Preaching in Public

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Fiery_Preacher

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Hello all. I guess I should vent, but its getting a little too late even for my insomnia…

Let me just briefly state, that I’m a practicing Catholic. My Christian faith has grown tremendously in the last 3 years or so. I have discerned, that like it says in the Bible, I have the spiritual gift of preaching. I’ve never used it, at least in public. But, often times things I see in the news, or in the culture, or even after reflecting on things that happen in my own life. I’ll find myself pacing in my room preaching (I try to be quiet so other people don’t hear me).

Anyways, I preach. And I can easily spend 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes like this.

The HHS Mandate is very concerning to me. To me, this is the first time in my life where the government is going to persecute the Catholic Church. Or really religion in general. I know Christians in other countries are being killed, like in Nigeria, Egypt, etc. for their faith. That actually might be important for my decision.

But, in the U.S. isn’t this law monumental? Isn’t it the first time in our lifetimes where the government has passed a law which violates religious freedom?

There is a lot of evil out there. But, to me, this is close to home, and this crosses a line. This is the final straw for me.

If it is God’s Will, when this unjust law goes into effect on Aug. 1st, 2013, I will go into a public square, and I will bring a Bible and Rosary, and I will preach until I feel I have sufficiently aired the grievances of the Church on this. Until I let the world (my nick of the woods) know how much the government is making Christ suffer.

623 Catholic hospitals, tens of thousands of nurses, doctors, staff. Millions of patients cared for. That is religion in the public square. We all know it isn’t street preachers. And there certainly aren’t any CATHOLIC STREET PREACHERS. No, religion in the public square for our Church is running hundreds of hospitals, schools, charities, etc.

Well, the government wants to force us to sin, because the government is evil. The liberals are evil and they call evil good. They say contraception is good. Contraception is evil in every circumstance. These people are evil. They are assaulting the Catholic Church.
  1. If this law goes into effect in 43 days, and
  2. If I discern it is the Will of God.
Then, I will go out and preach in the public square. And, after August 1st, I will preach at least 1 hour every day. And I will continue to preach as long as I feel it is God’s Will.

Why? What is it that I want to achieve? I want to glorify God.

The Holy Spirit may water seeds that I scatter. I’ll be preaching the Gospel, I’ll be preaching everything I know about the Catholic faith, I’ll preach truth, grace, love. In the words of Pope Francis, I will preach Christ crucified. And I will do so with my words, but also with my actions. I will love every person that mocks me. I want to respond to every person that ridicules me just as I would respond to every Christian who encourages me.

I will count ridicule, suffering, mocking, etc. all as blessings. I will count everything for the Glory of God. I will preach for His ears. I won’t be a people pleaser. I will make sure my actions please God.

Glorifying God is my sole objective. If I do that, that is the definition of success: did I glorify God?​

That’s my rant, and my post.
I don’t have any direct questions for you, but I will value the (name removed by moderator)ut you give me.
Ultimately this will come down to between me and God, but for right now, I will seek (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
I’m with you on the frustrations and sentiments toward this whole thing as many others are I know. Its ironic you post this as the Gospel read at today’s Mass was from Mathew. Particularly 6:5 - 6…
“5 And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

So I have mixed feelings about preaching in the streets. I know it says “praying” but to me its essentially the same thing. I don’t want to be seen as someone who I have been put off by in my past. Its a tough place for us to be in. I guess in the end, if the Spirit moves you to do it… But nevertheless, we should continue to pray the entire mandate goes away. As much as I try to be an optimist, I don’t have a good feeling. Peace be with you my friend!
 
I will give you a word of warning. Never preach spitefully or scornfully. This does not mean do not preach boldly, but do not allow yourself to be scornful.

Godbless 👍:signofcross:
 
Also, make sure that it is a place you are allowed to preach in, so you don’t get arrested.
 
Such a spirit is commendable and praiseworthy, but perhaps not prudent.

