Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
— St. Teresa of Ávila
I often refer to this prayer from St. Teresa of Avila. It’s a compelling reminder that each of us must bring Christ to others through our very being. A reminder of our mission on Earth. When praying these words, I feel a great urgency to find ways to reach as many people as possible. Clearly, parish and diocesan leaders carry this same sense of urgency to inspire the people in our parishes and to invite those who are not in a relationship with the Church.
Fortunately our technology has advanced enough to help us stay in touch through our communications. I know I am grateful to be able to receive and reflect on daily Scripture from USCCB that arrives in my inbox. And during this Lenten season I eagerly await my daily reflection from ACST Catholic based on that day’s Gospel reading. It has been inspiring to see the overwhelming number of you who are also subscribed to “Hear and Believe” from ACST Catholic!
These are wonderful resources for personal prayer. Yet they aren’t connected to my parish or to a theme of parish intercessory prayer. How much more powerful this prayer would be if parishes provided this type of content or their own original prayers for the intentions of the parish and parishioners! Technology can help parish leaders coordinate intentional prayer by sending everyone the same prayers or prayer intentions on the same schedule. It’s one way of extending Christ’s hands, feet, and eyes to the world.
We spend time and effort focusing on engaging parishioners in our parish. This often can become focus on visible activity including an emphasis on group prayer and adoration. What a wonderful opportunity to extend prayer to everyone as part of parish intentions! Using the communications capability of your system, parish leaders can multiply the number of people praying and the times they pray.
It’s not too late to use the ACST Catholic daily Lent reflections or your own source of content for Holy Week and Easter. And use the same process for regular prayer and reflection throughout the year. See the video below and the playlist for a series of short lessons on how to set this up for your parish using MinistryPlatform.
About Terry Poplava
Terry Poplava serves as General Manager, ACST Catholic. As a cradle Catholic, his faith was lukewarm until he was confronted by the intense challenge and commitment he heard in the message about Stewardship. “What do I own and what owns me?” which led him to executive roles at Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic Leadership Institute before his current focus on serving the Catholic Church at ACS Technologies. Terry has extensive experience working with churches across the U.S., supporting their planning, stewardship, and engagement efforts
