A Dose of Reality

A few months into our mission year, and I was about due for a strong dose of reality.

Now, often times when we think of the phrase, “a dose of reality”, we relate it to a strong, jolting wake up call that pulls us out of a daydream and an overly optimistic unreality. But that’s not what happened to me at all. It’s not as if I’ve been living with my head in the clouds, expecting to perfectly reach the heart of every young person I meet with the love of Jesus. On the contrary, I have been very aware of the reality these teenagers are facing; the divorce of their parents, being bullied at school, losing a loved one to cancer, struggling with the pressures of perfectionism, trying to live up to the unreasonable expectations of this world, or collapsing beneath additional pressures of lust, drugs and alcohol. These are the stories we hear frequently on SPIRITUS, and they certainly have a way of really getting to you and making you feel like the task of restoring faith, hope and love are impossible in such a broken world. Sure, hope can be seen in the hearts of the teens who realize their thirst for God, and even more so in those who are willing to do something about quenching that thirst, but the pain we encounter still wears on us.

For me, a dose of reality came not by realizing more of the pain and suffering of the mission, but by the glorious splendor the mission provides when we persevere. One of the local parishes was gracious enough to host Treasures of the Church, an evangelization ministry in which Fr. Tom brings 150 relics out for veneration, and those of us who were not on retreat where able to attend. Being able to walk around the room surrounded by the bones and remains of so many saints was breathtaking, and I was surprised by the amount of grace and peace I felt just by being there. I’ve been to numerous reliquaries in Rome, and their effect on me was passing. But this time around I was uniquely struck by what I was finally able to put into words as ‘a strong dose of reality’. The saints are so real, and their stories are so raw. Martyrs, mothers, popes, apostles, preachers, servants, laity - holiness is possible in all stages of life, including after death. The profound reality that these holy men and women are actively apart of this mission of evangelization in union with me reached me to my core, and praise be to God, this strong dosage was certainly what I needed.

The grace that was given to me was the realization that yes, our mission is hard and overwhelming. We can’t do it alone. But, praise be to God, we don’t have to. The saints join us in our mission, and through their intercession and the mercy of God, we cannot and will not fail. And that is the truth of the Body of Christ, a truth that is just as real as our sufferings.

A photo of the relic of my patroness, St. Mary Magdalene

-Ashley Lange