I will add the following two warnings:
  • it is not prudent to do this alone: the Lord instructed us to go two by two. Which is why Holy Church does not feature random street preachers like other denominations do.
  • it is not prudent to undertake this on your own, without the knowledge of the Church. We are each members of a flock under the care of a pastor, and ultimately under the care of a bishop. To just ignore this and act on our own initiative does not appear to be proper.
Therefore I strongly advise that you discuss this matter under spiritual direction rather than acting on your own initiative. If this is God’s will, then He will ratify it through the Church.

If it is not, then perhaps greater good will be done in humble obedience and participating in those activities which Holy Church promotes. Among which we find at the top the fast and abstinence on every Friday of the year as well as the daily prayer of 5 decades of the Rosary - as asked by the bishops of the United States for this and related intentions.
 
R_C said:
Such a spirit is commendable and praiseworthy, but perhaps not prudent.

I will add the following two warnings:
  • it is not prudent to do this alone: the Lord instructed us to go two by two. Which is why Holy Church does not feature random street preachers like other denominations do.
  • it is not prudent to undertake this on your own, without the knowledge of the Church. We are each members of a flock under the care of a pastor, and ultimately under the care of a bishop. To just ignore this and act on our own initiative does not appear to be proper.
Therefore I strongly advise that you discuss this matter under spiritual direction rather than acting on your own initiative. If this is God’s will, then He will ratify it through the Church.

If it is not, then perhaps greater good will be done in humble obedience and participating in those activities which Holy Church promotes. Among which we find at the top the fast and abstinence on every Friday of the year as well as the daily prayer of 5 decades of the Rosary - as asked by the bishops of the United States for this and related intentions.
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and…

If you feel like you need to be out on the streets to evangelize, check out St. Paul Street Evangelization - streetevangelization.com/.

Hope this helps.
 
May all your thoughts, words and actions honor and glorify Our Lord. May God be with you at all times and protect you from every harm. God bless you.
 
Thank you all for your advice. I think I’ll respond generally, and then maybe respond to a few people after this post.

Anyways, the bottom line here is that I know I have the gift of preaching. So, where am I supposed to use that gift? I’ve thought about doing this before, and the HHS Mandate is just a concrete way for me to draw a line in the sand. It is a logical justification that will allow me to say: I am preaching because in my mind this specific thing is too far.

Look at Luke 14:26. There are plenty of reasons why I shouldn’t do this. But, at the end of the day, every reason I can think of seems to come from worldly concerns. My family will not like me to do it, I’ll lose friends bc they’ll think I’m crazy.

Jesus Christ knows that I have the gift of preaching. He gave me this gift. Why would He do so if I’m too much of a coward to use it? I don’t want to be a coward.

If my love for Jesus makes the whole world hate me, then so be it. And, I know that’s empty rhetoric right there. But seriously, I think the vast majority of Christians I know would call me crazy if I did this. I would get very little encouragement. And I would likely lose a lot of friends.

I haven’t been able to pray enough about this. But, one time I got to pray deeply about this, and I felt like God was saying that doing this would make me lose credibility. That, He would give me more effective opportunities to preach to more receptive audiences.

I’ll keep praying.

But seriously, what are Christians who have the spiritual gift of preaching supposed to do? I don’t want to bury my talent in the sand, but I feel like most people with this gift are pressured to do so by the world…
 
R_C said:
Such a spirit is commendable and praiseworthy, but perhaps not prudent.

I will add the following two warnings:
  • it is not prudent to do this alone: the Lord instructed us to go two by two. Which is why Holy Church does not feature random street preachers like other denominations do.
  • it is not prudent to undertake this on your own, without the knowledge of the Church. We are each members of a flock under the care of a pastor, and ultimately under the care of a bishop. To just ignore this and act on our own initiative does not appear to be proper.
Therefore I strongly advise that you discuss this matter under spiritual direction rather than acting on your own initiative. If this is God’s will, then He will ratify it through the Church.
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Thank you very much. I think your response is the best. And it is clearly wise.

You are right on both counts. I have a spiritual director (for the past 3 or 4 months), so I will tell him about this and see what he thinks.

