Sharing the Real Presence
This newsletter features a story from Robert showing how God is in control of our lives and a story from Griffin about how we must never neglect to meditate on Christ Passion. We invite you to get involved in some of our upcoming events and those who you can keep in prayer. Please continue keeping us and those we are ministering to in your prayers. We hope these newsletters can encourage you and our readers to grow in faith and in zeal for the work of the salvation of souls that is so needed in our church.
In this newsletter
God is in Control by Robert Pauly
God's Greatest Gift Neglected by Griffin Rain
Upcoming Events
Prayer Intentions
God is in Control by Robert Pauly
In the past year, I have seen many areas change in my own life and the neighbors’ lives while discerning God’s Will with the Missionaries of the Real Presence. At Mass on Monday, the Second Letter to the Corinthians encourages the people to face their afflictions and distress to rely more on God and less on ourselves: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
When people choose to consume excessive amounts of drugs or watch TV etc.; they are crying for help because something took place that threw life into disarray. The event(s) caused so much pain that anywhere they turned, they could not see past that pain even around friends, or family, which hurt worse than the root cause of the problem. They seek assistance at food pantries, and worship services in many churches to find peace, love, and comfort in their distress. Instead of receiving spiritual help, they receive physical nourishment, leaving the spirit restless for more and seeking something greater than themselves. These places for assistance treat the people like numbers and patients; in contrast, the Missionaries teach the faith where the people are: on the front porch, bus stops, etc. They want to talk about their brokenness, afflictions, and distress, which the Missionaries take time to offer that comfort and relief that makes them feel like a person, instead of how life treats them. They see God working through us and ask us what they can do to truly know Him. We say, “Come join us at St. Catherine’s on 51st and Center for (pray, learn the faith, etc.) It’s open several times throughout the day.” Even though a few neighbors join us for prayer, we understand that their lives are unstable and inconsistent, but we give them crucifixes or take their prayer requests and intentions to the Church to help them grow closer to God.
Instead of fighting God for control in life, take a few moments to pray for direction from God. That is the difference that can change someone’s life for the better. A month ago, a friend and I walked to a woman’s house. She did not look great, things in life are very difficult, and explained her troubles. We offered to pray with her, which she accepted. After a few moments of silence, we asked the Lord to bring these difficulties and troubles and to inspire her to fight the confusion and distractions. A few weeks later, when we stopped by her house, she looked a lot better: her clothes were clean, hair was done. We keep her in prayer to continue learning about the Catholic faith and get past the troubles in life. We may not see the results of the prayer right away, but the Lord works slowly in silence, which enables the change to be witnessed and noticed later on. “As for God, his ways are perfect; the word of the Lord, purest gold. He indeed is the shield of all who make him their refuge.” Psalm 18:31
God's Greatest Gift Neglected by Griffin Rain
How often do we as Catholics actually meditate on Christ's love for us in his passion? I’m guessing not enough. Have we thought that we have no way of ever going to heaven except by Jesus Christ? We can’t get there unless he takes us. We have so many people who are outside the church and who are going to church but living in mortal sin who think they can get to heaven on their own. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) Our sin brings us to eternal torment and we have a God who loves us so much that He became incarnate and took our punishment on himself! How thankful would a person on death row be if someone decided to take their place and die for them and let them go free? We are on death row and Jesus died for us. He took our place. Why are we not thanking him and living our entire lives for Him?
Often we seem disconnected from Jesus’s passion. Some things I hear: That's something that happened 2000 years ago, he died for everyone and I’m not special etc… When I tell our neighbors that every single Catholic Mass, we are able to be present at this great act of love and unite ourselves to this sacrifice of His life for our salvation. Most people have an incredible sense of awe and they want to come and experience this for themselves. We teach them about the gospel, what is going on at the Mass and what they need to do to be saved. They are excited and want to come to the church and start this journey of becoming Catholic. Sadly all too often we Catholics do not live like we believe this is what happens. We show no reverence before, during or after the Mass. We are there and we leave unchanged. This does not witness the love of Jesus for us in his passion. People who come, notice this and they often have so much negative in their lives. They think that these people who have it all together and they still act this way, there must not be something special going on here. It is so sad to see person after person coming into the church with hopes of changing their lives and they are met with lukewarmness in many different areas and so they go away sad thinking that there is still no hope for them.
