Timid evangelizers, unite! It’s time to for us to lose wait.
Wait is what an evangelizer chooses to do when he really ought to be sharing the Gospel. He will wait to discuss a Scripture passage with a fundamentalist until he has memorized the entire New Testament. She will wait to invite a lapsed Catholic to Mass until she has become tough enough to risk having her offer rejected.
For us timid evangelizers, the tendency to “put off until tomorrow” can be as stubborn as those last five pounds we’ve been wanting to lose. In fact, the compulsion to wait can be as much a part of us as the jiggle in our arms and the dimples on our thighs.
Overcoming our inclination to wait is a difficult task, but we can do it if we have an effective wait loss plan. Here’s the plan I formulated in order to attain my own wait loss goals:
–Firm up my resolve to share the Gospel at every opportunity;
–Jog spiritually by keeping to a daily regimen of prayer;
–Tone down my excuses for not being proactive;
-Train myself in perseverance;
-Lift my voice in prayer to St. Expeditus.
Expeditus was a Roman centurion in Armenia who was martyred on April 19, 303, for converting to Christianity. When Expeditus decided to convert, the Devil took the form of a raven and tried to convince him to delay his conversion until the next day. Expeditus declared, “I will be a Christian today!” and stomped on the raven. Icons of Saint Expeditus picture him holding in his right hand a cross imprinted with the word “Hodie” (“Today”), while under his right foot is a raven speaking the word “Cras” (“Tomorrow”). He is the patron saint of procrastinators and, ahem, timid evangelizers.
Evangelizers, the time is now! What are you “waiting” for?
Copyright © 2013, Celeste Behe
Image by Jimmy44 (talk) 07:28, 12 March 2012 (UTC) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Celeste Behe
Celeste Behe is a storyteller and sometime humorist who, according to one book author, "writes like Garrison Keillor would, if he were Catholic and had nine kids." She is also a contributor to Faith & Family magazine, the National Catholic Register, and the Integrated Catholic Life, and she blogs at A Perpetual Jubilee. As a designated Toastmaster, Celeste entertains audiences with both nostalgic tales of her childhood in the Bronx, and modern-day tales of adventure that could only be told by the mother of nine. Celeste's memoir--cum-cookbook, Nine Kids, No Dishwasher: A Celebration of Life, Love, and Table, is a work in progress.
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