Surrender your will to God’s will

We must personally know and deeply love Jesus Christ before we can expect to share His love with others

Tom Cronin is the Director of Evangelization & Strategic Planning in the Diocese of Albany. Contact Tom with any questions about boosting evangelization efforts at your parish at [email protected] or by visiting www.rcda.org/evangelization. Follow me on Instagram: tom_rcda.

I recently started my new role as Director of Evangelization & Strategic Planning for our Diocese and I am blessed to take on these additional responsibilities. 

As I reflect on the task ahead of us, no other organization or entity has a more important mission on the face of the earth than what Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 28:19 — “Go and make disciples of all nations.” That call to action is as relevant and critical today as it was more than 2,000 years ago.

Keeping that top of mind, I led a parish workshop two weeks ago based on the topic of “Living our Purpose.” We covered both our purpose as individuals as well as the purpose of our Church. I was struck by the conversation and how natural it is for us as both individuals and a Church to look inward. It’s easy to fall into the trap of asking questions like: What do I want for my life?” During my preparation for this presentation, I was enlightened when I read in Pastor Rick Warren’s bestselling book, “The Purpose Driven Life” that we can only achieve our potential when we ask our Creator what our purpose is. Pastor Rick writes, “You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for!” We must surrender our will for something bigger and better — for God’s will in our life. 

The same goes for our Church — many times we get in a rut of serving the “members” of the parish as well as maintaining our aging buildings rather than helping those in need in the greater community. We must love and accompany those in need and be the face of Christ to everyone we encounter in order to live our purpose. I know this is a challenge when so many of our parishes are grappling with decreased attendance, financial struggles, fewer volunteers and mounting building maintenance.

During these moments of inward focus, we tend to put pressure on ourselves and believe that we are in charge. If you’re anything like me, I need to slow down, pray more and listen more. In those moments of silence, especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in adoration, I am immediately reminded that the Holy Spirit will work through me when I am most open to His presence and ask for His help. 

The concept that we can’t give what we don’t have is so true. We must personally know and deeply love Jesus Christ before we can expect to share His love with others. So, let’s focus on getting ourselves right for the greater good of helping our brothers and sisters in Christ find salvation. When we each critically assess our role and stay intentionally focused on the mission, great things will happen when our purpose is aligned to God’s purpose for us. The power of the Holy Spirit will enable us to do things we never imagined.

Tom Cronin is the Director of Evangelization & Strategic Planning in the Diocese of Albany.  Contact Tom with any questions about boosting evangelization efforts at your parish at [email protected] or by visiting www.rcda.org/evangelization. Follow me on Instagram: tom_rcda.