of self-satisfaction and self-confidence.
When We Are Weak, We Are Strong
St. Paul learned this lesson the hard way — through a mysterious struggle against what he calls “a thorn in the flesh” that he simply could never get rid of (see 2 Corinthians 12:7–10).
The same Holy Spirit that comes to us through the grace of baptism and confirmation, truly uniting us to God and gradually leading us to spiritual maturity, also equips us and spurs us on toward the fulfillment of our mission in Christ’s kingdom. Some Christians are called to carry out dramatic and highly visible missions, like St. Bernardine of Siena, who would habitually preach to crowds of ten thousand people. Others are called to carry out hidden but still beautiful and powerful missions, like St. Joseph, who silently cared for Jesus and Mary, without speaking even a single word in the Bible.
You Are Not Lacking
Whatever he may ask of each one of us, “God is faithful,” and through Christ he doesn’t call and equip us for something beyond our reach — that would be torture. Rather:
. . . in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge . . . so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus [Christ]. (1 Corinthians 1:9, 5–8)
When Jesus sent his twelve apostles out on their first mission, St. Matthew tells us that he “summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority” (Matthew 10:1). When he sent the larger group of seventy-two followers, St. Luke tells us that “the Lord appointed” them (Luke 10:1). At his ascension, Jesus prefaces his great commission that the Church “go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” with an explanation of whose power will truly be at work within the Church’s efforts to fulfill that command: “Then Jesus approached and said to them, ‘All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore . . . ’” (Matthew 28:18–19).
As Christians, through the mysterious communion with God given by baptism and confirmation, Christ’s own life surges through our veins. His own power gives supernatural force to our evangelizing efforts. Insofar as we intentionally and consistently nourish this communion through a growing prayer life, through a humble and determined participation in the Eucharist and in confession, and through a decent effort to obey the Lord’s will in all things, it will mature and expand, bringing God’s unique dream for each one of us to fulfillment.42
Truly, your part in building up Christ’s kingdom is beyond anything you could ever do — on your own. But in the Lord, you really do have what it takes.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
What idea in this reflection struck you most and why?
When you think about the sacrament of baptism, what comes to mind? Why? Why do you think we celebrate our birthdays, but not many of us celebrate the anniversary of our baptism?
When you think of the sacrament of confirmation, what comes to mind? Why? Remember your own experience of receiving this sacrament. What sticks in your mind? Why? What would you like to have done differently?
The life of grace within us is invisible and most often works in hidden ways. And yet grace is real, and it has produced and inspired all the works of the Church throughout its history: the spiritual maturity, power, and influence of the saints, and the countless acts of mercy, self-sacrifice, fidelity, and kindness performed by thousands of Christians through the centuries.
What will you do today to allow God’s grace to flow freely in and through your life?
- I will find out the baptismal anniversaries of every member of my family (including my own) and plan to celebrate them with the same gusto that we celebrate our birthdays.
- I will take some time to read up on the life of the saint whose name I took when I was confirmed in order to derive some fresh inspiration from how grace worked in his or her life.
- I will renew my commitment to spend time in personal prayer with the Lord every single day in order to keep his grace flowing in my mind and heart.
- (Write your own resolution) I will
Concluding Prayer
O God, whose ancient wonders remain undimmed in splendor even in our day,
for what you once bestowed on a single people,
freeing them from Pharaoh’s persecution by the power of your right hand now you bring about as the salvation of the nations through the waters of rebirth,
grant, we pray, that the whole world may become children of Abraham and inherit the dignity of Israel’s birthright.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
— Roman Missal, Prayer after the Third Reading
for the Easter Vigil Mass
