As we move into the final week of the forty-day journey with Rebuilt Faith: A Handbook for Skeptical Catholics, sharing our faith is one of the biggest challenges to growing the church wider. It’s private and frankly, I’m not qualified or equipped to evangelize. At least, that’s often what I’ve heard over the years.
Michael White and Tom Corcoran, in the reflection today, put aside the thinking that many have about fishing for people. They say, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid that you are not good enough to bring others to Christ. Don’t be afraid that you don’t have all the answers to the tough questions. Don’t be afraid that you don’t know why bad things happen to good people or how Noah got all the dinosaurs on the ark.”
Growing up and entering a Catholic college, new influencers began to help me realize that I had a part to play sharing Jesus with others. I was being called to fish.
Michael White and Tom Corcoran offers these questions to reflect:
Who introduced you to Jesus and your faith in God? What was that experience like for you?
What are your feelings regarding telling others about Jesus or sharing your faith?
How do you think sharing your faith would help you grow deeper in faith?
I used the word influencer in my introductory reflection. Maybe fishermen were adults who saw me as receptive to the invitation to have a relationship with Jesus. When I was a Mount Saint Mary’s College in the 1970s, the nation and world was going through national and international crisis: Vietnam War, Watergate, generational divisions, Roe v. Wade, birth control and much more. I met new friends that included priests and Catholic students who shared their relationship with Jesus. I was invited into that experience and haven’t looked back. I don’t have all the answers. I’m not a theological scholar. I make mistakes. Yet, Jesus calls me to go out fishing. Looking at the choice of his disciples, I’m in pretty good company.