We did it! We raised the $3,200 we needed for our Easter Evangelization Campaign. We did even better. 123 parishioners contributed $4,001 to the campaign. We have $800 for seed money for the next time or for some other evangelization effort. This week the design of the postcard that will be sent to every postal patron in the Wareham, W. Wareham and E. Wareham zip codes will have been finalized. The mailing is planned for the week of April 3-7, in plenty of time for Easter Sunday, April 16. So be on the lookout for the card when it comes in the mail. Give me your feed back after you have seen them.
Over the last couple of weeks I have written in this column that the postcards will only scratch the surface of the seedbed of faith. All of us have to be responsible for planting the seeds of faith. Who are you planning to invite to Easter Mass this year? Who among your family, friends and neighbors are you going to invite on Easter Sunday? Don’t be put off by an initial rebuff to your invitation. Surveys tell us that the average person who returned to church did so after five invitations. Now that is the mean. Half the people came after fewer than five requests. So you might be surprised at how receptive to your initiation to church a person might be. It also means that it took half the people more than five invitations before they finally came to church. So don’t give up after only one or two requests.
Two weeks ago I told you that to be an evangelizer we needed to really love and be bold about sharing our faith. Last week I told you that by simply smiling and being a happy Christian you were evangelizing. Today I want to encourage you to speak about your faith in simple ways. These ways can be as simple as saying “thank God, “I believe” or “Amen” in public. When something good that can be attributed to God’s goodness and mercy happens, don’t be shy about giving God praise. It is a little way to evangelize.
Help people who are around you know that you pray. Last week I was walking into a nursing home. It was the change of shift and workers were leaving in their cars. One woman rolled down her window and shouted a prayer request to a male co-worker. She told him that her mother was going into surgery the next day and would he pray for her. The man said he would and asked for the mother’s name. There was an example of a man who was known as a man of prayer at his workplace. I don’t know if the woman was a prayerful person too but obviously she believed in its power. If she isn’t a churchgoer, I bet she would be receptive to an invitation to church on Easter Sunday.
Don’t be afraid to mention your faith in public. Make people aware of your journey of faith. If you have had a moment when you really felt the presence of God, share it with those around you. Tomorrow when people ask you how your weekend was, maybe share an insight you got from a homily or something else that touched your heart during Mass or another experience of prayer. There are so many rich opportunities everyday to be a great evangelizer.