For two years now, we have been present in the parish of Karlín, one of the most lively and rapidly transforming neighborhoods in Prague. I am the pastor and Fr. Marek is the associate pastor. Fr. Stefano, who takes care of another parish, gives us a hand when there is a need.
Our church is among the most beautiful in the city. Dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodius, it was finished in 1863, a thousand years after the arrival in Moravia of the two great “Apostles to the Slavs.” Also for its dimensions, it is a point of attraction for many who pass by the square. Open from 9 to 7 in the evening by decision of the pastor who came before us, almost the entire day you can find someone who has stopped to pray: mothers with children, workers from the many corporations present in the area, believers and non believers who feel the need to immerse themselves in the silence of our church. Every now and then, its beauty and its accessibility push them to contact us, at times just out of curiosity, other times for spiritual direction or for the sacraments.
It is the same task that we have: to show that the Church is an open home, where God comes close to us.
We seek to transmit to the people that we meet love for the Church that we have learned in the Movement. And so Josef, who was uncertain if he would be baptized or not, who had begun a course and regularly would disrupt it, began again with us. He will be baptized at Easter, after a preparation of two years, together with four other adults. A few days ago, he told me that now he participates in the life of the parish: he discovered that friendship is the important part of the life of faith and he is seeking to overcome his innate shyness.
Zuzka is smitten with Jesus as she reads the Gospels but is scandalized by the rules that the Church proposes: for her, it is a gross obstacle to a personal relationship with Christ. She is uncertain if she will be baptized Catholic. The conversations with her are beautiful and dramatic: I can witness to her only that for us the Church is above all mother and for this reason we look at what she proposes with trust.
Radek was baptized at birth but then never set foot again in a church. Sympathetic to LGBT circles, he then saw how much damage can be caused by the ideological exploitation of adolescent insecurities. Thanks to certain YouTube videos, he began to read the Bible. In the same months, his friend Elena as well, after years of seeking between oriental philosophy and drugs, approached the faith. Both are preparing for their First Communion, carrying in their hearts many wounds, many questions and a profound gratitude for the gift of the faith.
Our marriage preparations are also an occasion for evangelization for us. Almost always it is persons who are attracted by the beauty of our church, couples in which only one is baptized, who already live together and have never been to Mass. Surprised by the profundity of the teaching of the Church, they recommend our course to non-believing friends. Often, more than for my lessons, they are grateful for the witnesses of a few families from the Movement, who do not hide the struggles and problems of family life but show instead a truer way to face them.
Sts. Cyrill and Methosidus, a thousand years ago, did not impose a culture but translated the faith so that all could encounter Christ. It is the same task that we have: to show that the Church is an open home, where God comes close to us, even in the heart of Prague.
