In the evening on June 10, a few hundred people participated in the archdiocesan candlelight eucharistic procession from St. Francis Xavier “College” Church to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, about a mile and half away. It was a very reverent and prayerful procession on the sidewalks of St. Louis. There were onlookers, certainly. And some participants stopped and talked with a few to answer questions about what was going on. It was a nice evangelical witness and opportunity.

The second was our parish procession after Mass in the morning on June 11, which also happened to be the closing Mass for the parish Vacation Bible School. Amid light sprinkles of rain, this procession featured a little more chaos. Families young and old marched behind the Blessed Sacrament, little ones ran around wondering aloud when it would be time for donuts while parents tried to wrangle them and keep them respectful and reverent — no easy task, to be sure.

This group was a pretty accurate representation of parish life. Some familiar faces we see at Mass each week, some less regularly, perhaps attending because of the VBS Mass (it was wonderful to see them there).

One child at the procession with his family said two weeks ago after the all-school closing Mass that he wanted to go to Mass more, but his parents don’t often go. Yet, here they were. Praise God.

I imagine if you surveyed the crowd, you’d have mixed responses on belief in the Real Presence and what it means in their daily lives. That’s exactly what the Eucharistic Revival is all about: to meet people where they are and walk alongside them as we pursue truth and God Himself.

This image of so many families and all their chaos — their real life — is what parish life is all about. Belief, doubt, messiness, mistakes, striving … all mixed together, walking toward Jesus as one body.

But there was also a third procession. A friend invited me to attend the St. Louis City SC game on Sunday. Walking up to the stadium, there were the official fan groups marching, playing drums and singing their way into the stadium.

These fan groups are intense. They take their job of creating the atmosphere at the home games very seriously. And those that join are treated like family. All are welcome.

Speaking with a friend recently, he said a family member was going through a rough patch in life. Everything seemed to be falling apart. But his soccer family was what he latched onto. He felt valued and welcome — even with his imperfections. Would he have felt welcome walking with us at our eucharistic processions? Maybe. Maybe not.

As we think about evangelization as a Church, we desperately need to be present in all of these realities, as different as they are.

The first, to gather and minister to the faithful: We need to give a strong public witness of what we believe and why we believe it.

The second, to embrace the messiness of parish life and family life: We need to celebrate when people show up and encourage them to join us as we walk together toward Jesus as a community — even if it’s imperfect.

And the third, to go out to find others: We need to find those who are marching to a different drum, where they find meaning and belonging and walk alongside them there too. And as we walk with them there, we can help them ask where they might find that deeper meaning that is written on their hearts. In this way, we can earn the trust to be able to witness to our faith at the right moments in their journey and invite them home.

If our devotion to the Eucharist and our journeying together toward Christ as an imperfect community doesn’t then send us out to meet the world as missionaries of mercy, hope and love, then it is fundamentally lacking something. Let’s walk together to become that missionary Church.

Brian Miller is Director of Evangelization & Discipleship for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.