You are called to become a saint

You are called to become a saint. You have a God-given mission. Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) has been speaking these truths into my life since I met the university student movement while on campus 13 years ago.

I came to know the personal love of Jesus by doing a faith study with a CCO missionary when I was 22. Since then I’ve been to the annual Rise Up Conference seven times in six different Canadian cities, but this time was different. I got to go as a workshop presenter with my husband on the topic of ‘holiness in the world.’ It was inspiring to hear the ways young adults are boldly living their faith in the world, and eye-opening to hear the challenges they are up against in the culture.

I’m 35 years old and married with four children. My life looks different now than it did when I attended my first Rise Up. But the Lord has remained faithful and continues to remind me that my deepest identity is missionary: to know the love of God and then share it. So I took the plunge during the commissioning evening to go up for prayer ministry, asking the Holy Spirit to equip me to share the overflow of love I had received with the world. And the world God placed in my heart that night was my godson’s mother, a long-time best friend who isn’t going to church right now. I called her up after the conference and asked if she would take the same faith study I took 13 years ago. I’m humbled to say, it’s taken me over a decade to work up the courage to ask God for the grace to ask her. And you know what, she said yes! And she even asked if I might like to invite two of our other high school friends to join us.

Proclaiming the Gospel clear and simple is at the heart of CCO. Sounds easy, but it can be daunting. Yet, I realized this Rise Up that God is greater than my pride and insecurities and there is no time like the present. 

Written by: Sara Francis
Photos: Catholic Christian Outreach