SUCCESS IS HOW YOU EARN IT by Melvyn Brown
Founder of a lay Catholic Movement- Ambassadors For Jesus
The highest item on my agenda as a young married man and father of two children was to harbor a challenge to put my life in the service of the Lord. I had always been a conservative: my views are still conservative and traditional. I am always prepared to assist anyone searching for answers , especially on life values , holy Scripture or the Church in the comm-unity .
My wake-up call to take on a mission in 1979, which I believe was and is from Christ came as a surprise to me. My wife Joan, somehow knew it had been coming. She comforted me to go ahead with it. Joan was a wonderful woman in her own right. She was a devout Catholic , prayerful, responsible and took upon herself to pray for those who requested her . The Rosary was a daily routine for her. I was all for the faith , but on a different level. I wrote on religious topics which I felt would help Catholics to better understand their faith. I went around talking to children in schools and in their homes about the Bible , trust in Jesus and I always made it my business to advertise myself and my Catholic faith.
As fate would have it I took a peep into the pit of lay-Catholic spirituality and uncovered a challenge : I discovered that many of the laity were weak in the knowledge of their faith. They were not prepared to stand up for discussion or argument on the Bible and prayers . I decided to start my little mission, to evangelize. I also found out that Christians of other denomination knew their faith better. I made up my mind to lean-over-backwards to get the job done for the lay Catholic.
In matters of the Roman Catholic Faith you cannot take the law into your hands . You needed the approval of Holy Mother the Church. The Church had great and pressing needs all over the world. There was persecution of the Church , abortion issues, and many barriers to religious problems which needed dialogue and tolerance , forgiveness and understanding. I needed to pray and to meditate , to restore a fresh perspective on my own vision and desires.
I went about my routine life : attending to small domestic tasks , office responsibilities , the creative English classes (in schools), the adult education evening classes, preparing the week-end sub-ed work which I did for the Herald (at home, in the nights) and wrote articles for the newspapers (pen-name Wayfarer for the Amrita Bazar Patrika) as a freelance. In those early days many middle-class people worked at two or three jobs to keep the pot boiling. I was one of them. My wife Joan was the ‘buffer’ I needed. She was my inspiration and the love of my life. Joan gave me the space I needed to do what I did best. My children , Warren and Sabrina were growing up fast and always under their mother’s direction and I put my bit in during the weekends and holidays. I sometimes wish I could have done more .
Summer that year had a seismic effect on most folks in the state : it turned warmer in a leap of time. Restlessness and late night sleep was a sudden mode of routine-change one had to accept. One night at around 2 a.m. I woke in a bath of perspiration and a cold wave ran down my body. The first thought I had was to breathe easily . I started a small prayer in my mind while thinking of my past thoughts to evangelize the Word. Between the crevices of thought, prayer and worship I got the inspired idea to start a Catholic lay movement. I believe it was the Spirit of God guiding me.
A long week later I sat down and wrote a letter to the Holy Father Pope John Paul II. The six- page letter explained it all and I asked the Pope for his permission to start a lay movement with the apostolate of Roman Catholic Unification . It would be a silent movement of prayer and action working with and for the people of God.
Six months later His Eminence Lawrence Cardinal Picachy , s.j. , Archbishop of Calcutta, sent for me and said that the Vatican had given permission to start a lay movement. The movement would need a name and a dedication I was told. I had a week to think of both. It would not be easy.
It was a fond habit of mine , once or twice a week to visit the old second-hand book shops near Wellington and the turning of Wellesley street(while on my way to the evening class) in Calcutta, India. That evening providence made me pick up a book and to flip through its pages when a card dropped out of the pages. I picked it up and found a picture of Divine Mercy . I returned home and showed the image to my dear wife Joan. We made a decision to name my Movement , Ambassadors For Jesus , with dedication to Jesus Divine Mercy.
The Cardinal accepted the name, dedication and the apostolate. I was now officially the Founder.
Next, I became Editor and Publisher of two private circulation , non-profit newsletters for the greater glory of God…….
