Preaching the Gospel

[totallylost]

From this forum, I learned the saying “Preach the Gospel, when necessary use words”.

But I’m wondering how is it possible in modern world now. Preaching was not as easy as 500 years ago when a missionary starts to explain the presents of God to the atheists…they believe. That time maybe was because they do believe in something supernatural and they taught it was a stone’s or water spirit so this might made preaching a bit easier.

But now the atheist are quite different. World ‘changed’ and the popular belief are getting stronger. Popular belief are like fame, money, power, etc and many company has the ‘leadership course’ to help people to ‘grow’ inside themselves so they expand their business by influencing people, or money as status etc etc. The view of abortion becomes acceptable as long as the mother has no financial ability to raise the child and is a ‘noble’ thing to do as letting a child to suffer in this world is ‘cruel’.

Another popular belief are “science can’t prove God, religion is always contradict to science”, “Don’t force your view on others” (which means you believe in your faith, I don’t, so get lost", “If Christianity is a true religion, how about other 5000 religion who claims the same” etc.

Even if you live your life according to Catholic’s law like going to Mass every Sunday, abstain from meat on Fridays, it just turn them away more. They think that they do not have full freedom like being bond with the “rules”.

If you show the good example, they’ll say "every religion ask us to be good. I can be good too but i do not want to follow the rules (going to church every sunday etc).

Another type of person is they say they believe in God but do not want to be ‘controlled’ by God. So anything you say, he’ll just say “well, I believe in God, but I choose my own lifestyle” or something similar to that.

Evangelizing is equally impossible to a Muslim as well.

So how do we evangelize? it seems like almost an impossible thing to do nowadays.
again, one of the factor is ppl had adopted the ‘popular belief’ like money is everything etc.

 

[totallylost]

13 views and no one replied >"<

 

[kvw]

The short answer is “. . . for God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26)

 

[ready]

Just obey the commandments by loving God and neighbor and be compassionate to both friend and foe, and let your natural words and actions in everyday activities defend Christ and your faith as a Catholic. If someone is sinning do nothing to lead them on in their sin, don’t even smile in agreement when they boast of their sin, as you may be appearing to agree with their wrong doing…unless you can smile and gently reprove them at the same time. Kindly and gently share with them the Church’s teaching in such a sinful situation they may find themselves in and discourage them from sinning and leading a life of mediocrity of faith by just being you, a good example to them to learn from.

 

[losh14]

From this forum, I learned the saying “Preach the Gospel, when necessary use words”.

I think that for St. Francis (to whom this saying is attributed), the Gospel was something so necessary to live that it had become intrinsic to his life. Preaching was second to doing, and not in the sense of salvation by works or any such nonsense, but rather that it takes less to read the Gospel than it does to live it.

Christ didn’t call us to memorize passages and be able to explain doctrines - although that is helpful. Ultimately, He wants us to follow Him - in word and in deed. The call to holiness means worship and praise, but that worship should extend beyond the hour a week we spend in Mass. We should know Christ by learning about Him, but reading the Bible tells us only so much, while living His love teaches us far better. Serving others takes the abstract healings and miracles and places you in imitation of those.

But I’m wondering how is it possible in modern world now. Preaching was not as easy as 500 years ago when a missionary starts to explain the presents of God to the atheists…they believe.

I think you underestimate the ancient atheists, animists and pantheists. Some of them virulently opposed the Church - that’s how martyrs are made.

Popular belief are like fame, money, power, etc and many company has the ‘leadership course’ to help people to ‘grow’ inside themselves so they expand their business by influencing people, or money as status etc etc. The view of abortion becomes acceptable as long as the mother has no financial ability to raise the child and is a ‘noble’ thing to do as letting a child to suffer in this world is ‘cruel’.

Only the name has changed, but the ignorance and evil remain. In the past men still clung to money and fame, although it was scarcely within reach for so many. Economic success and mass communication means that money and fame tempt many more men today. And while abortion was never spoken about in the past, it remains no less abhorrent. It also does not help that ours is a civilization far more obsessed with individualism than those that came before - at the same time, we don’t have to contend with a pagan-run empire that thought nothing of human life and ruled over 1/4th of the world’s populace.

Even if you live your life according to Catholic’s law like going to Mass every Sunday, abstain from meat on Fridays, it just turn them away more. They think that they do not have full freedom like being bond with the “rules”.

I’ve heard this as well. They complain that rules confine them when they already indenture themselves to wanton desires. It’s so ironic to hear a sex addict talk about freedom - “It’s my body and I’m free to do whatever I want with whomever I want”, nevermind the slavery to lust that consumes them.

If you show the good example, they’ll say "every religion ask us to be good. I can be good too but i do not want to follow the rules (going to church every sunday etc).

“Good” also becomes subjective for them. It is “good” to let a woman who cannot support a child abort that child. And we turn a blind eye to the poverty that sent this woman to such a heartbreaking choice.

Another type of person is they say they believe in God but do not want to be ‘controlled’ by God. So anything you say, he’ll just say “well, I believe in God, but I choose my own lifestyle” or something similar to that.

Perhaps this is more like “acknowledging God”. As in, “I acknowledge there is a deity, somewhere, but I’m not afraid of being punished by Him so I can’t really believe in Him.”

So how do we evangelize?
With our very lives. A favorite hymn of mine refrains with “Cry the Gospel with your life!”

Where people enslave themselves to wealth and promiscuity, show them freedom in modest means and purity.

Where they find chaos and intractable problems in the world, so them God’s plan and His Grace.

