BY DAVID O’BRIEN
Many Catholics feel intimidated to share their faith. Jesus never intended for the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20) to be an impossible burden. Rather, God intended us to witness for Christ as a natural outcome of living for him.
Here are a few tips for sharing Christ with others this summer.
You can’t give what you don’t have. Faith is more often caught than taught. That means we have to be carrying the bug so we can pass it on to others. If our life is filled with God and the things God is doing, it will be much easier to speak to others about the joys of knowing Christ.
When faith is something we intellectually accept but rarely do anything with, of course we are intimated to talk about Christ. We are speaking of a subject about which we know very little. Or worse, we are hypocrites, telling others to do what we don’t do ourselves.
Once a woman approached Gandhi to ask him to tell her son to cut back on sugar. Gandhi agreed but sent her home with an invitation to return in a month. When she returned with her son, Gandhi instructed him to limit his sugar. The woman, confused by the month delay, asked Gandhi about it. He said: "I couldn’t tell the boy what I wasn’t living myself. So I needed a month to break my own addiction to sugar."
Prepare your testimony. St. Peter in his first letter writes: "Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to explain the hope that is within you." (1 Pt 3:15) In other words, we need to be ready when God opens the door for us to speak about Him in our lives.
In order to do this well, it helps to take some time and reflect on our personal story. What was my life like before God was in the center? What happened that caused the change? What is different since then?
If you have this testimony ready, God will give you the chance to share it. Maybe a friend, spouse or child will ask you why you go to church or why your faith is so important to you. Be ready and then pray to the Holy Spirit for opportunities, for the courage to speak and for the right words to touch the heart of the person listening.
Offer to pray with people. Most decent people will listen and help when there is a crisis. But, as Catholics, we can do even more. We can invite God into the situation through prayer.
This can come in the normal way by offering to pray for the person. But what if you reached out to that hurting person and prayed with them right there. Wouldn’t it be nice, if you were struggling, to hear someone speak to God on your behalf out loud, right when you needed God’s help the most?
It can be intimidating to be so spontaneous. But it shouldn’t be. If we are talking to Jesus all the time, why should we be so shy to talk to Him with a friend or family member in distress? Our prayers don’t have to be Shakespeare. Just pray from your heart.
Intimate, personal prayer is one of the great treasures given to us by Christ. Why not use it to bless others who are sick, scared, worried, lonely or overwhelmed? We are Christ’s ambassadors, after all. (2 Cor 5:20).
Twice this past month, friends who were visiting challenged me to be more free with my prayer. One woman, before saying goodnight for the evening said, "let’s have a psalm" and proceeded to read Psalm 121 for all of us to pray. Another friend before leaving after dinner, gathered my family into a circle, children included, and offered a prayer for us all. Beautiful. Such a gift.
Evangelization is a big word and a big task, one that many would like to leave to the priests. Too bad a lot of the people who need Christ don’t go to church or know a priest. But they know us. We work with them, live next to them or go to school with them. Why not share the gift Christ has given us?
Sharing your faith or offering a prayer is not the same as thumping someone with a bible or coercing them to attend your church. It is an act of love and that is evangelization. After all, God is love. (1 Jn 4:8)
Many Catholics feel intimidated to share their faith. Jesus never intended for the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20) to be an impossible burden. Rather, God intended us to witness for Christ as a natural outcome of living for him.
Here are a few tips for sharing Christ with others this summer.
You can’t give what you don’t have. Faith is more often caught than taught. That means we have to be carrying the bug so we can pass it on to others. If our life is filled with God and the things God is doing, it will be much easier to speak to others about the joys of knowing Christ.
When faith is something we intellectually accept but rarely do anything with, of course we are intimated to talk about Christ. We are speaking of a subject about which we know very little. Or worse, we are hypocrites, telling others to do what we don’t do ourselves.
Once a woman approached Gandhi to ask him to tell her son to cut back on sugar. Gandhi agreed but sent her home with an invitation to return in a month. When she returned with her son, Gandhi instructed him to limit his sugar. The woman, confused by the month delay, asked Gandhi about it. He said: "I couldn’t tell the boy what I wasn’t living myself. So I needed a month to break my own addiction to sugar."
Prepare your testimony. St. Peter in his first letter writes: "Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to explain the hope that is within you." (1 Pt 3:15) In other words, we need to be ready when God opens the door for us to speak about Him in our lives.
In order to do this well, it helps to take some time and reflect on our personal story. What was my life like before God was in the center? What happened that caused the change? What is different since then?
If you have this testimony ready, God will give you the chance to share it. Maybe a friend, spouse or child will ask you why you go to church or why your faith is so important to you. Be ready and then pray to the Holy Spirit for opportunities, for the courage to speak and for the right words to touch the heart of the person listening.
Offer to pray with people. Most decent people will listen and help when there is a crisis. But, as Catholics, we can do even more. We can invite God into the situation through prayer.
This can come in the normal way by offering to pray for the person. But what if you reached out to that hurting person and prayed with them right there. Wouldn’t it be nice, if you were struggling, to hear someone speak to God on your behalf out loud, right when you needed God’s help the most?
It can be intimidating to be so spontaneous. But it shouldn’t be. If we are talking to Jesus all the time, why should we be so shy to talk to Him with a friend or family member in distress? Our prayers don’t have to be Shakespeare. Just pray from your heart.
Intimate, personal prayer is one of the great treasures given to us by Christ. Why not use it to bless others who are sick, scared, worried, lonely or overwhelmed? We are Christ’s ambassadors, after all. (2 Cor 5:20).
Twice this past month, friends who were visiting challenged me to be more free with my prayer. One woman, before saying goodnight for the evening said, "let’s have a psalm" and proceeded to read Psalm 121 for all of us to pray. Another friend before leaving after dinner, gathered my family into a circle, children included, and offered a prayer for us all. Beautiful. Such a gift.
Evangelization is a big word and a big task, one that many would like to leave to the priests. Too bad a lot of the people who need Christ don’t go to church or know a priest. But they know us. We work with them, live next to them or go to school with them. Why not share the gift Christ has given us?
Sharing your faith or offering a prayer is not the same as thumping someone with a bible or coercing them to attend your church. It is an act of love and that is evangelization. After all, God is love. (1 Jn 4:8)
 * | About David O’Brien David O’Brien is the Associate Director of Religious Education for Lay Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. His column, Everyday Faith, appears regularly in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Week. Email David at dobrien@mobilearchdiocese.org. |
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