Going on a mission trip is deeply impactful. I remember years ago, when I was much younger, my home parish took a trip to Eastern Kentucky to serve the poor. It was eye opening in ways that I could have never anticipated.
Yet, while the trip changed me, it didn’t transform me. For the longest time after the trip, I couldn’t recognize that while I was a practicing Catholic and going out on mission, I may have been financially sound but was spiritually impoverished.
I was so focused on evangelizing others, I failed to love God myself—I failed to live in the Gospel.
St. John Paul II guides us to see this need in our lives. And the place where this begins, the very heart of our life of faith, is in ourselves.
We must evangelize ourselves to transform the world.
What does that look like? We evangelize ourselves by responding to Christ with a full yes. It doesn’t have to be a huge decision, but can be something small. Especially when it comes to the home, our small yes can impact generations to become centered on the Gospel message.
Christ is calling us each moment to a small act of love to bring the Gospel message back into our hearts.
When we have brought the Gospel message back into our hearts—into our families—that becomes the starting point for our work in evangelization.