Apr 08 2009
Sharing your Faith with Your Friends
by Lisa and Vern Paul
Vern and I have gotten together on this one to add our two cents on this very sensitive issue on conversion of Christians to Catholics. Many Christians consider Catholics as being some sort of bad uncle that needs to be hidden away. Many Catholics are told by Christians that we are not Christian but some sort of weird sect to be hidden in the basement like the famed Cinderella. Our Church never trains us for the overwhelming amounts of missionaries out there so eager to convert the Catholics that are surely going to hell because they do not know scripture and they pray to Mary and not Jesus. Our Catholic Universe is slowly giving into change. Ever so slowly Catholics world wide realize the great things that we have going for our religion. No longer are we just content on idly sitting while the world passes us by. There is a quiet movement among Catholics slowly creeping into the mainstream Catholicism that wants to be heard. The quiet Catholic that so meekly sat by as some Evangelical Christian spewed out the evils of Catholicism is slowly disappearing. The “meek and quiet Catholic” is getting educated on his or her religion. Such trends are well documented on websites such as Catholic Answers where over a million Catholics flock there for more information about our faith.
As Vern stated in a recent article Easter is a time for renewal and for Catholics it is a time for us to get our house in order and re examine our faith. My suggestion is while you are at it take a look at your friends and see who could benefit from being a Catholic. Do you have friends that are lonely and are always going through men or women like there is no tomorrow? Or do you have friends that are constantly looking for a new church because they have no faith in God and are constantly bored with all the new age goop that does not fulfill them? Your friends that are very tradition oriented and celebrate Christmas to the hilt but just can not find a religion are ideal potential Catholics. Catholicism is full of tradition and history. Christians may not know this but Catholics love scripture and the Bible. We have the Real Presence of Jesus in every mass that we celebrate. The sacrament of reconciliation keeps us from sin. Explain this to them in a non threatening way. Your friends, the people you care for are the ones you should share your faith with. After all they are your friends. Do this in a way you do not threaten them. Kindness is the way you do this.
We have so much to offer and yet we need more people to offer our faith to others. We offer our faith to others by leading by example. We need to feel less self conscience about talking about our religion. We should fill ourselves with the Holy spirit and go forth into the world and convert people to our faith.
Vern was telling me about a friend he has. He began the conversion process through casual conversation and email. It was just sharing. It was nothing to overt but from the heart. It was more like someone came up to him and started asking questions about our faith and he started answering them. This is how many conversions start you just have to be willing to answer them. Ask yourself if you are ready to answer?Questions about our faith became a daily thing for him to answer and when he felt he could not adequately answer the question he sent the person to the appropriate website for the appropriate answer. He did this by example and caring. It was hard for him at first and then it just came out. How did he navigate through the pitfalls and the awkwardness, he talked to his friends on line. His friends on CAT got him through this.
Vern Paul:
Conversion is something you do not something you think about it. In other words as I talked to Lisa, we talked about how we both love to share our faith with our friends not because we want to convert them because it is so natural to talk about it. On our site Catholic America Today we share our faith with all of you. Well we like to do this in our everyday life with friends and family. My mother thought it strange at first. She even told me to stop talking about Jesus saying I should not do it. For some it is not natural and if someone asks you to stop then you should. More often then not people will not ask you to stop. Most of the time people do not realize that they have the same love for Jesus too and can be just as excited as you are but were afraid to express it. They are relieved when you do bring it up.
I have this web ring link on CAT and I went exploring on it the other day and I found a cute self rosary prayer. In other words it is an aid to say the rosary with pictures of the mysteries and everything. I was excited for finding that so I sent it to my friends. Things of this nature can lead to a conversion. When people see you so full of the love of the Lord, they want to know why and where they can get that feeling. It is like being the new kid on the block with the newest toy or the man on the street with the new car. People are not use to seeing “excitement about the Lord” in people. Also just because the person is Catholic does not mean you stop sharing this stuff. Sharing with other Catholics is good practice. I have a friend in Oklahoma and if she stopped sharing with me I would be mad. She comes up with the greatest stuff. People are at different levels and to share with in your faith is a great place to learn to share to others that are not in the faith.
Lisa said to me the other day, “Paul did you ever have a day when you talked to the Lord and he answered by referring you to a friend” and I answered that happens everyday. In all truthfulness the Lord has given me a friend to talk to whenever I am in trouble. To turn that friend away would be like turning the Lord away. I had a recent crisis and a friend showed up. The Lord answered my prayers.
As you know you can share by writing. This happens to me a lot. I was trying to make it to lent and trying to make myself the holiest I have ever been. Then I made a mistake and when I did I was for a brief moment very disappointed in myself. I did not want to share with anyone my faith and then I realized I needed to share. The reason being is Jesus loves us and the fact that we tried to be like him and the effort we put into Holy week is what counts. Jesus loves us no matter if we fail or succeed. I failed and I felt really bad but then I prayed for the rest of the week and began sharing my faith again and Jesus filled my heart with Joy again. So even if you are not perfect all of the time you can still share your faith. I realize that now. We all have times that we fall and can not be like God. God is always there for us and he loves us no matter what.
Share your faith with a friend, regardless of what faith that person is. Sharing your faith could be just to sit in pray. Sharing your faith could be just being kind to that person and offering food or your friendship to that person. Kindness of the heart is the mark of a Christian and of Christ. Being a good Samaritan comes from your heart. Remember the words from the song, “and they will know we are Christians by our Love…” Being in love with Christ tends to consume your life. Frankly you do not need me to remind me about what to do. The Lord will tell you and I am sure you will be listening. Are you listening to God? Are you ready to Answer?
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