Casting Nets with the Saints. Chris Stewart
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on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: ‘O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You.’”8 Do not let a prayer time end without offering up this purpose.
The young, beautiful Italian St. Gemma Galgani (1878–1903) understood the purpose of praying for conversions. Fr. Germanus Ruoppolo was with Gemma during one of her mystical encounters with the Lord. Gemma begged for the salvation of a stranger she had met in her home town. The Lord informed her that this soul was lost, and justice would be required for his sins. The young saint would not take no for an answer and continued to plead, “You have shed Thy Blood for him as well as for me. Will You save me and not him? I will not rise from here. Save him. Promise me that You will save him.” This exchange went back and forth with neither side giving in. Finally, Gemma won the Lord’s heart when she invoked the intercession of his Blessed Mother. Fr. Germanus heard Gemma cry out, “He is saved, he is saved! You hast conquered, Jesus.” Soon after there was a knock at the door requesting Father to hear a confession. The astonished priest reported, “I thought my heart would burst. It was Gemma’s sinner, converted that hour.” Our prayers for the lost will be filled with hope if they are strengthened with perseverance. As with most things in life, we do not achieve our desired ends with brief efforts; instead, success typically follows long-endured efforts. When we sincerely pray for the salvation of souls, we will face distractions, struggles, despair, and temptations to quit. The Apostle of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina shared a temptation she faced when Satan told her, “‘Do not pray for sinners, but for yourself, for you will be damned.’ Paying no attention to Satan, I continued to pray with redoubled fervor for sinners. The Evil Spirit howled with fury, ‘Oh, if I had power over you!’ and disappeared.”9 Do not give in! Push through, persevere with your daily prayers for souls are on the line!
An Italian Dominican nun, St. Catherine de Ricci (1522–1589) taught about persistent prayer by word and example. A well-known despicable criminal who had been sentenced to death was brought to the attention of Catherine. The thief had fallen into despair, was angry and hateful. He was closed off to any attempts to reconcile him to the Divine Judge before he met him face-to-face. The saint pleaded for the salvation of the criminal’s soul. She offered her prayers and to take on herself whatever inflictions were justly due for his sins. The sinner was so thoroughly changed that he went to confession in tears, was peaceful with his punishment, and even preached to the assembled crowd at his execution that they should flee from their own sins. St. Catherine taught, “We must bring to prayer a great confidence that we shall be heard…. When we desire to obtain a favor from Almighty God, we must go on asking for it until we get it; because He has determined the number of times we are to ask for it; and He will not grant our petition till that number is complete.” We must be like the persistent widow (cf Lk 18:1–8) with our noble supplication for souls. For the price of salvation might be our perseverance.
If our prayers for the grace of conversion for family, friends, coworkers, and even strangers have passion, purpose, and perseverance, then we can bring them to repentance. Pray for a heart like the Divine Redeemer, a heart for the lost. Have confidence that the Lord hears your prayers. Our Lord told St. Faustina, “By your entreaties, obtain for them trust in My mercy, because they have most need of trust, and have it the least. Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moment depends on your prayer.”10 What a noble task the Lord has entrusted to us! Our prayers are the essential part of a soul’s invitation to come to Christ.
Pillar 2
Invitational
We cannot forget that evangelization is first and foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have always rejected him. Many of them are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition. All of them have a right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction.”
— Pope Francis 11
How many weddings do you show up to without being invited? Or how many business meetings do you attend without receiving an invitation? Whether we greatly desire to attend an event or would like to find any excuse to avoid an event, the fact of the matter is, our attendance will never happen without an invitation. The good news of salvation still remains the best news in human history, but if we do not invite others to receive the Gospel, then it becomes nothing more than a historical event. Throughout history saints function as the instruments of invitation; through their words and actions, through their life and death, they sought to invite others to a relationship with Jesus Christ in his holy Church.
Long before our beloved St. Teresa dressed the wounds of the dying in the ghettos of Calcutta, the seventeenth century gave birth to her predecessor, St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660). He spent his life comforting the poor and calling the rich to do likewise; hence today there are St. Vincent de Paul Societies around the world continuing that unceasing work. However, most do not know of Vincent’s time as a slave. As he sailed on the Mediterranean Sea to Narbonne for a trip, three African vessels overtook Vincent’s ship. A series of men enslaved him, and Vincent eventually became the property of a Muslim chemist who took a liking to him. The chemist encouraged Vincent to give up Christianity for Islam, upon which he would be the heir to all his property and to freedom. Vincent refused. As time wore on, he became the property of the chemist’s nephew, who was raised a Christian but had converted to Islam.
One of the wives of the master took an interest in Vincent because of his joy and demeanor while at work. After many conversations, Vincent and his faith fascinated and piqued her interest. She shared a simple invitation with her husband:
I have been talking to your white slave that works in the garden about his religion—the religion which was once yours. It seems full of good things and so is he. You need never watch him as you do the other men, and the overseer has not had to beat him once. Why, then, did you give up that religion for another? In that, my lord, you did not do well.12
His eyes were opened to the Truth, but to leave Islam could result in his own peril. He and Vincent disguised themselves and fled to France. After two years of captivity, Vincent de Paul grew to become the saint we know of today. His former master converted back to Christianity and entered a monastery—all because of a simple invitation to return to the faith of his birth.
Do not be afraid to invite someone back to the faith! An invitation is not forcing your faith on someone; it remains simply an invitation. Like holiness, faith cannot be imposed on someone, but only proposed. This is how our gentle Lord works with us. “He always invites us to take a step forward,” says Pope Francis, “but does not demand a full response if we are not yet ready. He simply asks that we sincerely look at our life and present ourselves honestly before him, and that we be willing to continue to grow, asking from him what we ourselves cannot as yet achieve.”13 When you invite someone to an event, you do not “force” that event on them. Your invitation offers a modest request to partake of a journey, a journey on which we are willing to walk with them, beside them, as Pope Francis describes:
One who accompanies others has to realize that each person’s situation before God and their life in grace are mysteries which no one can fully know from without. The Gospel tells us to correct others and to help them to grow on the basis of a recognition of the objective evil of their actions (cf. Mt 18:15), but without making judgments about their responsibility and culpability (cf. Mt 7:1; Lk 6:37). Someone good at such accompaniment does not give in to frustrations or fears. He or she invites others to let themselves be healed, to take up their mat, embrace the cross, leave all behind and go forth ever anew to proclaim the Gospel. Our personal experience of being accompanied and assisted, and of openness to those who accompany us, will teach us to be patient