Evangelism by Proxy
Tonite we concluded our last Seeker's Meeting of this season. At the end we had but one non- Catholic seeker in our group. For the past several months, once a month the three of us would meet in our kitchen and we would discuss aspects of Catholicism that were misunderstood by non- Catholics. We covered the Eucharist, the Church Fathers, Mary, the communion of saints, the rosary, sacramentals, etc. The joy of this little group was that it was not a "bait and switch" or "friendship evangelism;" meaning, we had no expectation or agenda to get the seeker to "say the Catholic sinner's prayer" and pledge their undying faith to Rome! (just kidding, there is no Catholic sinner's prayer) Our goal was to communicate the truth of Catholicism and hope and pray that some of the beauty could shine through. (I must admit, I wouldn't have been too disappointed if she wanted to go to the next RCIA.)She told us that she was not interested in converting but appreciated getting to know more of what Catholics believe. As the night came to a close and she told us of her heartsick fundamentalist friend whose only daughter was near-to-be engaged to a Catholic. The woman was devastated because her daughter would be sharing her life with a "non-believer." We tried not to smile as our seeker friend explained to us how she told her heartsick friend that Catholics really do love Jesus and He is the center of their faith. As she told us how she explained the Communion of Saints to her friend, my wife and I thought, "This is what it's all about!" Our non-Catholic seeker friend explained the rosary, praying to saints, devotion to Mary to her friend as well as any knowledgeable Catholic could. God bless this amazing woman! Now that's what I call "evangelism by proxy!" Jesus said "he is that is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:40)
St Frances DeSales: Through your ministry of evangelism and tract writing, you won back 60,000 souls to the Church. We ask for your intercession today and always that people will be drawn to a closer relationship with Jesus through the Catholic Church. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 10:24 PM
2 Comments:
Wow... that's really awesome.
God is good!
That is POWERFUL! Thanks, TJ for posting this. Please pray for a 'seeker' I'm emailing once in a while about Mary (at the moment) I've not heard from her in reply to my latest, which was to send her to your blog to hear your basement tapes... : ) about your return to the CC. Her name is Karen and she's a dear soul who almost joined the CC years ago but for reasons I know nothing about, decided not to do so. She wrote about her concerns that Mary is worshiped. I wrote back with many links for her to peruse at her leisure as she's very busy going to school and working and grandkids etc. So, I pray she's found them helpful. I also pray that she'll once again consider coming into full communion with the CC.
susie
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