Today, Ash Wednesday is one of the busiest days of the year. Today, everyone is Catholic. As many of us know many Catholics who normally do not attend Mass will be present. Although Mass times have been published on our website, bulletin and online newslettter, people will still call and ask "when are they giving out the ashes?" On a human level it can be annoying but this is our chance to go fishing! No I don't mean literally fishing, I mean fishing for souls. This is one of those moments throughout the year in which with our kindness and charity we can bring people back to the Church! Their are many ways in which this can be accomplished. First and foremost I think simply being kind to the people and not demonstrating how physically and mentally tired we are might work. People will see a happy priest. If the priest is happy their must be a reason. As we know Jesus is the reason.
Another method of evangelizaiton is to hand out free Catholic cds, books and pamphlets from the Mary Foundation. They are given away at incredibly low prices or for free at: http://www.catholicity.com/ These cds have worked well in my parish. Hopefully, they will change someones life tomorrow.
A third method of evangelization is to distribute the materials from CatholicsComeHome.org This organization has placed commercials on TV and the are dedicated to bringing people back to the Catholic Church. At the end of the day we might not see most of these people until Christmas. However, if just one person returns to Mass every Sunday then all of the money, time and effort placed into bringing them back is worthwhile. May we all, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, religious brothers and all of God's Faithful be his evangelizers today.
Tune into to my Internet Radio Show FatherRosadoDotCom Talk Radio tonight (3/5/14) at 11 PM Eastern Time to learn more about the Holy Season of Lent and Ash Wednesday. You will be able to ask me questions on the air as well. More information about the show is available at the FatherRosado Internet Radio page.
