Fr. Barron comments on Effective Evangelization

I couldn't resist the opportunity to share this video. I'm becoming more and more a fan of Fr. Barron's short YouTube videos, but this one is one of my favorites. Whether you're Roman Catholic, Eastern or Oriental Catholic, or Eastern or Oriental Orthodox, it doesn't matter. If you want to evangelize the culture around you effectively you MUST allow the joy of friendship with Christ to shine through you. You must be transparent so that the light of Christ can shine through you onto others.

I've often found that Roman Catholics, in their efforts to evangelize, are too focused on apologetics (which in many areas have become little more than winning debates), ethics, or dogmatic teaching. Many Easterners say that Roman Catholics need to get their Liturgy right and then their efforts at evangelization will be more effective. But I find that oftentimes Easterners rely too much on the beauty of their liturgical services (and they are beautiful) to evangelize. What needs to happen among both Catholics - Eastern and Western - and Orthodox is that we need to radiate the joy of Christ in our lives. It's wonderful if our liturgies are beautiful, but if we ourselves are not joyful then no amount of beautiful artwork or chant is going to bring this culture to Christ. It's also wonderful to share the dogmatic and ethical teachings of our Faith, but if people don't see the joy in us that flows from our Faith in the Blessed Trinity the no amount of apologetic debates is going to bring this culture to the Triune God that loves us infinitely.

As Fr. Barron says, our joy flows from our relationship with Christ. This is why the topic of Christian spirituality is so important for our day and age, and it is why this blog exists. Let us enter more deeply into relationship in Christ, then we can go out and invite others to "come and see" why we are as joyful as we are. May heaven consume us!