David O'Brien: You Can Come Home for Christmas

BY DAVID O'BRIEN

I once spoke at a parish about God’s loving mercy. My main point was that there is no sin too heinous, no fault too great as to permanently cut you off from God’s inexhaustible compassion and forgiveness.

After the talk, a disheveled man in his 50’s approached me to talk. I noticed his ratty clothes and his unkempt appearance. But what leapt out at me more than anything was the pungent odor emitting from him, a sickening combination of sweat, bad breath, booze and urine.

He explained that he had been brought up Catholic but that his addiction to alcohol left him in his current state. He admitted, "I rarely come here because I don’t belong with these good people." Then he pointed to the Deacon in the front of the church and told me: "That is my brother."

I could see the sadness and self-hatred in his eyes. "I don’t even feel worthy to be in this church. I’m not like my brother and all these people," he confessed.

"You said up there that God loves everyone and will forgive anything," he recounted to me, leading up to the heart wrenching question I knew was coming. "Do you think He still loves me? I mean, after everything I’ve done. Do you think He could still forgive me?"

Fighting back my tears, for I knew this man was one of Jesus’ lost sheep (Lk 15:4-7), I told him that God loved him more than ever and always would. "You are still that little baby boy that He held in His arms the day you were born. You will always be His precious child," I assured him.

I could tell that this man doubted my words and despaired of God’s love, so I prayed with him and encouraged him to unload his guilt in confession. I hope he found his way back to the Lord and that the people in his parish welcomed him home with open arms.

A few months ago I heard from another searching person who had been inactive in her Catholic faith for some 25 years. Although she hadn’t read The Catholic Week in a while, something caused her to open a recent issue and she read my column. Whatever she read inspired her to email me and ask me how she might begin her return to the Church.

I found out where she lived and connected her to Becky Goff, a parishioner near her who had a heart for returning Catholics.

On October 28 this email popped up: "It started with you and your column. Thank you. I went to confession this week and asked Becky to come with me. Fr. McKenna was nice and very patient. This has been very emotional for me but I know I am on the right path. Becky met me at Mass the following day and we had communion together. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart."

In both these cases, it didn’t take much for me to extend an invitation to these people to reconnect with God and the Church. Likewise, for the people in your life who are struggling to find where they fi t with our Catholic community. Could you extend an invitation to them as we approach Christmas?

To make it easier, just pass along this website www.catholicscomehome.org. It includes some commercials that will air on TV across the country during Advent. They are excellent.

Last night I visited my neighbors and told them about the commercials. This morning I opened my email to find that they had sent the website to all their contacts and posted it on their Facebook pages. Easy. Invitational. Helpful. People already responded to my neighbors about how great the commercials are and how they will be sending them to other Catholics they know.

St. Paul told us that our job is to plant seeds and allow God to do the rest. (1 Cor 3:6) We never know what is going on in the hearts of other people. Maybe they are waiting for a simple invitation to come home to the Catholic Church this Christmas.

Remember, Jesus said that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one lost sheep who is found than over the 99 who never left. (Lk 15:7) Why not give God a reason to throw a party this Christmas?

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.