Start Small

Self-evangelization is where all Catholics are called to begin the work of the New Evangelization. For no Catholic, however, is the work supposed to end there. In the New Evangelization, proclaiming the Gospel isn’t just a job for priests and missionaries. It’s a job for every baptized Catholic. It calls all of us to evangelize everyone we know and meet: co-workers, neighbors, even the crabby clerk at the grocery store.

Praise and thank God freely in conversation.

“It’s part of our baptismal call,” Father Barron said. “We’re all called to be prophets, to be the one who speaks divine truth.”

“As Catholics we’re all called to be in a relationship with the living God, Jesus Christ, who is alive and seeks, through us, to save the lost,” Ralph Martin told OSV. “That’s who we are whether we know it or not, whether we want it or not.”

In other words, as Catholics we are all very much our brothers’ keepers. It’s our responsibility to help lead people to the only truth, to the only Person, who saves.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the Church expects all her sons and daughters to go door to door with the Good News tomorrow. It’s OK to start small.

“Wear some sign of the Faith on your person — a crucifix, a medal, a chain — something that says to everyone you meet that you’re a Christian,” said Father Barron. “Also, try to keep the language of faith always on your lips. Just saying little things like, ‘God bless you’ or ‘Thank God’ is a form of witness.”

Emily Stimpson writes about the New Evangelization