Pray, care and share in your home and neighborhood

by Deacon Dana Nearmyer

I am at my wits’ end.

So many balls are in the air and many once predictable things are not so predictable.

Control is hard to come by these days.

Throughout much of the history of the world, control has been in short supply.

In the archdiocese, we are coming up on one year since Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann introduced the “Enflame: Heart, Home and Community” initiative. In this one year, more than 2000 missionary disciples have been equipped and commissioned to pray, care and share in their hearts, homes and community.

If we as Christians are at our wits’ end, how exhausted must our doubting brother and sister feel?

In this turbulent, unpredictable world, we can pray, care and share in our hearts, homes and community.

In times of extreme trouble in this world, the kingdom of God has grown because the church has been a refuge of love, peace and hope to those that are confused and hurting.

We get to be guides to love and peace through a relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our world needs missionary disciples now, while the hurt is so great. Let us all pray, care and share in our own hearts, in our homes and in our communities.

Missionary disciples rely on God, not human control or understanding. Scripture never promises us control and often warns against the dangers of perceived control and power. Scripture does promise us that we are treasured and accompanied by God.

In Chapter 6, Verses 25-29, of the Gospel of Mathew, the Scripture is clear:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

“Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?

“Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

“Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.

“But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.”

Each of us is precious to God. We must remind ourselves that God treasures us, and he treasures and seeks those around us, believers or not. We can show others how they can hear and know God for themselves.

We are all called to be missionary disciples. We have tried to make answering that call as easy as possible. Missionary disciples pray, care and share in our own hearts, in our homes and in our communities.

We have a free 30-minute online course to get you started. It is called: “Thirty Minutes to Discipleship.”

You can access it here.