When it comes to evangelism where do we begin?  Should we take a public speaking class, or buy a thousand leaflets to pass out?  It may surprise you to know that the call to evangelism does not start in the public forum, it starts within you!  It is a call to personal holiness, or as Matthew Kelly author of Rediscover Catholicism puts it “becoming the best version of yourself that you can be.”  For me this is a painstaking process.  Realize that it is not your fault that you are not perfect, you are human.  I try to be a little better each day, to hold back the harsh criticism, to not get involved in the gossip at work, to see the opportunities for random acts of kindness and not let them pass me by.  To let the Holy Spirit guide me.  A little each day, a little each moment.

     Wouldn’t you know it?  I thought and prayed all week about what I was going to write this week.  Then I listened to the Gospel on Sunday and Jesus said it better (and in simpler terms) than I could ever hope to.  When Jesus said “I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13:34)  That is the goal of personal holiness. If we could love one another as Jesus loved, the holiness would just fall into place.  A song is going through my head, it goes “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.”  God’s Peace, Dave



2013-04-28 (dt)