A Personal Call. This is a call to which Jesus personally invites each one of us. The Lord says to you and to me, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men and women.” Whether you are a grandparent or a religious brother or sister, an inmate or a college student, whether you are a theologian or an office worker or are simply a “doorkeeper in the house of the Lord” (see Psalm 84:10, RSVCE)—no matter your vocation —Jesus is calling you to follow him and to help others come to know him.

Archbishop Lori tells us that missionary discipleship is, at its heart, a vibrant, life-changing, daily relationship with Jesus. “We may find the term ‘missionary discipleship’ off-putting,” he concedes, “until we realize what the Lord, the Bridegroom of our souls, truly offers us. He does not merely love us generically but loves each of us personally, with a merciful, pervasive, and persistent love that seeks to make each one of us a unique reflection of his divine love.”

Discipleship is first and foremost God’s work, not ours. It is “Christ at work in us through the Holy Spirit, strengthening us in our weakness, offering us forgiveness, patiently helping us to overcome every vice,” Archbishop Lori reminds us. The work of the Holy Spirit should impact our personal lives (page 4), our parishes (page 10), and our family life (page 16). It is Christ in us who changes everything, who renews everything, who raises up everything and everyone.

A Word of Thanksgiving. In addition to thanking Archbishop Lori for writing this month’s essays, I also want to thank him for his service to the Church over many years. For decades he has been advocating for a deep respect for life from conception to natural death, and more recently, he has been speaking out forcefully for racial justice. And he does all this in an upbuilding way, striving to unite the Church rather than divide it.

Like many of us, Archbishop Lori devotes time each morning to sitting before the Lord and seeking his face. And like many of us, he sometimes struggles: “I find Pope Francis . . . asking me . . . to test the quality of my encounter with Christ. As I go about my ministry, what is my relationship with Christ like? Is it warm, personal, and transformative, or is it cold and formal? Have I allowed the risen Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit to open my mind ‘to understand the scriptures’ (Luke 24:45)”?

May the power of the risen Jesus transform each of us into the missionary disciples that he is calling us to be!

Jeff Smith, President
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