Many years ago, when I made the career change from marketing to fitness, I took classes and received as many fitness certifications as possible so that I could teach people how to get stronger and keep them safe. I quickly learned that while all that training is great, the only way to become a good fitness teacher is to teach. On-the-job experience was both exciting and a bit daunting, especially at first.
It’s funny that our call to evangelization as Catholics is also both exciting and a bit daunting. While we are all called to live our faith in our daily lives, we are also called to share our faith journey and invite others into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
We might feel that we don’t know enough or we aren’t holy enough. We aren’t as versed in scripture as we’d like to be or we’re not sure we can answer key questions about our faith. We are aware of our weaknesses and sinfulness. We struggle with the courage to speak about our faith in everyday situations and with people who don’t share our beliefs.
Again, there is no teacher like experience. We step out in faith anyway. We share our faith journey, encourage and invite others to know Jesus. We pray, stay close to the sacraments and keep learning about our faith through the sacramental life, scripture and the lives of the saints. We are imperfect and that’s OK. We share our ups and downs honestly. Vulnerability is attractive. Authenticity is critical. We walk this journey with Jesus in trust and surrender.
This call to share the love of Jesus with those whom God places in our lives is immensely important. St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Live in such a way that those who know you, but don’t know God, will come to know God because they know you.” Yes, our lives tell a story that will witness to Jesus working in our lives.
There is an urgency in this sharing of our lives and our faith as our world needs His love, His healing and His peace, and we are the ones who need to bring it. Your way of evangelizing might be different than mine, but the key is to stay rooted in the love of Jesus. Jason Evert said, “Love is the greatest form of evangelization because it makes an invisible God visible.” Responding with love, especially in trying circumstances, is a beautiful and powerful witness to Jesus living in us.
Bishop Robert Barron said, “A story can sing and not just tell it.” As we go out and share our stories about how God is working in our lives, to connect Him with others, we are invited to “sing” rather than tell or proselytize. A song evokes emotion, moves hearts and lifts us out of ourselves. That is our desire in sharing our stories. We pray that the goodness, beauty and truth of our journey with Jesus captivates them, entices them, and invites them in. We plant the seeds and Jesus and the Holy Spirit spur the growth.
I’m not sure who said this: “Your faith is personal, but it is not private.” This summarizes for me this call on our lives to go out, to share, to love, to evangelize. Let us pray for great courage, let us pray to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit promptings to speak powerful and beautiful words about this amazing journey through life with Jesus.
