Day 37 

Facing Your Challenges

We have every reason to have confidence in Christian youth: youth will not fail the Church if within the Church there are enough older people able to understand it, to love it, to guide it and to open up to it a future by passing on to it with complete fidelity the Truth which endures. Then new workers, resolute and fervent, will in their turn enter upon spiritual and apostolic work in the fields which are white and ready for the harvest. 

— St. Paul VI, Gaudete in Domino

Sometimes we may wonder why God decided to burden us with this work of evangelization. Why doesn’t he just do it all himself, miraculously, as he did at the wedding feast in Cana? 

It’s because God made us with a purpose, an existential need to have an impact in the world, to make a difference. And we long for that. To make a lasting difference helps give meaning to our lives, and we yearn for meaning. This mission, this call, this cooperation with the Lord in evangelizing the world is an incomparable path of meaning. 

Leaving a Lasting Mark

Pope Benedict XVI beautifully described this yearning and its proper place of fulfillment just a few days before he was elected pope in a passage we have already encountered:

All people desire to leave a lasting mark. But what endures? Money does not. Even buildings do not, nor books. After a certain time, longer or shorter, all these things disappear. The only thing that lasts for ever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity. The fruit that endures is therefore all that we have sown in human souls: love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching hearts, words that open the soul to joy in the Lord.

No greater fulfillment exists than the fulfillment that comes from loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves, and nothing achieves that more than evangelization through our way of life, our words, and our works.

Why Blessings Sometimes Feel Like Burdens

But even so, heeding this call to “go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) can feel more like a burden than a blessing. It feels that way because part of our fallen human nature resists our true calling, and that fallen nature is egged on by some of the standards and behavior patterns present in this fallen world, as well as by the influence of our ancient enemy, the devil, and his minions. Loving as Christ loves brings us fulfillment, but it also encounters resistance. 

We need to be prepared for that. It shouldn’t surprise us. When internal problems and dysfunctions keep cropping up among our fellow apostles, when external obstacles ceaselessly batter our most sincere apostolic efforts, when opposition arises and difficulties present themselves from the most surprisingly and even seemingly contradictory sources — this is nothing to be disoriented by; it is par for the course, the Lord knows all about it, and he can handle it.

St. Paul’s Troubles

St. Paul is known throughout the history of Christian literature as the apostle par excellence. His tireless journeying to spread the message of Christ yielded amazing results and indeed planted the seeds of Christian civilization. When you visit the city of Rome today, you see towering statues and gorgeous monuments dedicated to his pioneering work of evangelization. From the perspective offered by twenty centuries of Christian living, we can clearly see the amazing magnitude of his achievement. We should be inspired by that and give glory to God for it, as Christians have done since the first centuries of our era.

And yet, during the period when he was actually engaged in his evangelizing labors, such glorious success often eluded him. His life unfolded amid constant opposition, persecution, difficulties, challenges, misunderstandings, and, yes, even failures. God was working in him and through him, but the process was not some meteoric rise to glory. Rather, it followed the rhythms of Christ’s own life: normal Nazareth, dramatic public life, painful passion, glorious resurrection. All these elements were present throughout his missionary life, and they will all be present throughout our missionary lives, too. We must be ready for that.

In 2 Corinthians 11, St. Paul paints a portrait of what it was like for him to faithfully answer the Lord’s call in his life. He issues this enumeration as a self-defense (which he was reluctant to give, but it was necessary) against unjust critics who were maligning him and trying to undermine his apostolic toils.

The Christian mission, the Christian life with its priestly, prophetic, and kingly dimensions, always bears the sign of its Lord and Savior: the Sign of the Cross. Let’s decide ahead of time — right now in fact — that we won’t let it confuse us.

Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion

What idea in this reflection struck you most and why?

If we are created to evangelize, to love God and neighbor, why does it often feel so difficult to do? Explain that apparent contradiction in your own words.

When have you experienced the blessings that come from evangelizing? Remember, savor, and thank God for that. When have you experienced the burden of evangelizing? Remember, accept, and thank God for that as well.

Our crosses are somehow mysteriously part of God’s plan for us, just as the passion and crucifixion of Jesus was part of the Father’s plan for redeeming the world.  

What will you do today to embrace your crosses with faith and love?

• I will make the Sign of the Cross slowly, intentionally, and prayerfully before I pray.
• I will thank Jesus for loving me so much that he was willing to suffer the attacks of evil in order to atone for my sins and those of the whole world.
• I will reach out to someone whose cross is heavier than mine right now and try to help that person carry it.
• (Write your own resolution) I will

Concluding Prayer

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
these my enemies and foes
themselves stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart does not fear;
Though war be waged against me,
even then do I trust.
For God will hide me in his shelter
in time of trouble,
he will conceal me in the cover of his tent;
and set me high upon a rock.

— Psalm 27:1–3, 5