David O’Brien: Catholic Evangelization

Since the earliest days of the church, the disciples of Jesus have evangelized. In every era, the methods for sharing God’s love have adapted to the cultures and styles of the day. I’m sure the saints of the Middle Ages never dreamed of blogs, twitter or youtube, all great evangelization tools in our modern era.


Still, there is one method that has held up over all these centuries: stories, in particular, personal stories about how God has impacted one’s life.


Think about St. Paul and his story of persecuting the early believers and then meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. That story is told three times in Acts (9:1-9; 22:3-16; 26:2-18) and then again in Galatians 1:11-24. You get the impression that Paul began every talk with his personal testimony.


We know the stories of St. Peter and his denial of Jesus, St. Thomas’ doubting ways, St. Francis’ stripping himself naked in the Assisi town square. All great testimonies.


So what is your story and are you ready to share it if God opens the door for you to evangelize? In 1 Peter 3:15, it says: "Always be ready to offer an explanation for the hope that is within you."


Your story doesn’t have to say it all. You are simply explaining the hope that is within you, as St. Peter said.


Here’s my story.


I grew up Catholic. Never worked at it. I thought Mass was boring and irrelevant. When I was confirmed in 8th grade, I thought I graduated from Church and ceased practicing my faith in any tangible way.


Filling out my college applications years later, I had nothing for the section entitled "Town and Civic Activities (i.e. Church etc.)." Since I desperately needed a big scholarship in order to attend school, I decided to take a little creative license in order to make up for this glaring deficiency in my application. Yes, I lied.


My father was an usher at our parish so I put down I was too since he was related to me. I was an altar server for a week when I was 6, so I figured that should count for something. Then, even though I didn’t even attend Mass, I wrote that I was the youth group leader because my sister, who was also related to me, was in the youth group.


Days after sending those fraudulent applications, a coworker of mine at the local supermarket invited me to a youth group retreat. I immediately accepted with the intention of learning what I needed to know to BS my way through a college interview.


On that retreat, I encountered over 100 young people who were unlike anyone I had ever met. They acted differently, talked differently and most of all, openly shared their love for Christ. At first, I was freaked out. Who were these religious fanatics, I thought. But in time, I could see the authenticity of their faith.


Midway through the retreat, a teenage girl read the Footprints in the Sand story as a part of her talk. I expected the conclusion to say something like this: "Come on buddy, you know how all this works. You probably don’t pray, just like I don’t. You probably don’t go to Mass, just like me. You probably do a lot of things you know you shouldn’t, just like I do. Face it, you are not going to see two set of footprints in your life until you clean up your act." I was confident I was right. After all, I had learned in 1st grade CCD that God loved good people.


So you can imagine my surprise when the girl read the final line and it said: "My precious, precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During those times of trials and sufferings when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."


The Lord was speaking to me. For years I had ignored Him and treated Him as if He were irrelevant. Now He was telling me that He had been carrying me all this time.


I stared at the cross behind the speaker and spoke this prayer: "Jesus, if that is true what that girl just read on that card, make it true for me. Make it true in my life."


In that moment, surrounded by 100 teenagers, I experienced the most profound sense of the Lord’s presence. It was as if Christ was hugging me and saying: "it is all true. I have never stopped loving you all these years." I was so overwhelmed. I began to cry, but not because I felt bad but rather because the experience was so incredibly wonderful.


Twenty six years have passed since that first retreat weekend and my ride with the Lord only gets better and better. Sure there is still suffering and sacrifice. But I know in whom I have placed my hope and I know I can trust Him with my life.