I also do know some Christians in my area, Catholic and non, who have expressed interest in street evangelism. So, I would be a fool if I didn’t approach them with this plan. If I do indeed feel that it should be done.
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mrs_katekista:
If you feel like you need to be out on the streets to evangelize, check out St. Paul Street Evangelization - streetevangelization.com/.
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That’s perhaps the weird thing about this. I really don’t consider street preaching as an effective way to evangelize. But, I don’t feel the goal would be evangelism, I feel it would be glorifying God.

The Holy Spirit makes seeds grow. All we can do is plant seeds, and water them. But, we are not responsible for other people to be saved, the Holy Spirit actually makes the seeds grow.

So, practically speaking. This means that as long as we do what God wants us to do, then that is the ends. The means are the ends.

So, if I preached, and someone converted, God would be glorified.
Or, if I preached, and 100 people hated me, not because of who I am, but because of who God is. God would be glorified.

God would be glorified if I preached. But, He would receive no glory if I did not preach.

The results of our actions are irrelevant. Our actions shouldn’t be motivated by the minds of men, but solely by the Will of God.
 
Fiery_Preacher said:
…

So, if I preached, and someone converted, God would be glorified.
Or, if I preached, and 100 people hated me, not because of who I am, but because of who God is. God would be glorified.

God would be glorified if I preached. But, He would receive no glory if I did not preach.

The results of our actions are irrelevant. Our actions shouldn’t be motivated by the minds of men, but solely by the Will of God.
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if you preached and 50 people decided never to set foot in a Catholic Church because of how you came across, you’d be what? glorifying God? satisfied? maybe you should consider preaching in private. don’t compare yourself to Paul. Paul knew how to work a crowd.
 
According to the Vatican Council II documents, you don’t need permission from a bishop or the Church to do the Mission of Jesus, help the poor or preach. Now, a Bishop can forbid you from preaching in his diocese, but I don’t think that happens very often.

If you have a gift, use it, and God bless you.

But, I tell you that many communities require you to obtain a permit in order to publicly preach in the public areas, such as parks and streets and other common areas.

Once you get the permit, though, you are free to preach, I understand. I have seen street preachers doing this and they weren’t arrested because, I guess, they obtained a permit.
 
Fiery Preacher, I say more power to you. Just remember it is almost guaranteed you will be accountable for what is said, by the public and providence. Expect to live it.
 
Fairwinds said:
if you preached and 50 people decided never to set foot in a Catholic Church because of how you came across, you’d be what? glorifying God? satisfied? maybe you should consider preaching in private. don’t compare yourself to Paul. Paul knew how to work a crowd.
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You need to read the prophets of the Old Testament. A lot of those prophets were called by God to preach to various tribes and peoples. And guess what? Not a single person converted. God called them to preach to people who all had deaf ears and hard hearts.

People. People. People.

I hope for your sake that your religion isn’t motivated by people.

My religion is motivated SOLELY by the cross. We must not let the humanism of the world infiltrate and distort the Church of Jesus Christ.

“Humanism says: the end of all being is the happiness of man. Christianity says: the end of all being is the GLORY OF GOD” - Paris Reidhead.

You do not get people into the Church by focusing on how to get people into the Church.
You get people into the Church by focusing on Jesus Christ. Become deaf to the world, let the voice of God drown out every other voice.

As the great hymn, “Crown Him With Many Crowns”, puts it: "Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His Throne, Hark how the Heavenly anthem drowns all music but its’ own"
Anyways, I think we often think of preaching as something motivated by anger. Well, to me, preaching would be motivated out of love. My love of Christ brings me to tears. When Jesus wept in the garden, He didn’t do so out of sadness, He did so out of love.

It is unloving for someone given the gift of preaching not to use that gift. It is unloving of anyone, who, as the Scriptures say in [BIBLEDRB]Luke 12:48[/BIBLEDRB]

If much is required or demanded of you, because you have been given much, and you do not perform the actions/ deeds which are required of you… well, that’s something that I don’t want to have to answer for on the Day of Judgment. I’d vastly prefer to just do the deeds, knowing that they please Christ.

