Backyard Missionaries

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To be a missionary, by strict definition, means to go out of your own country or community to bring Jesus message of love & salvation. 

So, how can you be a missionary in your own backyard? Your own community? 

This is where the call to the New Evangelization really takes root... inviting our own friends and our own communities to embrace the Gospel message. 

It reminds me a lot of the famous poem, and you can interchange the word saint for missionary. 

“We need saints without cassocks, without veils – we need saints with jeans and tennis shoes. We need saints that go to the movies that listen to music, that hang out with their friends. We need saints that place God in first place ahead of succeeding in any career. We need saints that look for time to pray every day and who know how to be in love with purity, chastity and all good things. We need saints – saints for the 21st century with a spirituality appropriate to our new time. We need saints that have a commitment to helping the poor and to make the needed social change. We need saints to live in the world, to sanctify the world and to not be afraid of living in the world by their presence in it. We need saints that drink Coca-Cola, that eat hot dogs, that surf the internet and that listen to their iPods. We need saints that love the Eucharist, that are not afraid or embarrassed to eat a pizza or drink a beer with their friends. We need saints who love the movies, dance, sports, theater. We need saints that are open, sociable, normal, happy companions. we need saints who are in this world and who know how to enjoy the best in this world without being callous or mundane. We need saints.”  (Author Unknown)

We need missionaries. And missionaries that literally wear jeans & tennis shoes, who are not afraid to bring Jesus into every area of their life.