Catholic Diocese of Biloxi  

Since the Second Vatican Council, a real effort has been made to renew the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). We have discovered over time that it really is a process for a person to form a lifelong love relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church and to become his disciple. Oftentimes, we have brought people to the Sacraments of Initiation and have either not followed-up with their faith formation or have not invited them to enter into discipleship ministry. There is a real need for us to look at how we approach the RCIA and all faith formation. We have made an effort to fit people who enter RCIA within the curriculum. What is proving to be much more effective is the development of a faith formation plan for each person. This means meeting each person where they are in their faith formation and taking a serious account of where they have been.  The persons themselves need to voice when they would like to enter their faith formation, and, with our help, form a plan for how they will arrive at discipleship. Given the need for each person to experience a complete Liturgical Year in the Church and for the RCIA process to be most effective, it should be a year- round process. Prayer, worship, parish life, and Sunday Mass become the real curriculum. (SLG)

Jesus gives an example of loving someone “where they are” when he speaks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well:  

The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”  Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” They went out of the town and came to him. Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.”  When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” (John 4:19-30, 39-42)

Jesus shares his word and his love with the Samaritan woman, and through conversation, he reveals himself. This sharing the word and love of Jesus is also a call to conversion and repentance of sin.

The key here is to artfully combine both the invitation to conversion while meeting someone where they are. . . . Without compassionate awareness of where someone is, the message of repentance becomes shrill and preachy, unable to actually transform hearts. At the same time, if we never invite people to turn away from their sin and give their hearts to Christ, we run the risk of not fulfilling our call to spread the Gospel. (MM 51-52)

We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. (DCE 1)

The Samaritan woman believes – so much so that she repents, goes to town, and brings others to Jesus.  We the Church are called to be Christ to the world—we bring the one anointed by God to the world. As a Church and as individuals, are we available and open to meeting our brothers and sisters in Christ “where they are”? Are we open to making disciples? Are we are open to walking with them, accompanying them, loving them, having compassion for them, caring for them, and bringing them to Christ as we are commissioned through our Baptism?

1. How does our parish, school, or ministry approach Faith Formation?
2. How does Jesus share his Good News with the woman at the well?
3. How does the Samaritan woman share the Good News with others?
4. What are the reasons it is important to combine the invitation to conversion with meeting someone where they are?
5. Whose story have you listened to? Are you able to share your story of faith?
6. When did you first encounter Jesus? Who enabled this encounter?
7. Have you prayed for the Holy Spirit to move you to help someone else encounter Jesus?