On a dark winter evening, the Light the City banner fastened to the doors of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington displayed a verse from John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” Inside the cathedral at the vigil Mass on Saturday Feb. 28, young adults sang the words, “Christ be our light, shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness.” They then went out into the city carrying votive candles bearing the image of Christ and saints like Pope John Paul II, and asked strangers to escape the cold of the night, if only for a moment, to light a candle for peace inside the cathedral. “The [concept] reminds me of the theology behind Christmas,” said young adult Andrea Ulrich, “Of introducing light in the darkness.”
The Light the City event, hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington and DCCatholic, the archdiocese’s young adult ministry, was the first of its kind in Washington. Those who came in walked down an aisle lined with candles, past young adult women and men praying or waiting to enter a confessional. In front of a golden and white monstrance containing the Holy Eucharist, they knelt and placed their votive candle in the rack before using the flame of a nearby candle to ignite their own. A flutist and pianist played meditative hymns like “Your Grace Is Enough,” followed by Dominican friars singing, “Be Thou my Vision.”
After celebrating the vigil Mass, Cardinal Wuerl stood outside on the cathedral’s steps and blessed the volunteer missionaries before they went out to “experience the joy of inviting someone else into God’s loving embrace,” he said. They then walked to Metro exits, stood on street corners or simply roamed Dupont Circle, beckoning passersby to pray for peace in the world and in their lives. They met a Serbian bouncer, girls heading to clubs, and a rabbi and his wife. Many walked past, but others came to the cathedral, offered prayers in the streets or instead asked the street missionaries to pray for them. In between trips into the city, the missionaries including seminarians, students from George Washington University, and young adults from local parishes, drank hot chocolate to keep warm
A seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, Phil Ilg, said that a shoe shiner he met was very moved by “the fact that we were out spreading the light of Christ. We told [him], ‘This candle is the image of the light of Christ. Whatever darkness you may find yourself in, there’s light for you, there’s hope.’” The man began to open up and told Ilg and his fellow seminarian that he was experiencing serious darkness after the death of his brother a month ago. Though he had to continue shining shoes, “he was very grateful,” said Ilg.
Brother Saul, a Capuchin Franciscan, lost track of the number of people he brought into the church. He bonded with groups of friends walking past, finding one man who had connections to his home country of El Salvador. He spoke in Spanish to another man who was on his way to work. Though he didn’t have time to stop, Brother Saul was able to give him a bulletin and a copy of El Pregonero, the Spanish newspaper for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Brother Ross, also a Capuchin Franciscan, struck up a conversation with a man on the street who asked him if he was actually a monk or just attending a costume party. “Being in a habit naturally makes you prone for opportunities for evangelization because people think you’re a Jedi,” joked Brother Ross. Still, not every encounter will lead to a deep theological conversations or a conversion, he said. Instead, evangelization is about “meeting [people] where they’re at and hopefully in some way allowing them to experience Christ in you,” he said.
Light the City was a way both for young adults Catholics to experience a simple approach to evangelization and for non-Catholics to feel welcomed into church. “I think especially with the New Evangelization, we’re seeing more and more young adults understand the meaning of the word differently,” said Ulrich. “I think a lot of the negative connotations, maybe misunderstanding of what evangelization means – I think we’re doing a better job of [eliminating those].”
Betsy Pray, a young adult from St. Peter Parish on Capitol Hill, appreciated that the event gently invited men and women to church, many of whom hadn’t been in a long time. Other visitors were able to see the aesthetic beauty of the cathedral for the first time. “It’s good to be able to let people know they are welcome, because I think unfamiliarity is something that keeps people from coming to church,” she said.
Several members of the Order of Preachers, more commonly known as Dominican friars, were in their element street preaching, even in the cold. “Every couple of months we go out, sing songs, talk to people, hand out prayer cards, (and) pray with people, which is a beautiful thing,” said Dominican Brother Gabriel, Though everyday evangelization is “at the center of what it mean to be Christian,” said Brother Gabriel, extraordinary events like Light the City allow passersby to light candle and pray, or even not pray. “It’s really about the freedom of the individual to meet the Lord in his own way and to provide that opportunity for that to happen,” he said.
