Sharing Our Catholic Faith – A Practical Guide – Part 2

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You Cannot Give What You Do Not Have

There is a wise old saying that says ‘You cannot give that which you do not have’. In simple English, if I have no money, then I cannot give you $100.00. It reminds me a bit about a story I once heard about a poor man who would pass by the church every day and pray, “Lord, I have no money and I don’t know where my next meal is coming from. I have bills to pay. Do you think Lord you can bless me with the winning numbers of the lotto? I don’t need much Lord. Amen!” Everyday he did the same thing; pass by the church and prayed the same prayer, but nothing seemed to change. Then one day, in his anxiety, he said, “Lord are you really there? Why am I still in the same position? Do you really care?” Then he paused for a while, and in the silence, heard a gently but firm voice that said, “My child, I am always with you and of course I do care; but if you haven’t got a ticket then you haven’t got a chance.”

You cannot give what you do not have One of my former parish priests would always tell us in his sermon that you cannot give that which you do not have. In other words, if I do not have gold and I cannot give someone gold. If we put this in the context of a faith, then it would mean that if I do not have a relationship of Jesus Christ; if I do not know who He is, then I cannot share the faith or, put another way, you cannot share Jesus Christ with others. It is also very important for us to note that there is a difference, a very vast one at that, between knowing about Jesus Christ, and knowing Jesus Christ. There is a very funny story in the Acts of the Apostles that brings this point across quite clearly:-

But some itinerant Jewish exorcists too tried pronouncing the name of the Lord Jesus over people who were possessed by evil spirits; they used to say, ‘I adjure you by the Jesus whose spokesman is Paul.’ Among those who did this were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest. The evil spirit replied, ‘Jesus I recognise, and Paul I know, but who are you?’ and the man with the evil spirit hurled himself at them and overpowered first one and then another, and handled them so violently that they fled from that house stripped of clothing and badly mauled.

Everybody in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, heard about this episode; everyone was filled with awe, and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in great honour. Some believers, too, came forward to admit in detail how they had used spells and a number of them who had practised magic collected their books and made a bonfire of them in public. The value of these was calculated to be fifty thousand silver pieces. In this powerful way the word of the Lord spread more and more widely and successfully. (Acts 19: 13-20)

Just before this story I the Acts of the Apostles, the bible says, “So remarkable were the miracles worked by God at Paul’s hands that handkerchiefs or aprons which had touched him were taken to the sick, and they were cured of their illnesses, and the evil spirits came out of them.” Note the difference between Paul and the seven brothers. To know about is a mind thing; to know is a heart thing. Throughout the Bible, the word ‘know’ is used fairly often to describe intimacy or close relationship. In Luke’s account of the Annunciation, when the angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was to be the mother of Jesus, the response was, ‘but how could this be since I do not know man?’. The ‘know’ that Mary was speaking of here was the intimacy with know. Paul knew Jesus and had a very intimate relationship with him after he was thrown from his horse. On the other hand, the seven brothers only knew about him.

It is very important that as Catholics seeking to share our faith, we must “know” Him on whom our faith is based. One day when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to put him to the test, one of them asked Him, “Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” Jesus said to him, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” He also told them that the second greatest is to love your neighbour as yourself. (Matthew 22: 34-39) So first, we must love God with all our heart, all our mind and all our strength – with every thing we have and with all that we are – we must love God. Then and only then can we love our neighbour – those around us. Now why did Jesus couch his answer in this way? Why love God first? It is because God is love, and perfect love – which is what Jesus is speaking of here – can only come from God himself. Now when you love someone – and I am not talking of the worldly Hollywood love here, but true agape love – when you truly love someone, then their heart’s desire becomes your concern. You want to please them. You want to make them happy. Now what is God’s heart’s desire? The more we love Him, the closer we get to Him, and as we do so, we will find that all the things in our lives that displease Him literally just drop off. In some instances, you may not even know when they dropped off. As you get closer and closer to God, through Jesus Christ His Son, and you look deeper and deeper into His eyes; into His heart, you will come to realize what His heart’s desire is. His desire is that not one of His children be lost. Luke chapter 15 speaks about this. God’s desire is that all should be saves and come to the fullness of life – eternal life – that He sent Jesus His Son to share.

Now the beauty of God’s love is that it will charm you. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of God seducing him – not in an involuntary way – but when you see the beauty, the matchless beauty of God, you will want to experience more and to remain in His presence.

Another very powerful aspect of God’s love is that it is highly infectious and out-going; or should I say other-centered. When you enter into relationship with God, many many things in your life and around you will change. One of the things that will definitely change is how you see others, and you will develop a burning desire to share His love with them. The fire of God, the all-consuming fire of His love will burn within you and it will overflow onto others. Those around you will come to experience the love of Christ in you often without a single word being said or even a conscious deed being done. God’s love is one of those experiences where the more you share, the more you receive. So changed will you be that you will literally burn with a desire to share His love with others and help others to come into relationship with Christ Jesus.

An important aspect therefore of sharing the faith is to live it. We must become like Christ in every thing we do. I remember not too long ago reading about a movement in the United States called WWJD which means What Would Jesus Do? This Christian movement was based on the placing Jesus in every situation they faced, and in trying to do what He would have done. It is a movement that encourages us to live our lives for Jesus Christ. If we do that, then indeed our lives will be filled – in fact it will overflow – with His love and His mercy, and others will come to know of His love and their lives will be transformed.

It is my sincerest prayer that you will come to experience this love, this perfect love, this love that know no end; the amazing, life-changing love of God. A love that is so powerful that no matter where you have been, or what you have done, the love and the mercy of God in Christ Jesus can still get to you and rescue you out of darkness and bring you into His wonderful light. May this love be your this day and forever.

Part 1 – Living The Faith

Part 3 – Eureka! I Have Found It!