This passage from the prologue in the Gospel of John should give us great hope. In spite of the many challenges we have faced in the last few years and are facing today, the light of Christ shines. The darkness—whatever is happening in our world, in our parishes, in our families, and in our own hearts—cannot overcome the light of Christ.

It’s been five years since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. For many people, this was a disorienting and discouraging time. For others, it also served as a time of reflection and positive change.

However, since then, we have continued to face many uncertainties. Our world is plagued by war, economic turmoil, and social upheaval. But no matter what is happening in our world today, the urgency and joy of our mission as Christians remains unchanged: we are called to be missionary disciples.

This is the same mission that the risen Lord entrusted to the apostles before he ascended into heaven: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Yet we wonder, as did the first disciples in the Acts of the Apostles: Are we equipped to fulfill the great commission the Lord has given us? Do we have the qualities of mind, heart, and spirit to respond to the challenges of this mission in our times? How can we pull together as a Catholic community to proclaim and bear witness to the gospel more effectively? These questions are only answerable by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. For we cannot bear witness to Christ or fulfill his mission unless we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit.

Stretched by Pope Francis. I find Pope Francis to be a pope who is stretching me, pulling me, and occasionally pushing me. He is asking me, as a bishop, 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)?

Pope Francis is also asking me to accompany those I serve. One of his famous lines is that bishops should acquire “the smell of the sheep”—and that means being with people, caring about them, listening to them, and asking questions. Accompanying others on their journey through life also means bringing Christ to the journey.

As I answer this call to be a missionary disciple myself, Pope Francis also asks me to bring the gospel to the margins: to the poor and vulnerable, to those alienated from the Church, to those who may be searching for something better in their lives, and even to those who are not searching and have never given much thought to the gospel.

I am tempted to respond, Gosh, I’ve been a priest for forty-eight years and a bishop for thirty. Haven’t I been doing those things? Don’t I have the hang of it by now? But Pope Francis is not pointing a critical finger at me or at you. Rather, he’s “scrutinizing the signs of the times and . . . interpreting them in the light of the Gospel” (Gaudium et Spes, 4) and telling you and me to do the same. The pope is telling us to look with fresh eyes at what the mission requires of us in our time and place.

Numbers do not tell the whole story, but they do tell us something. Only a fraction of the Catholics in the US attend Mass with any regularity, and an even smaller number are involved in their parishes outside of Sunday Mass. In other words, too few have deeply rooted their lives in the Lord’s truth and love.

The way for us to respond to what the pope is saying is not by looking into anyone else’s heart but our own. We have to be willing to ask ourselves, How am I responding to the vocation to discipleship I received on the day of my Baptism?

Encountering Jesus. Our lives as Christians are built on the bedrock of our faith in Jesus Christ. At the heart of our faith is not a mere idea, however noble or inspired, but rather an encounter with Jesus Christ, our Savior. An encounter with Christ is that moment when, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we truly open our hearts to our Savior, understand the depth and beauty of his love for us, and find ourselves forever changed and transformed by him. Once we have done so, we view the Scriptures and the Church’s teaching, the liturgy, our life of prayer, and our moral life in a new way. Far from being burdensome, these things become beautiful and precious, and they move to the center of our lives. We are able to live differently and to strive eagerly for holiness—that is, an ever-deeper participation in God’s Triune glory and self-giving love.

Let me dwell on this point a little more. We may find the term “missionary discipleship” baffling and off-putting until we realize what the Lord, the Bridegroom of our souls, truly offers us. He does not merely love us generically. He 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.

This, indeed, is what Jesus Christ is seeking to do, right in the midst of the chaos of our lives. The Lord is seeking to create in each of us, at the core of our existence, “a light brightly visible,” a light that shines distinctively, from the inside out.

Christ at Work in Us. For many people, the Church’s moral teaching represents a roadblock, not a path to faith. Sometimes we think the bar is set too high, that living according to the Church’s teachings in all their dimensions is all but impossible. This is especially true when the Church’s moral teaching comes across solely as a duty for us to carry out. And moral scandal, especially on the part of the Church’s leaders, discourages many from embracing and living the faith, including its moral teachings.

Yet I want to exhort you that a godly way of life is not really our doing. Rather, 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 and to embrace, in love, every virtue. This becomes a labor of love once we realize that a morally upright life is, at base, a response of love to the God who loved us first. Christian morality is all about our becoming unrepeatable reflections of divine love. When our virtue is infused with love, then it becomes attractive, even luminous.

As the light and love of Jesus overtake our souls, then, we can hardly help but be missionary disciples—followers of Jesus whose lives have become a loving invitation to others to encounter Christ.

The Universal Call to Holiness. I want to emphasize this point: the Lord calls every member of the Church to holiness and missionary discipleship. Every one of us has a role to play in revitalizing the Church’s life and mission. This ongoing work does not belong to “the experts” nor to clergy alone. The Lord calls each of us to be his followers and to attract others to himself, to his gospel, and to the Church by a life of radiant love. Thus, the first place where the light of Christ must brightly shine is in our hearts. May the Holy Spirit animate, guide, and sustain our efforts to be disciples and to make disciples now and for years to come.

Next, let’s look at how our parishes can be places where the light of Christ shines brightly.

The Most Rev. William E. Lori has served as archbishop of Baltimore since 2012. He is currently the vice president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and served for many years as chairman of the Conference's Committee on Pro-Life Activities. These articles have been adapted from his pastoral letter “A Light Brightly Visible: Lighting a Path to Missionary Discipleship.”