Evangelization in times of pain

[cjmoa]

One of my best friends recently reached out today to me because she was mourning the death of her mother from a while back.

She called me late at night because she said she was remembering a time when i’d talked to her about religion and God. She said she was the only friend she could really talk about religion to.

In her mourning, she was talking about how she really wanted to believe in heaven and accept religion, but she found it so difficult since she was an atheist. Her family was buddhist, but she wasn’t very religious, or gave religion much thought.

I was very surprised at that moment, and really didn’t know what to say. I’ve never experienced what it’s like to lose a loved one, and what that pain is like,
so I didn’t know what to say.

I kept going off on tangents. I was trying to comfort her, but at the same time evangelize; which was difficult because i was trying my best not to give hearses. I tried sharing my own personal experiences with pain and how my faith helped me through it, but i’m not too sure how effective it was considering her experiences and my own are completely different.

I guess my question is, how do you evangelize when someone is mourning like that? How should i comfort her?

Please pray for her. Pray for her mom as well, she died a few years ago.

 

[Salibi]

I guess my question is, how do you evangelize when someone is mourning like that? How should i comfort her?

You don’t necessarily have to evangelize immediately. In your friend’s case, it would have been better if you’d served as a listening ear, and allowed her to talk about her grief. It’s fine to let a grieving person get it all out without trying to evangelize them.

Evangelization is a process that doesn’t bear fruit immediately via a phone call. Your friend is going through a tough time, and the best way to evangelize her is probably by being there for her and helping her through her grief. Suggest to her a visit to a church or a saint’s shrine as a way to make her feel better. Offer to pray for her deceased mother and for her. But don’t forget to be respectful and sensitive, and please don’t approach the issue with the mindset of getting her to convert instead of genuinely helping her out. She may end up not converting, or may not express any interest in Catholicism after a while, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop being a source of support and a listening ear for her.

Ultimately, don’t forget that evangelization requires that you be sensitive, that you be kind, and that you be considerate. Be prudent, and don’t push your friend too hard or cut her off if she doesn’t want to convert. You may have in doing so torn out a seed that would have born fruit years later.

Praying for you, and your friend.

God bless.