Age Range: 17-18 years (school Year 12) Core Themes: Evangelization, vocation, spiritual warfare, redemptive suffering, eschatology, preparing for adult faith. Primary Sources:
This capstone year is about commissioning. The student has been formed; now they are being sent. The focus shifts from receiving catechesis to living a personal mission. It directly addresses the transition to adulthood, equipping the young disciple with the spiritual and practical tools for a resilient, fruitful, and courageous faith in a secular world.
Objection 1: It seems not, for missionaries are special priests or religious who travel to foreign lands. Most people are called to ordinary lives as doctors, parents, or teachers.
Objection 2: Furthermore, evangelizing is aggressive and disrespectful. We should respect others’ beliefs, not try to change them.
Objection 3: Moreover, I am not holy or knowledgeable enough to be a missionary. That role should be left to the experts.
On the contrary, the Second Vatican Council teaches that “the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God”¹. And Christ’s final command was “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations”².
I answer that by virtue of our Baptism, every single Catholic is incorporated into Christ’s threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King, and is therefore sent on mission. We must distinguish, however, between the universal call to evangelize and the specific vocation to missionary work.
The call is not to be weird, but to be radiant. It’s to be so filled with the love and truth of Christ that your life becomes a compelling question to which only He is the answer.
Reply to Objection 1: This confuses the universal mission with a particular form of it. A mother evangelizes by raising her children in the faith. A doctor evangelizes by treating patients with profound dignity. An artist evangelizes by creating works of beauty that awaken a longing for God. All are missionaries in their own state of life.
Reply to Objection 2: This confuses proposing with imposing. It is not disrespectful to share what you believe to be the most beautiful and important truth in the world. It is, in fact, an act of supreme love. True respect means taking another person’s eternal destiny seriously enough to offer them the Gospel.
Reply to Objection 3: The apostles were uneducated fishermen. The saints were sinners. The Holy Spirit works through our weakness. Your mission is not to be a perfect expert, but a joyful witness. Your testimony of how Christ has worked in your own imperfect life is more powerful than any theological treatise.
Objection 1: It seems we should expect peace, for Christ is the “Prince of Peace”³ and He promised His followers a “peace the world cannot give”⁴.
Objection 2: Furthermore, if God is all-powerful, our spiritual life should be one of serene progress, not constant struggle.
Objection 3: Moreover, the idea of a “devil” and “demons” seems like a primitive superstition that modern psychology has explained away as internal conflict or mental illness.
On the contrary, the Catechism states, “This dramatic situation of ‘the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one’ makes man’s life a battle… a hard battle against the powers of darkness”⁵.
I answer that the Christian life is a paradox of deep peace in the midst of a relentless battle. We are engaged in spiritual warfare. This is not a metaphor. It is the reality of living in a fallen world, contending against three primary enemies:
The peace Christ gives is not the absence of conflict, but the deep interior calm and confidence that comes from knowing the war has already been won. Christ’s victory on the Cross is definitive. Our life is the “mopping up” operation, claiming the territory of our own souls and the world for the victorious King. We fight from victory, not for it. For this, God has given us spiritual armor (Ephesians 6) and powerful weapons: the Sacraments (especially the Eucharist and Confession), prayer (especially the Rosary), fasting, and the intercession of the saints.
Reply to Objection 1: The peace of Christ is the tranquility of order in the soul, which can coexist with external persecution and internal struggle. The martyrs had this peace even as the lions attacked.
Reply to Objection 2: The struggle is a sign that you are alive and fighting, not a sign that God is weak. A dead fish flows with the stream; only a live one can swim against it. The struggle is permitted by God to strengthen our virtue and deepen our dependence on His grace.
Reply to Objection 3: While some conditions are indeed psychological, Jesus and the saints consistently acted as if the devil were a real, personal adversary. To dismiss this is to claim to know better than Christ Himself. The spiritual and psychological are not mutually exclusive; a spiritual being can certainly exploit psychological weaknesses. Prudence requires us to use both the best spiritual and psychological resources.
Objection 1: It seems so, for suffering is by definition the experience of evil, which is the absence of good and meaning.
Objection 2: Furthermore, a good God would want us to be happy. Therefore, suffering must be contrary to His will and pointless.
Objection 3: Moreover, telling people their suffering has a purpose is a cruel way to justify their pain and avoid the duty of alleviating it.
On the contrary, St. Paul writes, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”⁷.
I answer that in itself, suffering is an evil. But through the Cross of Christ, suffering can be transformed into a means of grace, love, and salvation. This concept of redemptive suffering is one of the most unique and profound aspects of Christianity.
Christ did not eliminate suffering, but He entered into it. By uniting His divine personhood with human suffering on the Cross, He infused it with redemptive power. Now, when we unite our own sufferings—big or small, physical or emotional—with His, they are no longer meaningless. They become a participation in His saving work.
These acts have real, objective, spiritual power. This does not mean we seek out suffering (that would be masochism). It means that when suffering inevitably finds us, we do not have to waste it. We can turn the greatest apparent evil in our lives into our most powerful act of love.
