BY: DAN DUFRESNE

As a Christian I realize that God reveals Himself to us a little each day.  Sometimes it takes hours, days or years to process how He is working in our lives.  The question I pose to you today is one that I’ve recently discovered for myself.  Am I as a Christian allowing God to reveal Himself through me to those who do not know Him?  If some people come to know Christ because of me it won’t be because I’ve beaten them over the head with a bible.  They will come to know Christ because I’ve allowed Christ to touch them through me. 

About 10 years ago I had a good but stressful job that I loved and just about everything seemed to be going my way.  Deep down inside something seemed to be missing.  I was spiritually in a funk and it would be a longtime before I felt like I was where God wanted me to be.  Then, I was recruited to work for another company with a big pay increase and I had high hopes of fulfilling my dreams of making “it”.  Within a matter of days I realized I had made a terrible decision.  It would be years before I ever felt somewhat satisfied with my career again.  Without knowing it I had embarked on a quest to a much deeper relationship with God.  Somewhere along the path I ended up on an ACTS retreat and that was the event in which many of the plights in my life finally began to make sense.  My plans were not God’s plans and it was time to turn things over to Him.  I started my own company providing design and drafting services; and I have also taken and been laid off from many jobs since that time.  The one constant of all the jobs I’ve had has been that there have been very few Christians among my coworkers.  My improved relationship with God allowed me to get through the tough times without the stress of thinking I would lose everything my wife and I had worked for all these years.  God always provided and I had the faith to wait and be patient for Him to do so. 

I had sort of an epiphany that I will share with you now shortly before I was laid off from a job a few years ago.  The company I was working for had come upon rough times and being the newest employee I knew my number was almost up.  The owner of this company was taking the downturn very hard and was taking it out on the employees at will.  He was rude and intolerable to the workforce and his tirades were taking an ever more personal tone.  I remember at one point sitting at my desk contemplating my fate.  In a silent prayer I asked God what was the point of working at job after job as I was at that time.  I had worked hard to build relationships and trust with my coworkers so we could turn things around for this company.  Things seemed to be going very well and then all of a sudden we hit the wall and sales dropped to nothing.  All my efforts had failed and soon I would be starting all over somewhere else with the possibility of it all going the same way again.  As soon as I posed the question I felt an answer.  It wasn’t audible. It was just there.  The answer was simple, “Stop looking at this as a job”.  I was stunned at the answer and somewhat sarcastically asked, “What is this if it isn’t a job?”  The answer was, “This is your ministry”.  “Help my people to know Me and know that I love them”.  The answer was overwhelming, but full of God’s wisdom.  Sure enough I was laid off a few weeks later and work was waiting for me at my business the very next day.  Once again God provided and I had a great and productive year.  About a month and a half ago I was recruited for a full time job close to home.  It was going to be a tough decision to make based on my past experiences of other similar jobs.  As I walked with my potential employer, I ran into an ACTS brother that I did not know worked there.  This ACTS brother and I talked offline, and I made the decision to take the job based on our conversations. 

Things have been going quite well for me and I’m glad I took the position.  It's also apparent to me that many of the people I work with have no relationship with God whatsoever. 

Recently, my new employer held a Christmas party at a local bar.  I wanted to go so I could get to know some of the employees a little better.  I knew it wouldn’t be long before people would be letting their hair down. You can always tell who needs Christ in their lives in these kinds of situations.  As the alcohol flowed and things progressed, some of the people began to reveal how lonely and devoid of love they feel by their actions.  I ended up standing next to my ACTS brother who I don’t get to see often because we work in different departments.  As we both sipped sodas, this brother confided to me that he felt like some of our coworkers were bringing him down to a worldly level more often than he liked.  I told him that Christ reveals himself a little to us each day and as Christians it is on us to shine that light to his lost people whenever we can.  We can’t beat them up or be too pushy.  We have to work within the opportunities as they present themselves.  When we openly allow others to see us as Christians, we may face ridicule from those who are not.  It’s when people are really struggling that they may seek us out because they have no place else to turn.  They may not know a priest or reverend they feel comfortable talking to.  They only know that we as Christians have it somewhat together for some reason.  As I spoke these words to my ACTS brother, I noticed sun light coming through the window behind him.  The window which had gone unnoticed by me until that moment was a salvaged piece from an Old Catholic church.  It was a stained glass window with a depiction of a monstrance and the Eucharist within it.  It might be seen by some as sacrilege to have such an object in a bar, but God uses even something like this for His purposes.  Light was coming through this window and touching the two of us as we spoke.  As I said, Christ reveals himself to us everyday and it’s up to us to pass that light on whenever we can.  Pass it on.

An ACTS retreat is a three day and three night Catholic lay retreat presented by fellow parishioners.  The retreat begins on Thursday evening and ends the following Sunday at a Mass celebrated with the parish community.  Retreats for men and retreats for women are given separately.  Talks and activities during the retreat focus on Adoration, Community, Theology, and Service, from which the ACTS acronym is derived.   Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are the guides for the retreats.  The retreat takes on the traditions and atmosphere of the parish community sponsoring it.  The retreat facilitates the attainment of a new or deeper relationship with the Lord through: Adoration - the call by, acceptance of, and response to God's Community - the love and caring of each other Theology - the study of God through scripture and the Catholic Faith Service - to God and his people.
(From the ACTS Missions Website: http://www.actsmissions.org)