Living Catholicism

As a family man I often ponder not only how I can evangelize, but how I will teach my family to evangelize. For my family it is both extremely important and challenging in that half of our extended family isn't even Catholic. In light of this, my wife and I have come up with a few ways in which we attempt to evangelize:

1) Showing kindness and love to all those we come in contact with each day. Easier said than done, but we continually remind one another of this and strive toward the continual practice of love. It can be as simple as just smiling at a stranger and saying hello. It also requires the guarding of the tongue, meaning avoiding gossip, vulgar language, impurity, and cruel words.

2) The life of prayer. This includes the habit of making the Sign of the Cross and praying Grace before each meal, saying Night Prayers as a family, praying the Rosary and inviting even our non-Catholic friends and family to join us (this is great because it always sparks a conversation about what exactly the rosary is). Prayer is key, because it prepares both our hearts and those of others for those moments of grace and truth.

3) Make Sunday Mass a priority. I know I have said this before, but I simply cannot stress it enough...If you are Catholic you are obliged to go to Mass every Sunday. The Church mandates this not because they are trying to punish us but rather out of love, reorienting us to our proper purpose and need. We were created to know, love, and serve God and this is most perfectly carried out in the Mass.

4) Making our Catholic Faith visible in our home. This includes crucifixes on the walls, statues, pictures and icons, the Bible, the Catechism, and various books, magazines, and pamphlets. Think strategically with the books, magazines, and pamphlets. One of our "secret strategies" is to fill our magazine baskets in our bathrooms with sound Catholic magazines and various pamphlets. So all of our Catholic, Protestant, and non-Christian guests get healthy doses of sound Catholic teaching from pamphlets like "Birth Control and Christian Discipleship", "Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth: The Catholic Church and God's Plan for You", "Conformity to the Will of God", "What's Wrong with the Right to Die", and other such topics. Or they can choose a magazine like Crisis, Faith and Family, Envoy, or Gilbert. It is a very practical way to evangelize and it also allows your guest to be the one to initiate being evangelized.

5) Encourage "living" Works of Mercy. A very simple way to do this with children is to setup every once in awhile a "free" Lemonade stand. Allow your children to give their friends and neighbors free lemonade and to tell their customers something along these lines: "Jesus loves you and He wants me to love you too." This can soften the hardest of hearts, literally. Of course, in these troubled times, it is adviseable to stay with your children while they are doing this. As they grow older, take them to Soup Kitchens or get them involved in organizations like the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Working with the poor and needy is always a moving experience and a wonderful way to foster charity in our hearts.

6) Study and teach your children the Catholic Faith. We need to evangelize in our own homes first and foremost by learning our Catholic Faith and by teaching it to our children. We can only give what we have, so in order to hand on to the next generation the Catholic Faith we must possess it ourselves. I can think of no better place to begin than with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is worthwhile to read a few paragraphs from the Catechism on a daily basis, along with Sacred Scripture as well.

7) Make your life a "living" sacrifice. There are few things that preach louder than laying aside your own wants and needs for others. As parents we have many opportunities to practice this, for having a family requires the complete gift of self, again this is why contraception is so intrinsically evil. It is in giving that we receive...in time and in eternity.

I hope that these simple yet necessary ways of "preaching the Gospel always" will prove useful to you and your family in following our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Holy Family continue to bless and guide you and your family. Amen.