Reply to Objection 1: The Cross transforms the logic. What was an absence of good becomes a superabundance of grace. The “emptiness” of suffering becomes a vessel to be filled with Christ’s own redeeming love.
Reply to Objection 2: God’s ultimate desire for our happiness is our eternal union with Him. Sometimes, the path to that deepest happiness involves the temporary pain of purification, discipline, and sacrificial love, just as an athlete’s training is painful but leads to the joy of victory.
Reply to Objection 3: The doctrine of redemptive suffering does not remove our duty to alleviate pain. It complements it. We should work to end all suffering we can. But for the suffering that we cannot eliminate (e.g., a terminal illness, a tragic loss), the faith offers not a justification, but a meaning and a purpose. It gives the sufferer agency and dignity, turning them from a passive victim into an active participant in the salvation of the world.
Personal Vocation Statement Based on your gifts, passions, and the needs you see in the world, write a first draft of a personal mission statement. Use this template: “My mission is to use my God-given gifts of [list 2-3 gifts] to [action verb] in the area of [a need you care about], so that [the ultimate goal, related to God’s glory].”
Spiritual Warfare Analysis For one week, keep a log. Identify moments of temptation or spiritual struggle. Categorize the source:
Redemptive Suffering Offering Think of one unavoidable suffering in your life right now (e.g., stress about exams, a difficult relationship, a physical ailment). Write a formal prayer offering it to God for a specific intention, consciously uniting it with the sufferings of Christ. Notice if this changes your experience of the suffering.
Exit Interview with Yourself As you prepare to graduate, reflect:
Read: Matthew 28:16-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Picture It: You are there on the mountain with the apostles. Jesus gives this command directly to you. What is your first reaction? Fear? Excitement? Inadequacy?
Think:
The University Orientation Week You arrive at university. You’re invited to a party where there is heavy drinking, casual drug use, and a “hook-up” culture is the norm. Everyone seems to be participating. You feel immense pressure to fit in and a deep sense of loneliness and isolation if you don’t.
Thinking as a Disciple on Mission:
Crafting a “Rule of Life” for Technology As an adult, you will no longer have parents setting your screen time rules. You must set your own.
Vocation and Mission in Other Faiths
Dialogue Point: The Christian mission is unique in that it is centered on a Person, not a system or a set of laws. We are not just inviting people to a better philosophy, but to a relationship with the living God in Jesus Christ.
The Boy Martyr of the Cristero War
“Joselito” was a 14-year-old boy in Mexico during the Cristero War, when the government was brutally persecuting the Catholic Church. He begged to join the Cristero fighters. They let him be a flag-bearer.
He was captured and tortured, ordered to renounce Christ. The soles of his feet were cut, and he was forced to walk to the cemetery. His torturers tried to make him say “Death to Christ the King.” Instead, with every step, he shouted, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”). He was shot, tracing a cross in the dirt with his own blood as he died.
His Witness:
“I don’t know what my vocation is, and I’m stressed about picking a university/career.” “That feeling is completely normal. First, remember your primary vocation is to holiness—to become a saint. That is true no matter what career you choose or whether you get married. Your state of life (marriage, priesthood, etc.) and your career are the ways you will live out that primary call. Don’t think of it as one single decision you have to get right. Think of it as a series of faithful ‘yeses’ to God. Pray, ‘God, what do you want me to do today?’ Be faithful in the small things, and He will lead you. The saints didn’t have a 10-year plan; they just followed the next right step in love.”
“The idea of a devil trying to attack me is terrifying. I don’t want to think about it.” “I understand. It can be a scary thought. But here’s the good news: ‘the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.’⁸ Spiritual warfare is real, but we are on the winning side. It’s like being a soldier for a king who has already won the war. We don’t have to be afraid, just prepared. Knowing the enemy’s tactics is how we stay safe. The best defense is a good offense: a life of prayer, frequent sacraments, and charity. The devil is a coward; he flees from a soul that is close to Christ.”
“My suffering just feels pointless and awful. This ‘redemptive suffering’ thing sounds like a nice platitude.” “You’re right. It can sound like a platitude, and we should never say it to someone in a way that dismisses their real pain. And it’s okay to feel that your suffering is pointless—that is part of the suffering itself. But the invitation of faith is to make an act of trust, even when you don’t feel it. Can you, just for a moment, say, ‘Jesus, I don’t understand this, I hate this, but I give it to you. Use it somehow.’ You don’t have to feel the meaning for it to be there. Your small act of trust allows Him to unite your pain to His Cross and make it powerful, even if you never see how in this life.”
How does your perspective change when you see your life through these statements?
“My greatest fear about living my faith as an adult is…” “The promise from Jesus that helps me with this fear is…”
“A ‘Rule of Life’ I will commit to for the next 3 months includes these three things:”
“St. José Sánchez del Río’s cry was ‘Long live Christ the King!’ My life’s cry will be…”
Check what interests you: □ The different religious orders and their missions (Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, Carmelites, etc.). □ The practical steps of Ignatian discernment. □ The Church’s teaching on angels and demons. □ The lives of modern martyrs. □ How to start a small faith-sharing group at university or work. □ The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.
You are now being sent. Go, and be not afraid. The Lord is with you always.