Young Catholics Respond
Bill Snyder interviews Nancy Ward on the coronavirus and her award-winning book, Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story.
Here are a few quotes to give you a sneak peek:
We’ve had to make some hard choices in the last couple of months. Now, as we transition back to whatever the new normal will look like for us, as Christians we must choose to move forward and continue to reach out to others but in new ways. They need to experience the love of Christ like never before.
Young people have a vital role in bringing the love of Christ into their world. Saint John Paul II said to the youth:
Let yourselves be summoned by the love of Christ; recognize his voice which rings in the temple of your heart. Receive his luminous and penetrating glance which opens the paths of your life upon the horizons of the mission of the Church. (30th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 8 September 1992 )
Those “paths of our life” right now lead us from the cocoon of the pandemic confinement into the unknown. Tomorrow and next week are unchartered territory for us, a little scary but opening up fresh opportunities we never imagined!
What’s God’s vision for us? How much to we trust God’s best outcome for us and his timing?
When you are open to God’s love and surrendered to him, his love overflows from your hearts. The pandemic puts us in a cocoon of vulnerability where God can fill our hearts with his love. Use this time to fill your hearts to overflowing with his love.
Share what God did for you in the last few months. You’re not bragging on your accomplishments, you are giving glory to God for his goodness. And that goodness can come to others if they can detect it among their misery.
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity) said to spread “the good infection” – spread Christ to others. I challenge you to counteract the effects of the coronavirus with the anecdote of your witness of Christ’s transforming you.
My prayer is that I can keep my overreactions to a minimum and maximize my thankfulness as I manage my expectations and influence others to do the same.
Bill Snyder, Catholic Young Adult Minister and Media Specialist founded Patchwork Heart Ministry. He inspires, engages and challenges young people to live their faith boldly by example and through storytelling and media initiatives. He is an accomplished youth minister, retreat master, producer of EWTN’s Bear Woznick Adventure and the author of three books. He hosts three radio shows and podcasts and cohosts the new show Journeys of Faith with Ame deSantis on the Fiat Ministry Network.
