Catholic Mission: Leading Others to What is Good

Not Everyone Is Ready to Approach God

The decision to follow God is a big one.

A relationship with God demands a lot from us. Like any relationship, faith is a lot of work. It requires us to build trust. It requires us to deepen intimacy. And we need to be committed to loving and serving God. God will call us to a process of conversion. And conversion can be scary. So there are many people who might be attracted to God but who are not ready to take the leap of committing themselves to a relationship with Him. This can make our Catholic mission to evangelize people very difficult.

All Goodness Leads to God

Fortunately, God made his goodness evident in all of his creation.

All goodness leads to God.

Experiencing God’s goodness through creation and through other people can motivate those who are hesitant to have a relationship with God to consider the commitment.

God himself will use the goodness that he has put in creation to move people closer to himself. But we can also show people goodness, beauty, and love and then show them the source of those good things.

Your Catholic Mission: Whatever Is Good

St. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8,

Finally brethren whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there’s anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Now, this advice is not just because St. Paul wants us to keep ourselves morally pure. That’s certainly part of his message.

But the true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious and excellent all point to God. So another reason we want to focus on these things is that they will focus us on God. If this is true of the believer, it is also true of the nonbeliever.

So when you find yourself in a relationship with someone who is not ready to commit to a relationship with God, one of the best strategies is to be a source of goodness in their life and then to point them to the ultimate source of everything that is good. The Catholic mission doesn’t necessarily have to immediately move to evangelization. Often it is enough to invite someone more deeply into the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. We might call this “pre-evangelization.”

Discerning Your Mission

If you have skills that can lead people to Truth, Goodness, or Beauty, the Holy Spirit may be calling you to a mission to pre-evangelize others. You can use your artistic, musical, or creative gift to awaken people’s hearts to the transcendent goods.

If you would like help to discern your Catholic mission, I’d like to invite you to consider the offer below to get more involved with From the Abbey. Discerning your gifts and your mission is the final step in the five areas of spirituality that make up a lay spirituality. From the Abbey‘s online spirituality program helps you to develop the key spiritual virtues in these five areas. From the Abbey also offers online courses and educational articles to help you learn the faith. Join us today!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.