If good deeds give Glory to God, then there should be no excuse not to do them. To make an excuse is to put something in between you and God, and that is the definition of sin.
 
Lastly, the theological support for preaching in public is sound. Obviously, saints have done so throughout the entire history of the Church. Yet, the response you get when you actually talk about doing so with other Catholics, such as on this forum, is at worst openly hostile to the idea, and at best passive, tepid, lukewarm support.

Why is that the case?

You’d think that people in the Catholic Church would be absolutely enthusiastically on fire for all works of the ministry. For all parts of the body to do as many works as they can. Well, if people in the Church aren’t even receptive to works of the ministry, then no one is. That’s what Churches do, right? They support works of ministry. Well… evidently not. Not in every case at least. Not in this case.

I asked a question a few posts up that hasn’t been answered: "Where am I supposed to use the gift of preaching? If Jesus Christ gives certain people to be preachers, teachers, etc… then where are we supposed to use that gift???"
 
Fiery_Preacher said:
I asked a question a few posts up that hasn’t been answered: "Where am I supposed to use the gift of preaching? If Jesus Christ gives certain people to be preachers, teachers, etc… then where are we supposed to use that gift???"
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Be a catechist and/or join/ask to start your parish’s evangelization ministry.

Hope this helps.
 
While I certainly do not want to encourage anyone else to accost me of the street, I do think that the context of not praying in the street was that at the time some Jews were using public displays of prayer as a way to show off their holiness. In effect, the act of prayer was subverted into an act of pride. I believe it was this pride that was being criticized, which does not seem to be where the OP is coming from, though pride may become a temptation for the OP.
 
Fiery_Preacher said:
Lastly, the theological support for preaching in public is sound. Obviously, saints have done so throughout the entire history of the Church. Yet, the response you get when you actually talk about doing so with other Catholics, such as on this forum, is at worst openly hostile to the idea, and at best passive, tepid, lukewarm support.

Why is that the case?

You’d think that people in the Catholic Church would be absolutely enthusiastically on fire for all works of the ministry. For all parts of the body to do as many works as they can. Well, if people in the Church aren’t even receptive to works of the ministry, then no one is. That’s what Churches do, right? They support works of ministry. Well… evidently not. Not in every case at least. Not in this case.

I asked a question a few posts up that hasn’t been answered: "Where am I supposed to use the gift of preaching? If Jesus Christ gives certain people to be preachers, teachers, etc… then where are we supposed to use that gift???"
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You might shift it into politics.

I think the stronger answer to this problem is to get as many people into the fight as possible.
Martin Luther King Jr. did it peacefully with massive demonstrations.

Just some thoughts.
 
Fairwinds said:
don’t compare yourself to Paul. Paul knew how to work a crowd.
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I feel obligated to briefly respond to this. Paul did not know how to work a crowd. That is an Earthly explanation for Paul’s ministry, and it is an explanation that I have no doubt Paul would reject.

Paul calls himself the sinner of sinners, or the chiefest of sinners. He murdered Christians, and zealously persecuted the early Christian Church, as the pharisee: Saul of Tarsus.

To see such a man totally reverse his life after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus is a clear evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit. In acts, when 3,000 and later 5,000 people are converted with a single homily, this is the act of the Holy Spirit.

So, while I’m not comparing myself to Paul, it is either disingenuous or ignorant to say that ‘Paul knew how to work a crowd’. No. The faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. Apart from you [Jesus], I can do nothing.

The entire ministry of Paul was not due to Paul, but to the working of the Holy Spirit. To say otherwise is to rob God of his glory.
 
Fiery_Preacher said:
I have discerned, that like it says in the Bible, I have the spiritual gift of preaching.
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You should ask your priest if he agrees with such a judgement.

What worries me is that you call some people evil. People are capable of doing evil. Paul did terrible things before his conversion. St Thérèse said if she had not been a nun she would have been a great sinner (great in the sense of magnitude, not great as in good). No one in this life is beyond God’s forgiveness.

Here’s an article about a speech Pope Francis gave referencing Paul.

ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=7864

And another.

ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=7890
 
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