This article first appeared in Our Sunday Visitor magazine. Subscribe to receive the monthly magazine here.
When Andrew found Jesus, he rushed to tell his brother Simon, proclaiming, “We have found the Messiah” (Jn 1:41). This dynamic scene is relived each time a believer shares the Gospel message with another person, even today. The details may look different, but the essence of evangelization remains the same: an invitation to meet the Messiah.
New York City is one place where this evangelization continues in earnest. Four Friday nights each year, St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village opens its doors to the people passing by on Sixth Avenue. They call the event NightFire.
As music floats out of the church and into the street, down steps covered in candles, young and zealous parishioners eagerly invite everyone walking past to come in and spend a few moments in prayer. “Would you like to come in and light a candle?” they ask. This joyful question pierces through the noise of the city. Like Andrew to Simon, these Christian evangelizers invite the people of New York to encounter Jesus Christ.
Through the candlelight, parishioners guide newcomers to the altar. Some bow or genuflect to the Eucharist, exposed in a monstrance, but most just gaze around in wonder at this mysterious place. Taking the candle offered by their guide, they light it at the sanctuary steps and pray for a moment in front of the Blessed Sacrament — probably for the first time in their lives, and hopefully not the last. These surprised and mostly young New Yorkers, many of them out in search of pleasure and excitement, find themselves in the last place they expected to be that night: in a Catholic church, in front of the altar, beholding Jesus in the Eucharist.
The success of NightFire is a testament to the simplicity of evangelization. Young Catholics call out and stop people who would otherwise pass by the church without a thought. Within seconds, these random passersby find themselves rerouted into the church, face-to-face for a few moments, not with a beer or their date for that evening, but with God. All because someone unexpectedly invited them to encounter Jesus Christ in a church on Sixth Avenue.
Call out with joy
St. Joseph’s stands on Sixth Avenue and Washington Place, the heart of Greenwich Village. The parish boundaries include Washington Square Park, the Stonewall Inn and a large amount of New York University. Many know the village primarily for its bohemian history and LGBTQ+ culture. But through the evangelical outreach of St. Joseph’s, including events like NightFire, it is also steadily becoming known as a place to meet Jesus Christ and learn the truth of the Catholic faith.
On the evening of a recent NightFire, I was returning home from The Catholic Center at NYU, where I serve as a university chaplain. The day had been long, and as night fell, I was thinking more of my quiet cell at St. Joseph’s than NightFire. In fact, I had completely forgotten about the event.
But NightFire is something that you cannot miss if you’re walking up Sixth Avenue. The vibrancy of St. Joseph’s could not be contained. The energy of the people on the steps poured Christian joy into the streets. Their call went out: “Do you want to come in?”
Seeing the steps of the church flooded in candlelight and hearing the energetic young adults inviting people to come in, I felt a wave of excitement.
“Would you like to come in and light a candle?” the parishioners asked the passersby as they hurried off to a bar or restaurant with friends. Many said no but plenty said yes. More than one person passing by shouted praise to Jesus Christ.
“Would you like to come in and light a candle?” the determined parishioners continued to ask. They laughed as they asked me the same question. They knew who I was and that I was coming home. Even though I live at St. Joseph’s, I found myself being beckoned into this church like the other hurried New Yorkers.
Just bring them to Jesus
As soon as I walked through the doors at NightFire, everything changed. The chanting of the choir silenced the busyness of the street. Sitting in the presence of Jesus Christ replaced anxiety with peace; worry gave way to rest.
This was my reaction to NightFire, and I am a Dominican priest. I can only imagine the reaction of those who are in the constant flow of the world, especially of those who do not think often about Jesus Christ and salvation.
The stream was almost continuous as more and more people left the street to approach Jesus at the altar. The church became more crowded as people simply sat with Jesus. The confession line continued for hours. The church was full, not with faces I recognized from Sunday, but with new faces I had never seen before.
Once inside, very few were in a rush to leave. They did not light their candle and run out the door, uncomfortable with the display of Catholicism and the reality of Jesus Christ. These people encountered something new — something, perhaps, they desired — and they stayed.
Did these newcomers know what it was that they had found? Maybe, or maybe not yet. But they had come into the presence of Jesus Christ. That was enough for now.
Evangelization is not complicated. It just takes effort. The effort put into NightFire gives us an image of evangelization. The best works of evangelization begin with a simple invitation to come inside the Church and pray.
Like Andrew, we have found Jesus Christ. Because we have found Jesus, we invite others to find him as well. The joy of knowing Jesus Christ pushes us out of the church and into the street, not to remain there, but to bring people back. This is why the parishioners of St. Joseph’s stood out on the street, inviting strangers into the church: They had found the Messiah and wanted others to find him, too.
Evangelization is simple: an invitation to prayer. The real work of conversion is done by Jesus in the heart of each person who approaches him. Our job is simply to bring them to Jesus.
