Pray and Work - New Evangelizers

“Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.” * I think this is a great quote to live by if one is involved in the work of evangelization.  It has saved my sanity many a time in my years of ministry.

It seems to me that as the years pass, the practice of practicing one’s religion is less important to people.  You may have noticed the same.  But this is the business I am in and in my humanness I measure my success or failure based on people’s participation.  And it’s very difficult to lead people to see the value in making the practice of religion a priority.

When all is said and done, it isn’t up to me.  And while it might be easy to say the problem lies in Father’s homily or poor music or the church lighting, it’s not any of those reasons or the other things people tell us.

People’s hearts need to change towards God.  We all have free will and we make the choice to hear Him or not.  So when the thought of reaching out to one more person leads you to wonder why you are even trying, stop.  Don’t reach out, but pray.  Pray hard.  Pray by name.  Pray for the plan.  And then work.

And then, no matter what the outcome, if you have done your best, thank God for the privilege of sharing the Good News.

Copyright © 2015, Deanna Bartalini

* The quote has been attributed to both St. Augustine and St. Ignatius Loyola. When I first heard it, I was told St. Augustine; hence the attribution on the picture.

Deanna Bartalini

Deanna G. Bartalini, is a Catholic writer, speaker, and educator. She serves on the retreat team at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center. Deanna loves teaching about Catholicism and how it fits into our daily lives. She writes at DeannaBartalini.com, serves as the editor of the NewEvangelizers.com blog, and is a contributor there as well as at AmazingCatechists.com. Deanna contributed to A Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion published by Ave Maris Press. She is the author of “Invite the Holy Spirit into Your Life: Growing in Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control” published by Our Sunday Visitor. Deanna is available to lead retreats and speak at catechist and ministry events.