We all know people who claim to believe in God but then won’t talk about it.  They clam up and say their faith is personal…end of discussion.  They are right, one’s faith is, and should be, personal.  But Jesus never intended for it to be private.  He tells us in the Gospels to go and be disciples.  How can we evangelize if we keep our faith private?

The most common excuse for keeping one’s faith private may be that the basics were never learned well enough in the first place to share it with, or defend it before, others.  One can easily deflect blame onto one’s teachers or parents, but to remain in this state is to succumb to the deadly vice of sloth, which is a laziness or a lack of love for the ways of God. The virtue opposing sloth is diligence, which may simply mean spending a little time each day learning more about one’s faith through daily prayer, reading scripture or other Catholic publications, or listening to Catholic television, radio, or podcasts, all of which can help us increase our understanding of our faith.

Another is our failure to fully understand and accept the graces we received at our Confirmation.  The infusion of the Holy Spirit supernaturally strengthened the virtue of fortitude within us, enabling us to share in the mission of Jesus Christ to spread and defend our faith.  Like a child who receives affirmation from a parent over a good behavior continues to improve in that behavior, we, too, simply have to believe we already possess what we need.

And, finally, the exigencies of modern life can make us forget that we need other people. Jesus didn’t live as a hermit.  He gathered family and friends with whom He shared life.  St. Paul urged the Corinthians to not live their faith privately but in community with one another.  Like an ember that falls away from a fire and dies out, we can grow cold if we don’t stay close to others who are on fire with their faith, and others can grow cold if we don’t bring our fire to them.

To effectively evangelize, we can’t be passive.  We have to actively learn, strengthen our relationship with Jesus through prayer and study, and build friendships with those whose fires need stoking.

“Lord Jesus, I pray for the grace to love You more dearly, and to exercise the grace which You’ve already bestowed on me in my Confirmation to bear fruit for Your Kingdom. Amen.”

(Faith is Personal…but Should Never be Private was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

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