Are You Ready?

Sharing the Real Presence

In this newsletter

1. Are You Ready? by Griffin Rain

2. Upcoming Events

3. Volunteers Needed

Are you Ready? by Griffin rain

God does not command us to do the impossible. If we are not able to do something, he is not calling us to it. Are we ready for what God wants to do through us? There are a few things that have happened over the past few months that have really helped me to see that if we are ready for what God wants then he will do more than we imagined. Truly, the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few!

These days, most of my mission work has been in areas where I will meet more fallen away Catholics and will work to help bring them back. This is partly because I don’t have the help that is necessary to welcome people into the church who have addiction, mental illness, dire poverty etc. I realized that working in the inner city neighborhoods, there is a great need to address this, for a complete conversion however with myself being the only fully committed missionary at this time, I am not ready to take on all of this. If that will be a reality, I will need much more help.

I have been seeing great fruit working to help bring back the fallen away Catholics. Most recently, we were evangelizing outside of the Basilica of St Joseph at the archdiocesan 12 hours of reconciliation event. There were many priests inside of the Basilica to hear confessions all day from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. We were out there evangelizing on the street for almost the whole day, encouraging the many fallen away Catholics who live in the neighborhood to return to confession. There were many people who we met out on the corner who had been away from the church for many years and we were able to encourage them to come back to confession that day. The church was ready to receive them with many priests sitting in the confessional ready to welcome them back into communion. I have found that if we are ready, they will come. Oftentimes we are not ready.

I want to tell the story of one of the men who I was able to minister to that day. I met him while he was waiting for the city bus on the corner where we were stationed next to the church. At the beginning of the conversation he shared that he still cares about God, but has not practiced any faith for a while. He shared that he thought he should get baptized again and I asked him why he thought that. He shared that he had fallen into some very serious sin and that he thought that that would help him to leave it behind. He had been going to some protestant churches on and off who told him about rebaptism. I shared with him that we are to only get baptised once and if we commit any sins after our baptism, we need to go to confession. After a little bit of back and forth on the reason we go to confession and the authority of the priests to hear confessions given in John 20:23, he wanted to return to confession. It was close to 50 years since his only confession that he barely remembered from when he was 7 years old. He did not know how to read and so I walked him through an examination of conscience so he would be ready to go to confession. I left him to go to confession and later that day I saw him again and he was on the phone with a friend telling him how great it was to go to confession and he was encouraging his friend to return to the church as well. If it has been a while for you to make it to confession, now is the time just before Easter!

Recently, there has been a surge in the number of men desiring to move into the Street Disciple House and I see that is because we are ready to have men join now. When I first moved in, we only had access to ⅓ of the house and it would have been tight to have more men join, but now that some of the neighbors moved out upstairs, there are bedrooms available for men to join. We also have a formation plan in place where each man will commit to growth in four areas of formation.

I think this is an important lesson because God will not send people to a church, community etc. if they are not ready to nurture their life with Christ. We as Catholics need to help prepare the way for potential converts and vocations. If we aren’t ready God will spare them the disappointment of committing their life to a dead end.

Upcoming Events

Holy Week Pilgrimages - Join us this week for our two Holy Week Pilgrimages! After the 7 pm Holy Thursday Mass April 17 at Gesu Catholic Church, we will have a bike blessing followed by a seven churches pilgrimage. On Good Friday April 18th, after the noon liturgy at Gesu we will be having our Way of the Cross Pilgrimage to pray one station at each closed Catholic Church or institution on Milwaukee's Northside. See fliers below or visit Facebook for more information Bike Pilgrimage or Way of the Cross Pilgrimage

Lunch in the Park - We will be serving food at the Cream City Garden homeless camp (1307 N 13th st) Saturday April 19th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Volunteers are needed on two teams. Kitchen team and Evangelist team. Please contact us if you can make it. We begin at the Street disciple house at 11am.

