OLBH Bulletin Cover for May 21, 2017
Some of you may have heard me on the local Catholic Radio station recently. I was invited to help encourage others to support the station in its evangelization mission of spreading God’s word to all people. Not all that many years ago, if you would have told me I would be on the radio, speaking to thousands of people, at the ambo giving homilies, praying over people for healing, or even facilitating small group discussions on our faith, I would have thought you were crazy. There is no way I would be doing any of those things. And yet, that is exactly what I’m doing.
In this weekend’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, that is what Philip is doing, proclaiming Christ to large crowds and performing signs including curing those possessed, paralyzed and crippled. It caused so much attention, that Peter and John came from Jerusalem to pray over those who had only been baptized, so they might receive the Holy Spirit, which we call the Sacrament of Confirmation. In the Gospel reading from John, we hear Jesus telling his disciples to keep His commandments and He would send the Advocate to be with them always.
So what are Jesus’ commandments? We don’t hear about them in this weekend’s readings, but when Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest, he actually gave two – love God and love your neighbor. If we follow those commandments, we wouldn’t need the ten given by God to Moses. If we truly love God and our neighbor, we would automatically be following the ten commandments Moses received.
And this is where evangelization comes into play. One way to love our neighbor is to share the Word of God with them. We might do that very directly by telling them about our faith, about how God has played a role in our lives, sharing God’s word with them by starting a neighborhood bible study, or by starting a Christian book club where you read a good Christian book and get together to discuss it. But we can also evangelize by our actions such as sharing a meal with a neighbor dealing with an injury, illness or death. Maybe we help an elderly neighbor weed their garden or mow their lawn, or give them a ride to a doctor appointment or invite them to join you at Mass.
There are so many ways to share your faith and to find the right one, simply ask the Advocate – the Holy Spirit – to guide you, and then trust in that guidance. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit initially in our Baptism, and more completely when we are confirmed. We possess the same spirit within us that the Apostles Peter & John, and Philip possessed.
So open yourselves up to the Mercy of the Father, allow the Holy Spirit to guide you, be open to loving your neighbor the way God wants you to love your neighbor. By doing this, when you look back on your life, you will find not only are you an evangelizer, but you are living out our parish’s vision to Build with the Mercy of the Father.
Deacon Greg
Serviam
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