Photo Caption: The Holy Door that many people walked through at Notre Dame de Québec.

I went on a CCO mission trip to Quebec City one summer. It was a profound experience—I shared my faith for the first time. I will be honest, I was a bit scared. What would people think about me? Can God really use me to reach others?

During this mission trip, Notre Dame de Quebec received a Holy Door to commemorate its 350th anniversary as a diocese. There are only several Holy Doors throughout the world, so it was a pretty big deal. We probably had about 2 million tourists and pilgrims walk through it that summer. 

My role was to lead guides at the museum. I journeyed with pilgrims that came up to the museum on the top deck of the Cathedral-Basilica. While I only saw maybe 10 people in an eight-hour work day, I used that to my advantage. I conducted long tours if I had the time— oftentimes they were two hours long—so I could get to know the tourists and share the Gospel message with them. 

One day there was free access to the museum. We had so many people that it was overwhelming. Amidst the crowd, there was one lady there and I felt God encouraged me to talk to her. I abandoned my post, expecting that God would really work through our conversation. I got to know her. She was from Australia and baptised Catholic, but it was many years that she entered a Church. So I asked if I could share The Ultimate Relationship with her, a booklet that helps us share the Gospel message in a clear and simple way.

We talked about our relationship with God and His love for us. Then I shared that we destroyed that relationship with our sin. At that moment I saw her body language tighten up and tears welled up in her eyes. Did I say something wrong? Did I offend her? So I asked her if there was something that bothered her.

This lady mentioned that for many years she was carrying the guilt of her daughter’s death. Her young daughter died of epilepsy and unfortunately passed away tragically. The mother blamed herself because she thought she put unnecessary stress on her daughter. And so when the aspect of sin came up, she wasn’t sure that God could forgive her.

I proceeded to listen and I asked if she was comfortable to continue. She wanted to finish the  booklet and she became struck by God’s unconditional love. As I shared about our Saviour in Jesus Christ, she recognized that He died on the Cross for all of our sins and that we could have renewed and restored life with Him. There was nothing that He couldn’t forgive. So we came to the page of the prayer of the heart. She openly prayed a prayer of commitment to invite Jesus to be the center of her life. Wow! God could use me to reach others! I just had to listen and meet her where she was at.

Afterwards, I invited her to renew her relationship with Christ by going to confession. I gave her a big hug as I led her through the Holy Door. And then she went to the Sacrament of Joy. I haven’t seen her since. It was probably the first time in over 30 years that she went. But it was a testament that God wants to use us in powerful ways. There are people out there that only you can reach. Will we give our Yes and allow God to use us this summer?

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