Peace be with you!

Why aren’t Catholics energized to evangelize? Why aren’t are parishes on fire with the love of God and neighbor?

Fr. Freeh explores these burning questions with parishioners Vicki Phillips and Pat Henry, for a wide-ranging discussion of Catholic evangelization in the modern age…or lack thereof.  (Once again, we have a slightly different format, and our production values are catching up to our intent.)

If we look at the first reading for this second Sunday of Advent, Christians–the new Zion–are challenged to be heralds of the Good News:

Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice
Jerusalem, herald of good news!

Cry out from a mountaintop? Yep. That’s what it says.

And yet, Catholics are notorious non-evangelizers. We don’t show up on strangers’ doorsteps with tracts and literature, seeking the opportunity to share our faith. Indeed, when those folks show up on our thresholds, we generally encourage them to move along, unwilling to engage them in discussion. And we seldom challenge the values proselytized by our secular culture, no matter how far they drift from the teachings of Christ.

If we are serious about transforming our lives, and transforming our culture…this has to change.

But how?

I believe we have to first recognize the treasure that we have, beginning with the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Do we recognize the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist–Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity? Do we receive Him worthily, after confessing any serious sin on our souls? Do we welcome Him into our hearts and lives? The Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith. If we don’t get this right, we just don’t get it.

Months ago, I attended a presentation on Eucharistic miracles, and a statement by one of the presenters still haunts me: If we do not recognize Christ in the Eucharist when we receive Him, Satan enters us at the same time. (Think of Judas at the Last Supper, and you’ll get the picture.) Next time you go to Mass, take a look around. How many Catholics believe in this central doctrine of our faith? Some studies show as few as a third. No wonder our parishes are so often lifeless…rather than on fire with the love of God!

Because the more we love the Eucharist, the more we want to share it. The same is true for the gift of our Blessed Mother, and the eternal friendship of the Communion of Saints.

You might have to go back and do some homework. You can’t share what you don’t know, and most Catholics today seem to have little knowledge of their own faith, and are apt to interpret the little they know through the distorted lens of the culture we live in.  (I’ve often said if the Catholic Church really believed what people think she believes…I wouldn’t be Catholic either.)

There’s a reason why our first duty is “to know God”–because only then can we love Him. And loving Him, we are led to serve Him in this world. And serving leads us to the most powerful form of evangelization: witness.

We just have to keep our hearts and minds open to the possibilities of evangelization. We don’t have to show up on our neighbors’ doorsteps with tracts and literature. But we could lend them the book we read. We could leave behind in the airplane, the doctor’s office, or barber shop last month’s issue of Magnificat, or even a simple prayer card. And when we do show up on our neighbors’ doorsteps, we can bring the service that speaks more loudly than any tract or leaflet.

Advent is a good time to remind ourselves of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy…and ask ourselves how many of these show up in our lives, and how often. If they’re missing, it’s a sign that we have not made the love of God our purpose in life.

The world is drowning in a sea of lies and half-truths, every “ism” that leads people farther from the peace of God. Catholic hearts should burn with the answer to every ill of the human soul, every ill of the age.

The Catholic faith isn’t welcome in many places, in many hardened hearts. But the world is so needy, that the door is open for faithful Catholics to live their lives in witness to a God of love and mercy. People welcome anyone who offers help. And only later, with the grace of God, notice the source.

As G.K. Chesterton said: “A man must love a thing very much, if he not only practices it without any hope of fame or money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.”

God calls us to act, and trust the outcome to Him. Because the way we live may be the first Gospel, the first Good News, that someone ever reads. And this is the time, and we are the people, who are to prepare the way of the Lord.

Readings for Sunday.