Evangelization Supplement

Prayer’s role in evangelization

By Sam Rasp

In 1973, Mother Teresa of Calcutta made a radical decision on behalf of the Missionaries of Charity. Prior to this point, the sisters would stop multiple times a day for prayer. These breaks would include Mass, Liturgy of the Hours and other devotions they were accustomed to praying. All of this was on top of the grueling work of caring for the sick and dying, to which they dedicated their lives.

Without taking out anything from their daily schedule, Mother Teresa decided to add a holy hour, an hour spent in front of the Lord in eucharistic adoration, to the daily life of a Missionary of Charity. She modeled this hour after the hour that Jesus spent praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before his Passion and death.

This decision was quite countercultural. Many people thought then, and many still do, that with a job so difficult and demanding, it would be foolish, irresponsible and unproductive to take so much time away from the “job” to pray. To that, Mother responded, “If we don’t take time to pray, we could not do this work.”

After some time with this added devotion, Mother said “this hour of intimacy with Jesus is something very beautiful. I have seen a great change in our congregation from the day we started having adoration every day. Our love for Jesus is more intimate. Our love for each other is more understanding. Our love for the poor is more compassionate.”

This is a great example for us as we strive to evangelize. It would be easy to think that in order to evangelize successfully, we need to spend all of our time convincing people to come or return to the Church. While this component is important, our efforts must be rooted in our prayer, just as Mother Teresa noted. Jesus himself tells us, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

If we don’t take time for prayer, it is inevitable that we will begin to rely on our own efforts instead of God’s goodness and love to bring lost souls back to himself. We are only workers in God’s vineyard. We can plant seeds and water the soil, but God is the one who makes sure that the seeds bear fruit.

We see in Scripture that Jesus invites his Apostles to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mk 6:31). The Lord also invites us to do this. He knows that it is necessary for us to spend time with our heavenly Father and rest with him in the silence.

For some of us, the thought of finding time for prayer in our busy schedules is daunting and perhaps seems impossible. Mother Teresa has a perfect response for us. She says, “If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy!” Her deep love for God allowed her to remember at all times that without him, we truly can do nothing. She deeply recognized the truth that we must put God and our relationship with him above everything else in our life.

In light of the upcoming three-year National Eucharistic Revival, in this supplement we’ll focus on the role of the Eucharist—Jesus Christ living today under the appearance of bread and wine—in our prayer and evangelizations efforts.

Just as Mother Teresa did, I would like to invite you to put your relationship with God above everything else. The Lord proves every time that he is faithful and good in all things. He will take care of us, and when we give everything to him, including our time, his grace is even more evident in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.

(Sam Rasp serves as archdiocesan coordinator of evangelization and discipleship. For resources that help create a culture of evangelization in your parish, contact him at srasp@archindy.org.) †

Read more stories from our 2022 Evangelization Supplement