Feb
16
2006
0
By Anonymous (not verified)
Today, I want discuss evangelization. For many people the word "evangelism" has a negative connotation, and most want nothing to do with it. They conjure up an image of a missionary in Africa, or a television evangelist, and say to me, "I don't know Scripture, and I sure don't feel comfortable talking to people about God." Yet, many don't realize that we are already evangelists; we are evangelizing by the way we live our lives! One of the saints said, "Evangelize always, and if need be, open your mouth!"
One of the problems I have with my children is that I lecture them too often. At times I forget they are kids and expect too much. A couple of weeks ago, I was watching my six-year-old play soccer. He wasn't going to the ball and being aggressive, and I kept yelling at him, expecting him to play like his brother in high school. I lost focus of the fact that he is only six and was having fun just running around and being part of the team. After one of my yells to him to go to the ball, little John Paul looked at me and said, "Dad, I am only six, I am not fifteen!" He made a lot more sense that I did. Oh, what words of wisdom come from the mouths of children!
When I hear the Scripture about fathers nagging their children lest they lose heart, I think about the verse, "You are the salt of the world." You see, we are all the salt of the earth. And that salt may be in the form of giving loving advice to our children. But what happens if the salt shaker spills on the steak and dumps too much salt? Of course, the steak is not good to eat because too much was applied! So, like addressing and speaking with our children, we must apply only light amounts of salt.
Are your children a success? How do you measure success? Is it by the college they attend, their job, their income, or do we measure success by the love in their heart and how they radiate the mercy of God? Without the love of God are they really a success? We must never lose heart, and pray for them always. Of course, sometimes our children surprise us. Over Christmas I gave my son gift certificates to a restaurant, and I was pleasantly surprised when my wife told me that he had given them to a homeless person in front of the restaurant. The empathy he had for the homeless man was something I had never seen in him before. I could only thank God for enabling my son to have compassion in that situation, and realize that we have so much and that man needed just a little.
Lastly, I think if we as parents can use the appropriate amount of salt, our children will be the light of the world and great evangelists. Again, not necessarily by word, but by action. And if they fall, they will know to come back to a God of love and mercy. And that is what conversion is all about. What does that really mean? It means a coming back, not just of the mind, but of the heart. Ezekial writes, "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek 36:26).
In some ways it is humorous when we talk about evangelizing and people's reluctance to do so, yet we don't realize we are doing it every minute of every day. It is the way we talk to our children, the empathy we have for our co-workers, and our actions at football and soccer games. When we yell at our spouse, are off to the bars and not spending quality time with the children, or don't go to Mass with the children because we wanted to sleep in, our actions are speaking mountains and evangelizing a powerful message.
So today, let us be a kinder and gentler people, radiating the love of God to our loved ones and co-workers, and be the kind of evangelists that we are all called to be! Let us remember and live the words of St Faustina: "Do what You will with me, O Jesus; I will adore You in everything. May Your will be done in me, O my Lord and my God, and I will praise Your infinite mercy" (Diary, 78).
One of the problems I have with my children is that I lecture them too often. At times I forget they are kids and expect too much. A couple of weeks ago, I was watching my six-year-old play soccer. He wasn't going to the ball and being aggressive, and I kept yelling at him, expecting him to play like his brother in high school. I lost focus of the fact that he is only six and was having fun just running around and being part of the team. After one of my yells to him to go to the ball, little John Paul looked at me and said, "Dad, I am only six, I am not fifteen!" He made a lot more sense that I did. Oh, what words of wisdom come from the mouths of children!
When I hear the Scripture about fathers nagging their children lest they lose heart, I think about the verse, "You are the salt of the world." You see, we are all the salt of the earth. And that salt may be in the form of giving loving advice to our children. But what happens if the salt shaker spills on the steak and dumps too much salt? Of course, the steak is not good to eat because too much was applied! So, like addressing and speaking with our children, we must apply only light amounts of salt.
Are your children a success? How do you measure success? Is it by the college they attend, their job, their income, or do we measure success by the love in their heart and how they radiate the mercy of God? Without the love of God are they really a success? We must never lose heart, and pray for them always. Of course, sometimes our children surprise us. Over Christmas I gave my son gift certificates to a restaurant, and I was pleasantly surprised when my wife told me that he had given them to a homeless person in front of the restaurant. The empathy he had for the homeless man was something I had never seen in him before. I could only thank God for enabling my son to have compassion in that situation, and realize that we have so much and that man needed just a little.
Lastly, I think if we as parents can use the appropriate amount of salt, our children will be the light of the world and great evangelists. Again, not necessarily by word, but by action. And if they fall, they will know to come back to a God of love and mercy. And that is what conversion is all about. What does that really mean? It means a coming back, not just of the mind, but of the heart. Ezekial writes, "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek 36:26).
In some ways it is humorous when we talk about evangelizing and people's reluctance to do so, yet we don't realize we are doing it every minute of every day. It is the way we talk to our children, the empathy we have for our co-workers, and our actions at football and soccer games. When we yell at our spouse, are off to the bars and not spending quality time with the children, or don't go to Mass with the children because we wanted to sleep in, our actions are speaking mountains and evangelizing a powerful message.
So today, let us be a kinder and gentler people, radiating the love of God to our loved ones and co-workers, and be the kind of evangelists that we are all called to be! Let us remember and live the words of St Faustina: "Do what You will with me, O Jesus; I will adore You in everything. May Your will be done in me, O my Lord and my God, and I will praise Your infinite mercy" (Diary, 78).
