“Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling you to follow me. Pray for those who do not pray and do not want peace and joy, which only the Most High can give. May your souls be united in the joy of expectancy and your heart will be filled with peace. You will be convinced, little children, that all will be good and that God will bless all; because the good that you give will return to you, and joy will enfold your heart because you are with God and in God. Thank you for having responded to my call.” -Our Lady of Medjugorje, in private revelation given to Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, on November 25, 2025
A reflection by Matthew Kelly, from his book “Rediscover Advent”:
There are a great many people who think the problem with the world today is that people don’t come to church. They think the challenge is to bring people to church, but the real challenge is to bring the Church to the people.
Fundamentally, we are failing to do as Christ did—namely, to reach out and meet people where they are in their need, in their brokenness. We are failing to carry out the mission Christ entrusted to us through our apostolic lineage (cf. Matthew 28:16-20). We are failing to carry out the mission of the Church, which is to proclaim the good news of the Gospel to the people of every age.
If people do not come to church, it is not their failure alone; it is ours as well. We should ask ourselves, “Why are they not coming to church?” People don’t come to church because they don’t see the value in it. If we convinced them of the value, if they really understood the richness and beauty of Catholicism, they would make church an indispensable part of their lives.
Engaging people means showing them how the Gospel can transform their lives. It means showing people that embracing the life God calls us to will liberate them from feeling torn in a dozen different directions. Engaging people means showing them how God intends to make their lives better.
An excerpt from “No Price Too High” by Deacon Alex Jones:
I had a wonderful early life as a Christian in the Pentecostal church. I think about that sometimes, and it brings tears to my eyes. I think about those times with those dear people and what a wonderful time we had serving the Lord. We just loved the Lord, and we loved one another. It was a small, close-knit community, and our lives revolved around worshipping God and doing good, and we loved it. The young people grew up together, and our greatest joy was in doing good. A virtuous life was the life we loved to live.
We loved prayer, and we loved worship, and we loved coming together at potlucks and sharing our experiences with one another. We loved talking about the Bible and arguing different points of view. It was so exhilarating. Our lives centered around living, rejoicing, praying, fasting, digging out Scriptures, and debating the fine points of law and Gospel and grace. I loved it. I still do love it.
But now I see that all of what I had before may have seemed perfect, but it was not complete. Now I understand that God’s working is far greater than I ever thought—it is incomprehensible. What I have now is an amazing continuation of those wonderful early days. I had gone to the limit of those early days. Now that limit has been taken off, and there is a limitless growth in the things of God.
Before it was like swimming in a wonderful twenty-five-foot-deep river, lined with beautiful trees. Somehow, by God’s grace, I reached the mouth of that river and found the ocean, the bottomless ocean with the sun on the horizon, and it is beyond comprehension. It is limitless.
I do miss many of the old expressions, the methods of worship, the freedom, the music, and the preaching—especially the preaching. I have found nothing in the Catholic Church that quite parallels the freedom, the joy, and the power of a good Pentecostal worship service. But the thing that sets the Catholic Church apart from all other churches is the Eucharist, the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. In other churches, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is there; the joy of the Lord is there; but the Eucharist is not there. That is the center of worship in the Catholic Church and has been so for two thousand years.
I do miss the things of my former life because they are still a part of me, but I can’t disregard the truths I’ve learned. I could never go back! It is like reminiscing about high school days in your forties: you have warm feelings about the experiences and relationships that you once enjoyed, but life has matured far beyond those adolescent days. I cannot repudiate my religious past. My spiritual life began in the Pentecostal fires of the Church of God in Christ, later grew to incorporate the dynamism and scripturally oriented teachings of Evangelical Christianity, and has finally found its completion in the liturgy and life of the Catholic Church. And what keeps me here is the knowledge that this is the Church of the New Testament! This is the Church in which I have found the legacy of the apostles, the martyrs, the saints (especially Mary, the Mother of God), and two thousand years of doctrinal development. And, finally, it is here that I find the True Presence in the Eucharist.
From an address by Pope Leo XIV, on November 28, 2025:
When we look with God’s eyes, we discover that He has chosen the way of littleness, descending into our midst. This is the way of the Lord, to which we are all called to bear witness. The prophets announce God’s promise by speaking of a small shoot that will spring forth (cf. Isaiah 11:1). Jesus praises the little ones who trust in Him (cf. Mark 10:13–16). He teaches that God’s kingdom does not impose itself with displays of power (cf. Luke 17:20–21), but grows like the smallest of all the seeds planted in the earth (cf. Mark 4:31).
This logic of littleness is the Church’s true strength. It does not lie in her resources or structures, nor do the fruits of her mission depend on numbers, economic power, or social influence. The Church instead lives by the light of the Lamb; gathered around Him, she is sent out into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. In this mission, she is constantly called to trust in the Lord’s promise: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Let us remember also the words of Pope Francis, who said, “a Christian community in which the faithful, priests, and bishops do not follow the path of littleness has no future…. The kingdom of God sprouts in small things, always in what is small” (Homily at Santa Marta, 3 December 2019).
