Justin Fatica from Hard As Nails Ministries (http://www.hanm.org/) was scheduled to present a program at our parish which encourages young people to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The day before the event, my children wrote to their friends and invited them to come with us. My children extended many invitations, because they recognize that so many of their peers, and their parents, have very little, if any, understanding of what it means to live for Christ because they do not know Christ.
My sons are in high school, and since I have two boys who are older, and one girl who is younger, we have more conversations that focus on boys than on girls.
We have more conversations that focus on encouraging boys to develop into holy men.
I had a conversation with St. John Bosco that evening, and asked him to please send some boys who would be willing to go with us.
"St. John Bosco, send us some of 'your' boys!"
By the time I tucked my children into bed that night, every single invitation they extended had been rejected. They remained hopeful that they could generate some interest among their friends the next day at school, but honestly, my children were very disappointed by the reaction of their peers.
So that night we discussed how important our efforts to bring Christ to people are, and how difficult that can be sometimes. So often we are rejected, over and over again. Sometimes we are mocked, and many times the devil tries to create animosity and division to stop us from being open to extending or receiving God's love.
One of our adversary's favorite strategies is to convince people that Christ's instruments are weird, or are crazy people. Irony of ironies, how strange is that, to call people who love others in imitation of Christ crazy!
The rejection is not easy to take, and the atmosphere that night was filled with disappointment. With the true spirit of St. John Bosco we remained determined to keep trying again anyway. We discussed how it is God who touches hearts, not us, and we were successful in accomplishing our part by issuing the invitations. Perhaps a seed or two had been planted among some of their friends, and there would be growth in the future. My children went to school the next morning, and I continued praying throughout the day to St. John Bosco, through the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, asking them to send us some boys who would benefit from the presentation.
I was eager to hear about the reactions of my children's peers when they were invited to the talk in person.
In imitation of St. John Bosco, we invited everyone who wanted to come along to gather for pizza at Pizza Hut before proceeding to the church.
After school, no friends were with Andre, Nick, and Alyssa as they got in the car. As the four of us drove to the restaurant, I told the children that it was very pleasing to God that they had invited their friends to come along. Again we discussed how God performs action through us, and all were assured that "No prayer is ever lost."
Fifteen minutes before we were to leave for the church, the doorbell rang. Standing at the door was an eleven year old boy who was looking for someone to play with. He had been sent by St. John Bosco, through the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, and he came with us to the talk that night.
On the way to the church, the boy enjoyed hearing the story of how St. John Bosco and Blessed Mother had answered our prayer through him. The five of us sat side by side in the crowd of people who had had responded to their summons from God to "Come, follow me" (Matthew 4:9).
Hard As Nails is a national Catholic/Christian organization that helps schools, churches, and organizations introduce people to Jesus, facilitates the development of personal relationships with Him, and cultivates local communities. While Hard As Nails is "unabashedly Catholic," it seeks to build up all Christian faiths while sharing Christ's unfathomable love and mercy with a world in tremendous need of love and healing.
For more information, visit its website: http://www.hanm.org/