Where they seek individuality and espouse a “do what you want” lifestyle, show them that true freedom consists in living as you should, rather than as you wish.

Where they find things utterly devoid of meaning, remind them of the reason for their creation, and their purpose.

 

[puzzleannie]

if every Christian began behaving as a Christian tomorrow the work of evangelization would be done overnight. I mean not just “be good and say your prayers” at a child’s level, I mean radical embrace of the Gospel, forgiving enemies (and friends), loving the poor, seeing the face of Christ in everyone in material or spiritual need, feeding the hungry and so forth, loving peace and working for justice.

 

[bennimom]

We are all called to evangelize in our own way, with our own gifts. When in doubt pray Matt 10:18-20… The Holy Spirit will be with you in those moments just pray, pray, pray.

 

[Rawb]

A great story I was told just after I converted from a woman at my parish:

A woman prided herself on her intellectual understanding of her strict Calvinist upbringing. She even enrolled at a renowned college to study that theology. In one of her classes she learned about the Early Church Fathers. Hungry for more she started taking the bus into town to a public library to read more.

She discovered The Eucharist, and Sacraments, and the Mass. She discovered Catholicism. Quickly she studied all she could; like a sponge she read everything she found on Catholicism. Convinced, she renounced Calvinism and embraced Catholicism.

She then turned to her brother, an apathetic cultural Christian, and tried to show him her new knowledge. She defended The Church using Scripture, Early Church Fathers, the Summa Theologica, every argument or debate she knew. Nothing swayed him. Finally the brother moved a state away because of work and the sister couldn’t try and convert him. She prayed for him instead. In the meantime, she did succeed in convincing her husband to convert (Of course, with the Holy Spirit’s help)

A few months later her brother called and asked her to come to his Confirmation. What had done it? She pestered him with questions but he said in the end it was his neighbors, who had been welcoming and friendly to him and his family when he moved into a strange city. They invited him to their parish one day, and he hadn’t looked back.

There was another story about a town that was divided, between the wealthy white protestants and the poorer, “superstitious”, Mexican Catholics. One morning the town was rocked by scandal - one of the ‘upstanding’, ‘respectable’ white couple’s son had died the previous night form a drug overdose. Their wealthy friends vanished; they didn’t want their children to be mixed up with rifraf like that. A few brought over casseroles, but that was it.

One day, a few weeks later, the mother of the boy was walking down the street when one of the Mexican women came up, babbled something quickly in Spanish, and walked on. The woman’s daughter smiled apologetically and said “She says she wants you to know she lights a candle for your son every morning, and includes your whole family in her rosary.” The daughter hurried after her mother.

The woman was pushed to tears. Soon after she and her husband converted.

The moral of the stories is this; conversions can come from great intellectual debates (like the woman’s husband), from just being Christ-like and friendly (like the the brother) or from living out our faith even without being concerned about conversions (like the couple). Every person is different and to expect a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to work is silly (not saying that’s what you’re doing). We need to honestly care about others, and meet them with what they’re capable of understanding and receiving. If that’s just an attitude of love and mercy then that’s what we need to do. Focus on the means as much as the end and the end will take care of itself.

Of course, as with all things, pray.

 

[totallylost]

A great story I was told just after I converted from a woman at my parish:

A woman prided herself on her intellectual understanding of her strict Calvinist upbringing. She even enrolled at a renowned college to study that theology. In one of her classes she learned about the Early Church Fathers. Hungry for more she started taking the bus into town to a public library to read more.

She discovered The Eucharist, and Sacraments, and the Mass. She discovered Catholicism. Quickly she studied all she could; like a sponge she read everything she found on Catholicism. Convinced, she renounced Calvinism and embraced Catholicism.

She then turned to her brother, an apathetic cultural Christian, and tried to show him her new knowledge. She defended The Church using Scripture, Early Church Fathers, the Summa Theologica, every argument or debate she knew. Nothing swayed him. Finally the brother moved a state away because of work and the sister couldn’t try and convert him. She prayed for him instead. In the meantime, she did succeed in convincing her husband to convert (Of course, with the Holy Spirit’s help)

A few months later her brother called and asked her to come to his Confirmation. What had done it? She pestered him with questions but he said in the end it was his neighbors, who had been welcoming and friendly to him and his family when he moved into a strange city. They invited him to their parish one day, and he hadn’t looked back.

There was another story about a town that was divided, between the wealthy white protestants and the poorer, “superstitious”, Mexican Catholics. One morning the town was rocked by scandal - one of the ‘upstanding’, ‘respectable’ white couple’s son had died the previous night form a drug overdose. Their wealthy friends vanished; they didn’t want their children to be mixed up with rifraf like that. A few brought over casseroles, but that was it.

One day, a few weeks later, the mother of the boy was walking down the street when one of the Mexican women came up, babbled something quickly in Spanish, and walked on. The woman’s daughter smiled apologetically and said “She says she wants you to know she lights a candle for your son every morning, and includes your whole family in her rosary.” The daughter hurried after her mother.

The woman was pushed to tears. Soon after she and her husband converted.

The moral of the stories is this; conversions can come from great intellectual debates (like the woman’s husband), from just being Christ-like and friendly (like the the brother) or from living out our faith even without being concerned about conversions (like the couple). Every person is different and to expect a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to work is silly (not saying that’s what you’re doing). We need to honestly care about others, and meet them with what they’re capable of understanding and receiving. If that’s just an attitude of love and mercy then that’s what we need to do. Focus on the means as much as the end and the end will take care of itself.

Of course, as with all things, pray.

thanks for sharing!!