Shortly after Christmas, I was at the park with my children and met a young mother with two children the same age as my two youngest. Even though there was a big difference in our age, we somehow connected instantly - like long lost friends. Have you ever met a stranger and thought, "Hmmm, so strange how easy it was to talk to him/her"? Well, that was the case here. Even though I never do this, we decided to exchange phone numbers and we vowed to meet up at the park again and let our kids play together. Believe it or not, I have been so busy I have only taken my children back once since then and it was a spur of the moment thing. So, I have not seen this mom again. However, after getting home that day I noticed she had sent me a friend request on facebook. I thought it was a little odd at first, but trusted my initial instincts about her and accepted the request. We have stayed in contact via facebook.
I sometimes wonder if my posts on my personal facebook page irritate people to the point they don't want to be friends anymore. I am not obnoxious with meme after meme or political rants, but I do post Catholic news, anti-abortion news, all mixed with gardening posts, and photos of my kids. I basically post all that I love: God, my Catholic faith, pro-life news, and my family. I do, on the other hand, wonder if I am evangelizing to people who may not think the way I do. I wonder if my postings might cause one of my friends to pause and think about their own stance on a particular issue.
Last week, I received a private email through facebook from that young mother I met at the park. She said that she has seen how involved I am with my parish through my facebook postings, and it has caused her to want to join the Catholic faith. Yes! You read that right! One for our side! Anyway, she said she was baptized, but never received first communion or confirmation. She wanted to know how she went about signing up "for the program". I, of course, immediately wrote her back and told her how happy I was for her regarding her decision, gave her the contact information, and told her to please ask me if she has any questions at all. I still become overjoyed just thinking about this. How happenstance our meeting was, and how impactful it became.
The Holy Spirit has guided our Church into this New Evangelization period. The Lord is calling His children home. If you have the means and/or opportunity, make sure you proclaim your faith publicly. It is scary at first, I assure you. It is a cross the Lord is asking us to take up and carry. Witness to your faith in all aspects of your life. You never know who might be watching and listening. I will say though that you will attract more bees with honey than with vinegar. If you go about your evangelizing with a pointed finger at the end of your hand, you will only turn others away. Show the world your zeal for the Lord and for the Catholic Church. People will sit up and take notice. They will want to know why you are so happy. That is then the opportunity to unlock the door and give them the key to your happiness. Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter to build His Church. The keys are inside the Church. Don't let your faith be locked away in your inner sanctum for no one to see. Reveal it and others will want to join. God bless you in your evangelization!
2 comments:
How amazing! What a great thing to come out of a chance meeting! And kudos to you to posting things about prolife news. I generally shy away from that because I have some friends that have had abortions and I fear that it will hurt them. (They have a lot of pain from them.)
Mandi, thank you so much for writing. I too have a dear old friend who told me two years ago that she had had two abortions...both while being married. I cried, she cried, I told her I would have adopted them, and she cried more. I am careful about which stories to post and how each article is written. I do, however, need to be better about posting where to go for healing post abortion. Perhaps, if you're feeling called to do so, you could post about healing and maybe during a time of year that makes sense - for example, pro-life month (October) or anniversary of Roe v Wade (January). That way your friends might not feel you are singling them out? God bless!!!
Post a Comment