Are You Catholic?

By Joe Sullivan, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Driving around Phoenix taking people to their doctor appointments, therapies, and back home again, you run into interesting people and have interesting experiences.

A few weeks ago, I picked up a lady who was older middle-age. She spent the first part of the 25-minute ride in silence. After about 10 minutes into the ride, she suddenly asked me quite loudly and clearly, “Are you Catholic?” 

There were no indications from me personally or anything inside my car that would have suggested “Catholic” or even “religious.” I said I was and that I try to be a good one. She confided that she is not, but that she loves Catholicism and wants to be a Catholic. I asked her how she came to that. “Oh, I have been boarding at the Missionaries of Charity. They let me stay there until I can get on my feet again. I am homeless. I go to their daily Mass. It is beautiful, and they love me so much. I really want to be Catholic.” 

It was a great blessing for me to speak with this simple soul. Our Lord dropped on me an opportunity to help someone so ready and willing. I helped her with guidance on where to go, who to talk to, what to say, and what to expect. The Missionaries of Charity are in the poor section of Phoenix, and I occasionally pick people up from there to take them to their clinic visits. Our Miles Jesu priests here say Holy Mass for the Sisters quite often. 

The main tool of evangelization is love. The Sisters sowed the seed, and I was called to cultivate it. Others will reap it. Most importantly, Our Lord seems to have gathered another soul into His heavenly garden.