Help a sinner and coward?

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ursofsjv

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I am a practicing Catholic who is married to a baptized (not practicing no additional sacraments) raising our kids in the Church. They all are extremely faithful and active. While I continue to pray for him to accept the Lord, I don’t actively encourage him to aattend Mass. (Except for our kids’ sacraments–first eucharist, confirmation) Am I being a hypocrite by not evangalizing to him? I encourage strangers but not my husband. ( He can get angry easily and I am afraid it would cause more problems) I know I am probably beinig very cowardly, but am I also guilty of a grave sin?

I’d appreciate some advice–will pay to the Holy Spirit to give me the courage to do the right thing.
thank you
 
ursofsjv said:
I am a practicing Catholic who is married to a baptized (not practicing no additional sacraments) raising our kids in the Church. They all are extremely faithful and active. While I continue to pray for him to accept the Lord, I don’t actively encourage him to aattend Mass. (Except for our kids’ sacraments–first eucharist, confirmation) Am I being a hypocrite by not evangalizing to him? I encourage strangers but not my husband. ( He can get angry easily and I am afraid it would cause more problems) I know I am probably beinig very cowardly, but am I also guilty of a grave sin?

I’d appreciate some advice–will pay to the Holy Spirit to give me the courage to do the right thing.
thank you
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I was a little bit confused as to what exactly you were trying to say here, so I’ll try to help as best that I can. You said that you are Catholic and your husband is a baptized_____. What kind of christian denomination is your husband baptized into? It is not easy to evangalize to our own family probably because there are too many other emotions floating around in the relationship. I say strive for perfect love with him so that he never has anything of substance to ever gripe about. Let him only see Christ’s love in you and that will be the best evangalization he needs. Offer every hardship up to the Lord through the Immaculate Heart of Mary for his conversion. Complain to our Blessed Mother and not to him. Become a living sacrifice for the salvation of his soul with all joy and patience. Consider it an honor to serve the Lord in this way.
I’m not sure what you are saying when you asked if you were guilty of a grave sin. For sin to be grave three conditions must be met:
1.Its subject must be a grave (or serious) matter.
2.It must be committed with full knowledge, both of the sin and of the gravity of the offense (no one is considered ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are inborn as part of human knowledge, but these principles can be misunderstood in a particular context).
3.It must be committed with deliberate and complete consent, enough for it to have been a personal decision to commit the sin.

I don’t think you have these conditions met.
Don.t give up hope, trust in God, he has you in his arms. Pray constantly for his conversion, I will pray too.
 
ursofsjv said:
I am a practicing Catholic who is married to a baptized (not practicing no additional sacraments) raising our kids in the Church. They all are extremely faithful and active. While I continue to pray for him to accept the Lord, I don’t actively encourage him to aattend Mass. (Except for our kids’ sacraments–first eucharist, confirmation) Am I being a hypocrite by not evangalizing to him? I encourage strangers but not my husband. ( He can get angry easily and I am afraid it would cause more problems) I know I am probably beinig very cowardly, but am I also guilty of a grave sin?

I’d appreciate some advice–will pay to the Holy Spirit to give me the courage to do the right thing.
thank you
Click to expand...
if you follow your Catholic faith, and live by example day to day, you cant help but evangelize him, without saying a word…we are known by our fruit…

one day he’ll say to himself…wow, look at her joy and peace…do i ever want a piece of that

God Bless
 
ursofsjv said:
I am a practicing Catholic who is married to a baptized (not practicing no additional sacraments) raising our kids in the Church. They all are extremely faithful and active. While I continue to pray for him to accept the Lord, I don’t actively encourage him to aattend Mass. (Except for our kids’ sacraments–first eucharist, confirmation) Am I being a hypocrite by not evangalizing to him? I encourage strangers but not my husband. ( He can get angry easily and I am afraid it would cause more problems) I know I am probably beinig very cowardly, but am I also guilty of a grave sin?

I’d appreciate some advice–will pay to the Holy Spirit to give me the courage to do the right thing.
thank you
Click to expand...
Your first priority as a mother is to keep peace in the house for your children. If your husband gets angry with you and is not receptive to your attempts to evangelize him, then you are not being cowardly. You are keeping the peace in your household for the sake of your children - which is your first duty.

I do not think you are cowardly and I certainly don’t think you are commiting any sins. If you plant little seeds along the way (subtly, so he doesn’t get angry) and pray for him, then you are doing just about all you can do.

My sister has the same problem with her husband. She does not encourage him to go to Church with the family because it absolutely kills her when he struts up to receive Communion when he obviously should not! She tried to tell him he shouldn’t receive, and he just dismisses her as if she’s some silly little girl and does it anyway.
 
You are absolutely not in mortal sin. St. Paul covers just this situation in being married to unbelievers. Win him over with your quiet example, and sanctify your household with your faith. Let God do the rest. Remember, there is more than one way to evangelize. God Bless.
 
Nope, you are not sinning. You are not a coward either. Some ideas. Can you leave biblical notes in and around him, such as in a pocket or on the car seat, underneath his pillow, on a napkin, etc. Drop the Catholicness from the conversation. Use only the words Bible, Jesus, or God. Then after he accepts and warms up to these Bible quotes, point out to him that it was in Church where you heard a lot of these messages.
My prayers are with you and your family. Thank you for keeping the peace!
 
It is not sin, as the others have said to be yourself, even if no one ever follows your words or example.
 
A friend of mine told me about a story of when he was a college. He shared a house with three other guys, a Lutheran and two lapsed Catholics. Each and every time he went to mass, either daily mass or on Sunday, he would ask them if they wanted to go. Each and every time, they turned him down. Finally, at the end of the year, one of the lapsed Catholics came with him. This man soon went off to be deployed in Afghanistan, but not before my friend gave him a green scapular for him to wear. Later, the soldier wrote to my friend saying how much it meant to him and how his faith had be reawakened.

The point is, be persistent. You don’t have to be successful in getting him to church in order to be successful in evangelizing him in the long run. You have no idea what your witness will do to his heart. In the meantime, do the small things. “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”
 
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