Evangelize – Annunciation Catholic Church

“Stump the Chump“

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

February 13-14, 2021

Gospel: Mark 1: 40-45

On occasion, as I go about my day, I have people come up and say, “Father, may I ask you a question?” Sure! Sometimes, people have very good questions. Now, these questions generally fall into one of two categories. The first category includes the faithful who are seeking understanding. This happened on Tuesday when someone asked me, “Father, why do we call you father? I never really knew why.” The first good reason is my mother told me to, and if you don’t obey her, you know what happens. The second reason is scriptural. Paul said in his epistle: “I am your spiritual father. I beget you in Christ. I baptized you and gave you spiritual life.” Then, there is this other group of people who try to see if I’m the village idiot. I’m not, but I qualify for the top ten. I call this game “stump the chump.” “Father, where does it say in scripture that we are supposed to kneel?” Well, that’s easy enough… Matthew 27, Psalm 95, Romans 14, and Revelation just to name a few. I mean, come on! Really? I’m not the brightest bulb on the circuit, but that’s an easy one. They are trying to get me to prove that Catholicism is wrong. That or try to convert me. I already know I’m not going to convince them to become Catholic. “Have you ever heard about the precious blood?” You know…I believe I have. I stayed awake that day at seminary. These are all “gotcha questions.

How do you tell people about Christ? The best way to evangelize is not by giving someone a bunch of information. They could get that online or look in the Catechism of the Catholic Church…it’s all in there. So, how do you tell people about Christ? Do we tell them to read the book? Well, the book doesn’t contain everything about Jesus Christ. The book is a “what” not a “Who.” But, we can pass on the “Who” to people by telling them what Jesus has done for us. If giving people a book brought people to Christ, we could give everyone a copy of the Catechism and fill the church with converts. But that doesn’t happen. If that worked, we could all read a medical book and be the epitome of health. We have to tell people what’s in the book and bring it to real life. We have to tell them about God’s grace and what He has done in our lives. Today’s gospel shows us how to evangelize. Jesus cured that leper from a death sentence. He went away and could not stop telling people how Jesus had restored his life. Like the leper, we also have to tell people what God has done for us.

We see proof of God’s love so often that sometimes we become immune to it and ungrateful. Each time you go to Mass, you receive the Most Precious Body and Blood just like the apostles did at the Last Supper. You can come to church during the day and speak to our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament as one person speaks to another. But, because we have become so accustomed to the gift of His love, we forget to be thankful. I’m thankful for a lot of things. I’m thankful for indoor plumbing. I’m thankful for clean clothes. I’m thankful that McDonalds is open 24-7. I’m thankful about not having to go outside in a rain storm to take a shower. That’s nice and a big change. I’m thankful for many things even those that are unpleasant like the COVID test. I get it every week, so I don’t want to hear any whining. “Oh! That’s terrible!” Well, thank God we have that test. “But why, Father?” We could have the Chinese test instead. Come on! We are also grateful for the geniuses who have worked tirelessly night and day to develop these tests and vaccines so that we can maintain our health and delay what will eventually come.

God has given us our life, and when we lose it by sin, He gives it back to us. This is how we tell people about the truth and meaning of our faith. Not in an obnoxious way, but by telling them what the Lord has done in our lives and the great gift He has given us…the gift of Himself. Not that we deserve it, but because He loves us. He brought me back to life through my baptism. He feeds me the Precious Body and Blood in Holy Communion. When my soul is dead with sin, and I may lose Heaven if those sins are not forgiven, He gives my life back to me through the Sacrament of Penance. He forgives and He forgets. My soul is washed in His blood.

The Blessed Mother was the first to be washed in His blood. She was standing beneath the cross and was spattered with it. When they took Him down from the cross and laid Him on her lap, she was covered with His blood. Once you are dead, your blood stops coagulating. So, Mary was covered with the blood of Christ. “Why do you honor Mary?” She was the first human being to be covered in the Precious Blood. She was also the first to receive a miracle. Remember the wedding at Cana? That was a direct intercession of God. “Son, they have no more wine.” Boom. And, there was wine.

This is how we tell people about our faith. We don’t use obnoxious evangelization techniques when we talk to them. We just tell them about what God has done for us. But, we keep trying to reinvent the wheel. If we do it differently, will things be better? No. We do what works. What happened when God performed His miracles? The recipients of those miracles told others. And, what happened? Look at the last line in today’s Gospel. Jesus went to deserted places, but people kept coming to Him from all sides.

How will you apply this message to your life? Are you grateful for His love or have you become immune to it? Will you tell others what God has done in your life?

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