Evangelization isn't what you think it is...

 ... if you think there is a program for it, that you go get a degree in it, that there can be an official version of it.

As we await the glorious feast of Pentecost, I want to quickly say something that's on my mind without elaborating too much. It's just that there is money in the Catholic Church to be made, and busyness to be displayed, by peddling evangelization -- but there is no formula for bringing others to Christ. This is clear in Scripture. Again, I don't have time right now to prove everything, but I want to put it in all our hearts that when we are baptized and receive the sacraments, we have the Holy Spirit and He will guide us. 

Even if what we say to others doesn't check any official boxes, and even if we are not moved to say anything -- even if we pray in the recesses of our home and have nothing to say -- if we have good will and love the ones we speak to and pray for, we are evangelizing.

It's in the spirit of these comments that I want to post this article about a barber who witnesses to Christ in his own way, and trust me, it's a way that will send purveyors of official evangelization twisting their knickers in fear when they hear about it. They, these experts, have their "one thing" you need to know with many resources (for sale) to back up their claim; and they often admonish us to temper our words and try not to scare people. In fact, they temper the actual message of Christ because they are so afraid of that very thing they say they are promoting, evangelization. 

Well, Elias Elsayah has his own way, and the priest who saved him from a life of sin had his way. 

“If I hadn’t heard Elias’ story of God’s mercy and grace, I believe I would still be living a sinful life,” Farah [a client at the shop] said.

The priest who saved Elias' soul actually yelled at him -- a total no-no in today's church of accompaniment and non-judgementalism.

Elsayah told the priest in confession that he was living in sin with a woman to whom he was not married. He said that Kozah replied, “This woman, she’s your sister in Christ. You’re not allowed to touch her until you’re married to her in the Church.”

“Fr. Saliba told me ‘if you die you’ll go straight to hell. No salvation, don’t let anybody fool you.’ Then, he gave me absolution,” he said.

Elsayah said that this confession changed his life forever. He began pursuing a life of purity, and his relationship with his girlfriend ended. He said his obsession with women was overcome through the grace from confession.

In my diocese (not far from the one where Elsayah met this Maronite priest), engaged couples are told that if they cohabit, they shouldn't worry! A young (and chaste) lady of my acquaintance told me that the organizers of her engagement retreat spoke not of going to hell for this mortal sin but of extra grace that would come to them in marriage since they were experiencing ways of getting to know each other better before that time.

You see the contrast. 

I'm not saying that everyone is sin ought to be yelled at. I'm saying that we need to know the truth and witness to it not according to any prescribed method but according to the one suggested by the Holy Spirit at that moment. This is what the priest did. This is what Elias Elsayah does. 

And I am warning that we cannot have "one rule" about any of it. We have to trust and pray and be willing to be courageous in His service, just like this wonderful and inspiring barber.