About eight years ago my fiancé (now wife) and I were at a nice Italian restaurant. It was a double date with two Catholic friends we were just getting to know. We knew they were strong in faith and we wanted to get to know them more.
It took only a few minutes for them to inspire us.
The waiter came over to welcome us and take our initial order. I don’t know how they did it, but it came up that he was Catholic and he hadn’t been to church in awhile.
“Have you thought about coming back?” they asked.
“You know, no one has asked me that before,” he said.
“You should go,” they said. “Come to our parish.”
He didn’t seem offended and wasn’t angry. You could tell he was surprised.
I don’t know if he went back to Church but I could tell he was considering it.
All it took was an invitation.
Really, evangelization all comes down to this: a simple invitation.
The call of the first disciples in the Gospel of John gives us a model. Jesus invites them to “come and you will see” (Jn 1:39). Philip goes to Nathaniel and, in turn, invites him to “come and see.” Rather than trying to explain who Jesus was and what he did for him, he simply extended an invitation, “Come and see.”
There is someone in your life right now whose life could be transformed this.
It might be a family member–maybe your son or daughter, or sister and brother, your cousin, or maybe even your parents.
Maybe there is a friend in your life who could use a little Easter grace.
Maybe there is someone you haven’t even met yet that needs a simple invitation to “come and see.”
I want to invite you to come and see something I think will transform their lives. It’s called Easter Evangelist and the goal is very simple:
Invite someone to Easter Mass.
Invite someone to “come and see.”
At worst, they say “No, thank you” and go about their day.
At best, they take you up on the offer, go to Mass, and have an encounter with Christ they never could have expected.
Either way, they will know where they can go when they have a problem or pain that can only be healed by God. They will know where they can go when they feel lost or out of sorts. They know they will have you in their corner when they need help the most.
I hope you will join us and become an Easter Evangelist just like the Apostles who spread the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.
Find out more at easterevangelist.com.
And spread the word. Invite others to extend their own invitations to “come and see.”