We need Catholics to practice the faith we preach. If we are Catholic and we don’t make regular use of the sacrament of reconciliation, don’t believe we have personal sin to confess, think that we are saved by our own good, then we need to meditate more on Christ's passion and why he came. Do not despair but place your hope in Jesus and His saving power! When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:25-26
Upcoming Events
Missionary Associates - Join us this Thursday, June 15th for this month's meeting of the Missionary Associates. This is for people who volunteer with the missionaries or are interested in volunteering/supporting our work. We hope that this continues building up the community around the missionaries, getting to know others, and energizing more people to start working for the salvation of souls here in Milwaukee. This occurs on the 3rd Thursday of every month.
The schedule for the event is as follows:
Evening Prayer 5:30pm - 5:45 pm
Short talk by one of the missionaries 5:50 pm - 6:10 pm
Dinner and socializing 6:15 pm onward
Silent Retreat
We will be heading to New York for a silent retreat with the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate June 18th through 26th. Please keep the Missionaries in your prayer during this time. There will be no public prayers hosted by the Missionaries at this time.
Vita Consecrata Institute
Sunday July 2 to Saturday July 15 the Missionaries will be heading to Christendom College in Virginia to take courses on the religious life specifically on Psychology and Morals, Prayer, and Religious Life in Canon Law through the Vita Consecrata Institute Summer program. Please keep us in your prayer during this time. There will be no public prayers hosted by the Missionaries at this time.
Come and See Week Monday July 17 to Friday July 21
Interested in learning more or discerning the missionary life? Come and See the way Missionaries pray and evangelize the people in Milwaukee here.
Feast Day Celebrations - Every feast day or solemnity that falls on a Monday through Saturday, we will have games set up in the yard in front of the parish and have a feast day grill out. We start with breakfast at 9:30 am and games to follow. Upcoming feast days that we will be celebrating may be found here
Prayer Intentions
We would encourage our readers to pray for those who we have been working with in our outreach ministry. There is much fruit happening with the missionaries and we need your prayers!
Please keep those who have expressed interest in learning more about Catholicism in prayer
James, Alexis, Esha, Flo, Nickolas, Tracey, Robert, Lucious, Ellie, Cortes, Lawrence, Antoine, Deshawn, Cornell, Edward, Michael, Timayah, Myricle, Stephanie, Christine, Tina, John, Queda, Sarah, Jonnie, Jordan, Tony, Ashley, Juan, Jahi, Sherice, Mario, Timisha, Charlos, Johnny, Jerry , Jordan, Lance, Matthew, David, Jerry, Valerie, Nicholas, Elijah, Kelly, Charlos, Erica, Amanda, Gail, Annie, Monique, Christopher, Eve, Christopher, Page, Kevin, Roshawnda, Clenzo, Keter, Howard, Marquez, Cathy, Janett, Debarla, Anthony, Sebastian, Colleen
Please keep those who have started individual catechism classes and are preparing to become Catholic in prayer
Matthew, Isreal, Shaela, Michael, Darien, Brintee, Deshawn, David, IC, Curtis, Antoine, Micah
Please keep those who have stopped classes or we have lost contact with in prayer.
Vershonda, Johnny, Ohmad, Lance, Tremon, Candy, Jamie, Taylor
Please keep those who are fallen away Catholics that we have met and those who have expressed desire to come back to confession and church in prayer
Mary, Brandon, Jordan, Ed, Theodore, Shantae, Storm, Treesha, Max, Wilson, Blessing, Terrie, Johanne, Ken, O, Jack, Deja, Dolly, Alicia, Jennie, Ed, Bob, Ken, Tom, Jenny, Jack, Anthony, Deja, Catherine, Mary, Jodee, Jerry, Diana, Georgia, Thorne, Mike, Johanne, Lisa, Joyce, Dawn, Wayne, Tracy, Fae, Lettie, Terri, Joe, Jennie, Ed, Arturo, John, John, Teresa
Please keep those who have recently returned to the Catholic Church and the Sacraments
Paul, Natalie, Tom, Terri
Those who are in special need of prayer
Robert, Tyrone, Candy, Jonnie, Jamie, Jake, Bud, Deshawn, Anthony
Please pray for any men who are discerning becoming a missionary
Click Here to pray for those who we met in our first year while at St Rose of Lima Parish
About the Missionaries of the Real Presence
The Missionaries of the Real Presence are a group of lay men who live in common at the Visitation House next to St. Catherine Catholic Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as they discern a charism for a new religious community to be contemplative missionaries for Urban Evangelization. We are dedicated to prayer through daily recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours in the church open to the public and evangelization to the neighborhoods surrounding our parish.
Support the Mission, Join the Mission
If you appreciate the work we are doing, consider supporting our mission financially Here.
Volunteer with us with our street ministry and teaching catechism Here
If reading about some of our stories inspires you, come and see what life as a missionary is like and visit us for a day or longer for prayer and ministry as you discern Here.
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