Jesus Invites but People Respond Differently
Jesus publicly invited many to follow him — such as Simon Peter,[1] Matthew the tax collector,[2] Andrew, James, and John.[3] He also presented that call to people in different places in life. Zacchaeus, for example, was eager to follow Jesus.[4] Mary Magdalene had some baggage.[5] Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea needed secrecy.[6] There were also people who would reject his invitation like the rich young man[7] or the Pharisees.[8]
Like Jesus, we will meet people from various backgrounds, with different experiences, hopes, sins, and struggles. Our methods should not be “one size fits all.” Jesus did not shrink from speaking truth to anyone. But the way that He dealt with the Pharisees is much different from his interactions with the Samaritan woman at the well,[9] and the woman caught in adultery.[10] We see that there is a time for gentleness, and a time for directness.
Tactics to Take When Evangelizing Others
How do we know which tactic to take when evangelizing others?
- Prayer: begin with a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten you and guide you.[11]
- Intellect and Common Sense: We are called to use our intelligence, right reason, and common sense to guide us in the work of evangelization. This requires humility and detachment concerning our opinions, preferences, and personal knowledge and experience. It also means acknowledging our shortcomings and limits — all in light of the mystery of human sinfulness and of God’s grace.[12]
Other Helpful Considerations
- How close is your relationship with the person that you are trying to evangelize? Are they immediate family members, friends, a fellow parishioner, or are they someone you barely know? Talking about the Faith with a longtime friend will probably differ significantly from doing the same with the person you just met. The closer we are to a person, the more direct we can usually be.[13]
- For someone you know well, you should consider their background and personality. Is the person you are dealing with defensive or resistant to criticism? We may need to adjust our approach to someone who is stubborn or thin-skinned.[14]
- How grave is the person’s sin or error? Evil is the distortion of the good. Even someone in error may be doing some (or even many) things that are good, true, and beautiful. In some cases, we may not need to say anything corrective, but focus on building them up in Christ. Those close to us who are living a life of grave sin may require us challenging them with hard truths, but gently.[15]
- What is your role in the life of the person you are evangelizing? Someone with spiritual authority over a person has a far greater responsibility than a co-worker or acquaintance.[16] Having a role of lesser importance doesn’t mean we do not care about their salvation, but our part in helping them get to heaven will be different. It may involve turning more to prayer, penance, and witnessing to the Faith through actions and humble suggestions. The different roles that we have in the lives of people will determine our focus with them.[17]
An essential initial stage of evangelization is welcoming a person. When someone first approaches you about Catholicism, you want to do all that you can to make them feel welcome and comfortable without turning them off. At some point though, the subject matter will become personal and potentially make the person defensive. It’s at this point that too many Catholics will avoid challenging topics. However, to make disciples, we must be willing to make use of the grace and strength of the Lord to go outside our comfort zone and let the Lord do His work.[18] A hunger for souls can consume us with love, leading us to suffer and share in Jesus’ own cross. Fr. Donald Haggerty speaks of this reality in the following way:
A conversion is not just a change of life-style. The new recognition of God infuses strong desires in our soul that God should be known by others as we now know him. A kind of missionary zeal for souls can take hold of our heart and enter into our impulses with other people. We would like to see conversions spread contagiously among our contacts with people. More immediately we would be happy at times to bowl over an unbelieving soul with an overwhelming truth of God. This enthusiasm for winning souls may be naive in its optimism regarding the appeal of God to people who do not know him. But in another sense it is a sign of our love for God. And zeal for souls as we continue life is essential to a love for souls. We taste a graced impulse in wanting to bring others to the truth of God and to the Catholic faith. We have to be led by God in this love for souls, learning wisdom of heart and suffering for souls, if we truly want their conversion to the faith. Even God in his omnipotence cannot convert a soul that does not want to know him.[19]
This zeal for the truth and for souls should be tempered rightly according to the situation in the present moment. It should acknowledge obstacles in light of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, it should lead us to wisdom and prudence, showing us how to build relationships with people. This allows us to give them the Gospel in its fullness in a way that can bear fruit. This is also where the One Good Reason method from module two might be particularly helpful.
What does it mean to “stand in the breach?”
A healthy zeal for souls will lead us to “stand in the breach”, helping others to accept salvation. Moses did this for the Israelites in interceding for them when the wrath of God was flared up against them.[20] What Moses did, however, was a type of what Christ would do on the cross. Christ was sent to earth by the Father as an act of mercy for sinners. Standing in the breach does not mean simply that “mean old” God is angry and “good” Moses redirects that anger. Rather, God rose up Moses for that very purpose — to intercede for them, to bring His mercy to them. And so, we should imitate Christ (and Moses) in embracing a ministry of intercession for sinners. The Catechism speaks of this reality of “standing in the breach” as follows:
The arguments of [Moses’] prayer – for intercession is also a mysterious battle – will inspire the boldness of the great intercessors among the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must remember his marvelous deeds, since his glory is at stake, and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name.[21]
Standing in the breach is something that Our Lord teaches us through devotion to His Sacred Heart. Our Lady calls us to do the same through the Five First Saturdays devotion to her Immaculate Heart. By these and other devotions and prayers, we offer an impassioned appeal for the salvation of hardened sinners. When we stand in the breach, we mystically echo the words and dispositions that Jesus had on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”[22] This is where evangelization becomes much more than mere human actions; it involves spreading seeds of grace through acts of prayer, love, and reparation, that may be visible or secret. In the end, our actions in this regard will be seen by the Lord, who can use them as a means to bring about the work of redemption in the lives of others.
Our Lord might also invite us to step into the breach for people we would not normally think of on our own. These souls will often be the “little ones”[23]who have possibly fallen into grave sin, but never explicitly rejected Our Lord or the Faith. In the present moment, Jesus will call us to love him through interceding for these “little ones” or forgotten ones. In this work, we open our hearts and love people. In doing so, we enter into the struggle that they have both with sin and with their personal share of the passion of Jesus. Such actions of love mirror how Our Lord himself was consoled by Veronica wiping his face with her veil during the way of the cross. Our Lord invites us to do this in our prayer and common experience with others.
We may not see the results of such prayers, and acts of love and sacrifice in this life. In his invitation to “stand in the breach,” Our Lord asks and enables us to till the hardness of sinners’ hearts. This can yield an opening to grace in God’s time, even if this occurs near the time of the person’s death.[24]
[1] Matt 4:18-22; Lk 5:1-11.
[2] Matt 9:9-13; Mk 2:13-17; Lk 5:27-28.
[3] Lk 5:1-11; John 1:35-51.
[4] Lk 19:1-10.
[5] Lk 8:2-3.
[6] Jn 3:1-21; 19:39-42.
[7] Matt 19:16-22.
[8] Lk 11:37-52. See also Ad Gentes, 5; Quay, 318-321, 321-337, 369-372; Claret de la Touche, 11-14; Haggerty, 109-112.
[9] John 4.
[10] John 8:1-11.
[11] Sammons, 52; Haggerty, 223-243.
[12] Sammons, 52; Haggerty, 108.
[13] Sammons, 53; Haggerty, 32-33.
[14] Sammons, 53.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Such a person is usually a parent, a priest, or someone very close, like an intimate friend.
[17] Ibid., 54; Claret de la Touche, 89-104; Haggerty, 115-117.
[18] CCC 1989, 1992; Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 21-24; Haggerty, 39-54.
[19] Haggerty, 91-92.
[20] Psalm 106:23; cf. Exodus 32:1-34:9.
[22] Lk 23:24.
[23] Cf. Matt 11:25 & 18:6.
[24] Haggerty, 146-148.