Universal Joy

The other day I watched a video by Fr. Robert Barron on evangelism. Now I've never been real great at evangelism. Something about standing on a street corner passing out tracts has always made me a little nervous, and the thought of going door to door or walking up to a stranger and saying “Hey! Do you know Jesus?” makes me downright queasy. I say if you're comfortable with that, then godspeed you, but it's really not my style.

But I've been told in recent years that there may be other ways of doing it, and that thought has given me some comfort. Just cause I don't stand on street corners doesn't mean I'm a bad Christian – at the very least I could give money to missionaries (Now, how do I calculate 10% of the 74 cents in my bank account? Round up or down...?) I have things that I'm good at, and God has given me those talents for a reason... but how do I turn that towards evangelism? What I could really use (and, I think, what most Christians could really use) is a universal method of evangelism, to which I can apply my own personal interests and talents.

Religionless Christianity?

The other day I walked into Wheaton Religious Gift and Church Supply. I had walked by before and seen some Catholicy-looking stuff in the window, and I decided it might be worth checking out. What I discovered inside was an awesome Family Christian Bookstore - Catholic Version!

Catholic Medals

As I walked around like a brat in a candy store with a goofy delighted grin on my face, I came to the section of the store with the rosary beads and the sacramental medals. I stopped in my tracks. It had suddenly hit me that Christianity, at least Catholic Christianity, is a religion. A religion interacts with supernatural things through the use of Holy Symbols. These sacramental symbols, which had once meant nothing to me (or worse), took on a whole new meaning through the eyes of my new-found Catholic faith. They are wonderful gifts, not magic charms, but physical vehicles for the work of the Holy Spirit, received by faith in his power.