“After cleaning up at the Upper Room, I headed over to the Cathedral to join for the adoration and outreach part of the evening. I had just arrived at the front when I saw my friend in tears. I was concerned and asked if she was okay. She said that they were good tears because she was so moved by the faith of a man who she did not expect to really express any.

The man had been walking nearby while supporting his drunk girlfriend when my friend had the courage to go up to them and invite them to come pray in the Church. The man surprisingly accepted and she lit a candle with him and walked with him all the way to the front before the altar. There, she prayed with him and he even did the Sign of the Cross and knelt down in prayer. He began to tear up and be vulnerable and shared a bit of his life story with her, explaining that he had been brought up Protestant but had since left the faith.

After the man left, the whole experience humbled and deeply moved my friend. She had never expected that this man coming from a night out with his drunk partner on the streets would suddenly be so open to the faith. She was moved to tears of joy.

In other words, she was having a missionary conversion.

She had witnessed the reinvigoration of faith in someone else and it was also moving her to a deeper faith in God and the works He can do in people's hearts. This same movement, in turn, deeply moved me when she was explaining all of this to me. It inspired me also to go out into the streets to invite people to pray and to come encounter Jesus at the altar.” 

Gabe Canizares works in public health researching and is a parishioner at Precious Blood Parish in Surrey, BC.

#WeAreProclaim is a story campaign by the Proclaim Movement. Inspired by Humans of New York and the Archdiocese of Detroit’s I am Here campaign, it will showcase missionary conversion stories of people from the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Check out the rest of the campaign on Facebook and Instagram at @weareproclaim.