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As Christians, Jesus calls us to spread His Word to others. We are all called to do this – every one of us – regardless of our profession or stage in life.
The teachings of the Catholic Church are vast and detailed. It can be overwhelming, as well as unrealistic to expect every Catholic to know every teaching there is. I still have so much to learn, even though I feel like I’ve learned a lot in recent years.
So in order to spread Jesus’ message, we should strive to learn more. Because the teachings of the Church – not only what they are, but why the Church holds onto those teachings – is so very important. The doctrines and dogma, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, are all so very important.
However, if we forget the person we are trying to spread the Word to, then we do a poor (and sometimes disastrous) job of sharing the Word. Sharing how those teachings have helped us to become the people God has called us to be helps others to see the importance of it. And because we love the person we are talking to (right?), we should want them to grow in their relationship with God, not “just” follow the teachings of the Church (even though the teachings of the Church are ultimately there to help us grow in our relationship with God).
I’ve struggled with this so many times. As I have learned more about the teachings of the Church and see and believe how important they are for everyone, not just myself, I get frustrated that there are so many people who are ignoring the teachings. Yet I understand how hypocritical this is of me, since for most of my life I have (and to a lesser extent still do) ignored the teachings.
What I have to keep reminding myself is that my faith journey is far from over and I am far from perfect (sorry Beth, I know you married me thinking otherwise). Just because I’ve grown in my faith doesn’t mean everyone else has or that everyone should be like me or on the same journey as me. And even though I know that everyone should grow in their relationship with God, that doesn’t mean that I know how exactly they should do it.
It’s like Pope Emeritus Benedeict XVI’s said in his letter on the sexual abuse scandal:
We run the risk of becoming masters of faith instead of being renewed and mastered by the Faith.
Although it sounds cheesy, the first message others should get from us is that God loves them. But I’m not talking about the signs on overpasses that say “Jesus loves you” – those are so generic and impersonal I often wonder if they have any positive impact…(although the same could also be said about blogs like this one since I’m not talking to any of you face to face).
But if we keep preaching the teachings and telling people how they should live when we don’t even know if they know, understand, or believe that Jesus loves them, they likely won’t grow closer to Jesus because of it.
Which is more likely to turn them away because they are overwhelmed by the rules, instead of overwhelmed by His Love.
