Spectators Not Welcome

ONE

The life of a Christian must be one of prayer and sacraments, conversion from vice to virtue, fulfillment of the responsibilities of our life and – Apostolate – meaning, taking and active role in helping others to God. In this we cannot be spectators – we must be players!

God and Our Lady are calling us to get into the game. Spectators are not welcome.

Pope St. Pius X asked a group of Cardinals: “What is the thing we most need, today, to save society?” “Build Catholic schools,” said one. “No.” “More churches,” said another. “Still no.” “Speed up the recruiting of priests,” said a third. “No, no,” said the Pope, “the MOST necessary thing of all, at this time, is to form a group of lay-people who will be virtuous, enlightened, resolute, and truly apostolic.”

Pope St. Pius X saw no hope for the salvation of the world, unless we form faithful Christians full of apostolic passion and…It was his opinion that shock troops could be formed in any environment…

Shock troops or assault troops are formations created to lead an attack. They are often better trained and equipped than other soldiers.

On August 2, 2011 Our Lady said at Medjugorje: As individuals, my children, you cannot stop the evil that wants to begin to rule the world and destroy it. But, according to God’s will, altogether, with My Son, you can change everything and heal the world.

Do you feel the call of Our Lady to join her in this spiritual battle burn within your heart? Will you answer her call? Will you stop being a spectator and join the battle?

TWO

United with Jesus and Mary we fight for the souls of our loved ones by means of friendship, good conversation and the Rosary.

I am inviting you to get in the game and take responsibility for 3-5 people, inside your family or beyond to help them grow closer to God.

In this spiritual army we need those captains or whatever you want to call it who will be responsible to help others. Will you be a captain?

Who are the people you will take responsibility for? Ask the Holy Spirit now. What are their names?

THREE

Then take the initiative to share life with them.

Friends share life together which means - Do whatever you do and invite others to do it with you. Or figure what they like to do and do it with them. Most importantly – have good conversation while you do it.

The first goal of a conversation is not to make people think the way you think.

And it is not to share your faith with them or tell them stuff.

“Hey, sit down and listen to me because the way I think is the way you need to think and what I have to say is really important.”

The first goal of conversation is to have a genuine curiosity, wonder and fascination in the other person.

Through the Art of Asking Good Questions we seek to know, understand, love and care for them.

Ask good questions, listen carefully and ask good follow up questions.

·       What are you listening to on podcast or what was the last good movie or book?

·       What did they like about it and why?

·       Ask for their Opinion and Ideas

You can’t make people think the way you think.

Not even God can, because God gave us freedom.

And it is not your job to fix people. That is God’s responsibility.

Give them freedom and autonomy in thinking and don’t think you have to correct them immediately if they spout heresy or untruths with the fear that if you don’t you’ve been unfaithful to God or responsible for making the person in front of you go to hell.

·       You can seek know and understand without condoning sin and error and this is the way to build trust, the essential building block of trust.

Find out what people think and why.

Instead of making statements ask for their insight.

In so doing you will validate their existence and, in a way, say to them “It is good that you exist, how wonderful you are.”

Through conversation we can help others reflect on themselves

The problem with most people is not that they are evil and have rejected God, the problem is that they get caught up in life and never reflect on the more important things.

The goal of your conversation is to help the other person reflect upon their life, thoughts, and desires.

We do this by asking them questions

1.  to understand the way they see and understand things,

2.  so that you can understand them better,

3.  and in the process they will come to understand themselves better

4.  This may also cause them to uncover their hunger and thirst for God which is built into every person – they just don’t recognize it. 

Ask good questions to help them Reflect on things they never take time to reflect upon

If we accomplish the above, then we will have gained the trust and permission

·       to ask any question

·       and invite them to anything.

FOUR

If you live genuine friendship and good conversation with your spouse, kids and friends then you are ready to invite them into your spiritual routine of the Rosary.

This is zip and go. Invite them to pray the Rosary with you. invite them to pay attention to anything that captures their attention during the Rosary podcast. Then just push play or print out the meditation we provide, read each meditation and pray the decades.

But when you finish – ask them: what caught your attention in the meditations. Then ask why and you will be off and running in a great conversation.

Its so simple – zip and go!

FIVE

I want to invite you to become a Member of the Movement of the Holy Family.

This Movement is a public association of the faithful;

·       it is a way for people to make a choice

·       to come together as a body, a family, as a spiritual army

·       and to share in graces that won’t be shared in otherwise.

The reason we are a public association of the faithful is because we choose to associate together so that we can create this spiritual reservoir that effects everybody connected to us.

But this doesn’t happen by just praying the Rosary.

We must make a conscious decision, a choice to become a member, to enroll, so that we can share in all of the graces of all the members and so that all of your loved ones, your kids, grandkids and your friends benefit from the spiritual army you now belong to.

Members of this Movement of the Holy Family are

·       a family

·       a body

·       an army

o   that support and care for one another.

We fight for one another.

·       I have your back

·       and you have mine

·       and we all collectively have the back, the good, of all our loved ones.

o   We are all fighting together.

But it takes an act of the will, a choice, you must enroll to receive the spiritual benefits because there’s something embodied and Incarnational that’s essential for this. And once you join, you participate in all the graces that you did not before.

So I am inviting you to click the link in the email, text or show notes of this podcast and learn about and become a Member of the Movement of the Holy Family.