"It's time for us to break from the huddle and actually run a play." — Fr. Mitchel Zimmerman
You might be wondering why in the world Fr. Mitch and I were talking about football. But the truth is, we weren't talking about football at all. We were talking about this thing called EVANGELIZATION.
On Good Friday, St. Lawrence put on the Stations of the Cross on campus. Acting out the stations from Spooner Hall all the way to the crucifixion on Wescoe Beach definitely got some attention. Some people joined our walk as we passed by, others stopped to take pictures, some asked us what in the world we were doing, and some people just stopped and stared. It was crazy awesome.
So after we did stations on campus, a few of us had an awesome talk with Fr. Mitch about how us Catholics are really good Catholics at the St. Lawrence Center and places where faith is in the air, but we do a pretty crappy job of bringing Jesus out of those St. Lawrence walls, onto campus, and ino the world. There are SO many people who are right outside of our little "Catholic bubble" and want to get in. It's our job to find those people and welcome them, guide them, and bring them in.
That's when Fr. Mitchel said that "We need to break from the huddle and actually run a play." He means that we've had our little huddle, we know what we need to do to spread Christ's love, but now it's time that we actually run that play and go out and do it.
Sister Clara said it in an amazing way too. She says that we're call to "Live on the edge" — meaning that we should always be seeking out those people who are just on the outside of that "Catholic bubble." We should always be looking to pull them in, to explain the faith to them if they have questions or misunderstandings, to invite them to hang out with us, to let them know what's going on at St. Lawrence or around our parish, to let them know that they are always welcome because Christ thirsts for their love just as much as he thirsts for ours.
Check out this passage from Luke 10: "Jesus said to them, 'The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.'"
You and me. He is sending us. He's trying to clue us into the fact that there's so much potential good out there inside people, but no one is there to plant that seed and make it happen. That needs to be us. That seed could be an invitation to come to St. Lawrence, a smile or nice greeting toward someone who's having a bad day, a conversation about Christ, or simply letting someone know that you're praying for them.
Christ needs us to be those laborers going out to the harvest. And sometimes it might feel like we're the "lambs among wolves," but Christ is always there with us. He wouldn't send us out there without preparing us and watching over us. So now is our time.
Let's go out and be laborers of the harvest.
Let's live on the edge.
Let's break from the huddle and actually run a play.
