Let’s picture ourselves in the following situation. You or I have worked in a given setting for a number of years. Inevitably, the topic of religion comes up in our conversation with others. For example, someone in our family dies and funeral arrangements need to be made. People learn that Fr. Beaver or some other priest is to conduct the funeral liturgy. When our long term fellow workers heard this, the comment was made: “I never knew that you are a Roman Catholic.” Would we take this kind of remark as a compliment in regard to living out our Faith in the world?
As the Lord’s People, we are called to evangelize. One way of expressing what this means is that we are to witness to our faith in the settings in which we live and interact with others. Another way of expressing what it means to evangelize is to suggest that both in what we do and in the manner in which we relate to others, we are called to sow seeds, seeds that would attract people to the Lord.
Bil Keane, in his comic strip series, the Family Circus, does this in a remarkable and entertaining way. In subtle and humorous ways, the family portrayed in this series lives out the Christian Faith. From time to time, humorous episodes revolve around the family practice of attending church. Away from church, spiritual topics come up occasionally in the scenes depicted. In the way that he relates to his work, Keane expresses that he is a practicing Christian. A distinctive feature of this comic strip series is that it avoids put-downs. In the way that the family members speak and act, they express something of the dignity that God gives to all persons.
We have a prime opportunity to witness to our Faith in the very manner in which we relate to the responsibilities that fall to us. As children and as youth, we can express our love for the Lord by doing the best that we can in school, realizing that by doing this, we are equipping ourselves for what the Lord wants of us when eventually we leave school days behind us. As adults, we witness to our Faith by putting ourselves wholeheartedly into our work as an expression of our love for the Lord. We can grow in the awareness that by doing this, we are participating in the Lord’s on-going creating and redeeming work in the world.
We also witness to our Faith in the manner in which we relate to the persons whom we encounter in our homes, at school, at work, in our parish and in the community. Socializing with persons before and after Mass illustrates what it means to evangelize.
We embrace the spirit of evangelization as we grow in the awareness that we are in the same boat as are all other persons, particularly in ways such as the following: 1) We are all sinners. This comes to expression in the inclination to adopt the vicious “dog eat dog” mentality that often comes to expression in the way that persons relate to one another. 2) Evangelization builds upon the observation that in every person, as ugly as we may act at times, there is that which is good. We evangelize as we do our part to bring out the best in others. This happens as we compliment and affirm others for the goodness that they do express. 3) At the heart of evangelizing is that of experiencing and sharing that we are redeemed by the Sufferings, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4) We evangelize as we come across to others that we need them. As individuals, we can be likened to the pieces of a puzzle that the Lord is working to put together. Hence, we evangelize as we strive to relate to others as team players, realizing that as we strive to live in this way, we will be knocked down from time to time.
As evangelists, we are called to sow seeds. It is the Lord Who brings about conversion in the lives of persons. I pray that we will be eager to sow seeds for the Lord both in the way that we relate to others and in the manner in which we go about what we do. In His time and in His way, the Lord will bring about a harvest that is far greater and more splendid than what we can now envision or imagine.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor