2017 USCCB Convocation Participants Guidebook and Journal | Page 29
The Call to Missionary Discipleship
stand in need of repentance and healing. What biases and blind
spots, within each of us, remain unexplored, hidden, or mysteri-
ous, perhaps due to various obstacles, sins, or wounds?
For example, the Church must attend to the wounds rendered by
racism in our country; we must listen to those affected by it and be
open to healing and conversion in our own hearts and local com-
munities. 28 Another example could be fear, anxiety, insecurity, or
a past rejection that lingers in the heart and keeps us from sharing
and acting upon a desire or calling that is experienced in prayer.
The Convocation is a good time to reflect on these imperfections
and to explore them with Christ. As Pope Francis says, “What is
needed is the ability to cultivate an interior space which can give a
Christian meaning to commitment and activity. Without prolonged
moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of
sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes mean-
ingless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and
our fervor dies out.” 29 Begin this process of self-reflection: Where
might the Lord be calling you to conversion? What areas of your
own heart, and the heart of your community, are wounded and in
need of Christ’s healing? The Convocation will feature several key
moments of prayer and reflection for participants to engage these
areas of the heart in order to be renewed so as to go forth and reach
those on the peripheries.
The Role of the Leader in the Mission
Territory Today
All the participants at the Convocation have been identified as
Catholic leaders. Many people are considered Catholic lead-
ers simply by virtue of their employment or position in the
Church, such as pastors or lay ecclesial ministers. Others are
leaders due to their role in the community. Still others have been
invited as emerging leaders: young people who possess leader-
ship gifts and have a unique perspective or others who may not
be in formal positions of leadership. No matter what brought
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