Missionary Associates *Rescheduled! - Join us for our next Missionary Associates Dinner. We have changed the date from Monday April 28th to Thursday May 1st. 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 at the Street Disciple House located at 2126 W Michigan St. Milwaukee, WI 53233. The schedule for the event is as follows:

●             Evening Prayer 5:30 pm - 5:50 pm

●             Short talk and discussion 5:55 pm - 6:25 pm

●             Dinner and socializing 6:30 pm onward

If you can't make it this time, plan for the 4th Monday of each month. If you would like to be on our text updates list, please text (414)235-7307 your name and we will add you.

Come and See – We are encouraging men who are interested in our way of life to visit for a come and see. We encourage longer visits such as a week-long visit. We are open to having visitors most weeks so if you have a week that will work for you, contact us and we can have you for a visit. To set up a visit call/text (414) 235-7307 or e-mail vocations@reaplresencemissionaries.org

Disputatio - The first disputatio was a hit and we plan to make this a monthly event!

Come expand your mind and refine your reasoning skills.

The event will consist of the following: Three (or so) volunteers from those who attend will do their best to answer a question (they will not know the questions beforehand). These questions could be philosophical, theological, or cultural. Each volunteer will then respond to three objections taken from the audience and will afterwards have the opportunity to restate or change their original position.

The questions can range from goofy to grim. The only similarity between all the questions is that each will provide opportunities for us to improve our ability to reason.

Tea and scones will be provided as refreshments and, weather permitting, the event will be followed by a fire outside.

There is nothing you need to do to prepare. You need simply arrive at 6:30pm on Sunday, the 27th of April. The event will take place at the Street Disciple House: 2126 W Michigan St. Milwaukee, WI, 53233

Please feel free to invite anyone you think would enjoy this event. This event is for everyone who loves the truth, religious or not. Come ease the body and strain the mind!

Men's Open House Discipleship Night - Join us for the Men's Open House Discipleship Night on Friday nights at the Street Disciple House. We have this every Friday going forward unless announced otherwise (not on Good Friday). See schedule & speakers for upcoming nights here. It will be a open house so come when you can. The plan for the night is to prepare dinner 5pm until ready, eat; evening prayer 6:30pm; 7pm Formation; 8:15 pm to 10 pm game night/ social. We will conclude with Night Prayer at 10 pm.

Please invite those who you think would benefit with this night of discipleship!

Also if you would like to help with organizing the night, communication, cooking, finding speakers etc. please let us know!

Volunteers Needed

(Contact 414-235-7307 to help)

• Way of the Cross at 2:30 pm in front of Gesu followed by evangelization through the city streets. Fridays @ 12th and Wisconsin av.

• We are looking for someone to help us with making YouTube videos of the mission

• We are looking to offer more formation related activities at the street disciple house. If you have any ideas or would like to start a group, let us know! (bible study, catechism study, etc.)

• Saturday big group evangelization at high foot traffic area 10:30 am - 2:30 pm

Needed Items

(Click underline for link to donate)

• Street Disciple House Items

  • twin size box springs & frames

  • Matching couches for living room

  • Alarm clocks

  • Rake

• Street Evangelization/Preaching Items

  • Amazon List (pamphlet racks, hard drive, microphone, camera battery, note taker bible, voice recorder)

• Financial Donations for Missionary Formation and Street Disciple House

• Wood 2x4's (8ft) for the Weekly Way of the Cross

About the Missionaries of the Real Presence

The Missionaries of the Real Presence aims to assist in the apostolic renewal of the church by intentionally discipling men living in community and encouraging missionary vocations in the church. We participate in Christ’s evangelizing work for the salvation of souls especially seeking out those who have been spiritually neglected. We introduce people to Jesus through intentional conversation, preaching, teaching, and prayer. We engage in direct evangelization in the public forum on the city streets, on public transit, in homes and share the good news of Christ with those we meet. All of this flows from a life of prayer and union with Jesus as our source.

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 house visits 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.

If you want to learn how we evangelize, consider watching videos on our YouTube Channel, Missionaries of the Real Presence

Check out our Facebook Here or our Instagram Here

If you liked this newsletter from the Missionaries of the Real Presence, consider subscribing and sharing with your friends.