Evangelization

I used to be terrified of evangelizing. In a Marist study from 2010, 63% of those surveyed said they'd like to know more about their Faith... why am I nervous about giving them the information they've been looking for... information that could bring about Eternal Salvation?!!

This is what JPII has to say on the subject:
“We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church. It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists to evangelize." Blessed John Paul II, Evangelii Nuntiandi (On Evangelization in the Modern World)

Once I realized that evangelization must happen by one's life, it made evangelization both easier and more difficult.

It is easier because I recognize that all that is required of me is to live my life and invest my life into others. This means that when I'm meeting new people on campus, all I have to do is strike up conversations and hear people's stories. (Everyone has a story, and everyone wants someone to listen to it, and I LOVE getting to know what makes people tick!)

It is more difficult because it means that I need to be constantly cultivating the virtue of excellence in all things. When there are so many false ideas and bad attitudes about the Church, She desperately needs Catholics to make Catholicism look good! If I am going to evangelize by my life, my life needs to look a lot like Christ's. This is a lofty task, one that only the Holy Spirit can accomplish through me.

And thus, as difficult as it may be, I need to learn to find myself in sharing the Gospel with others. We are a Resurrection People!

Saint Benedict, pray for us!