Lay Evangelist
Till Christ Be Formed in Every Heart
BG-1.jpg

Blog

FOR PROPHETS AND APOSTLES

Posts in Spirituality
How Not to Give a Witness

Last post I talked about the importance of giving a witness talk or testimony on a retreat or as part of your presentation because it is a change-oriented approach. The purpose of a testimony is to model what conversion to Christ looks like in the real world so your hearers can be assured that change is possible and real.

But there are bad ways to give a testimony, and some of them are pretty subtle. I wanted to address these right now before we move on to another aspect of teaching for conversion. Of course, I don't really do "subtle", but I do sarcastic really, really well.

And so here it is, if you want to give a bad testimony, follow these rules:

Bearing False Witness

  1. Talk mostly about your horrible (and exciting) sinful life. Out of an hour talk take 55 minutes to go on and on about how crazy-awesome-destructive your life was without Christ. Glorify the sin. Talk it up a lot. Make sure everyone is drawn into how depraved your life was and then, at the very end, mention how you met so-and-so who talked to you about Jesus and you stopped all that.
Read More
Church Life, SpiritualityMichael GormleyHow Not To, testimony, witness
Information or Conversion (part two): Personal Witness

Testimonies As Change-Oriented Talks

In the previous post I talked about a retreat where the enthusiasm of the students pushed me to go deeper with them in my talks. My response was one of two options: either I switch to a more information-dense presentation, or I push them further in conversion. Going with option two, you have to start with testimony, especially your own.

Introduction to Witness: Story Time

There are few things as powerful as a testimony in evangelization. Proclaiming your witness with all of the up's and down's that life has thrown at you, and drawing out those connections to Christ and how He has moved in your life personally has its own gravity. It pulls people in without being preachy or pushy.

Moreover, testimonies are narratives, and everyone loves a good story. People remember stories far more than they do talking points, quotes, jokes, or footnotes. The morals and dangers stand out like billboards. The lessons are felt because they are real. Teachings come alive. Plato used dialogues. Jesus used parables. People love a good story.

But you aren't reading this because you love a good story. You are reading this because you talk to people about Christ. 

Read More
Catechesis, SpiritualityMichael GormleyRetreats, narrative, parable, story, testimony, witness
The Spiritual Danger of Private Revelations

What is Public and Private Revelation?

Hey Catholics, stop reading books and web sites (especially web sites) based upon private revelations that are not approved by the Church. If you are putting stock in these things, and they turn out to be false, you've been building yourself up to a disaster. At best, if they get approved, they are still only private revelation. Private revelations are not meant for the Universal Church, but for a specific time, place, or group. It ain't Gospel and never will be. Yet, often the followers of private revelations try to demand universal assent of faith to these unapproved apparitions and locutions as if they were the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception or something akin to it.

It is not a healthy spiritual practice to dive into these texts or web sites until they are approved. My advice is to stay away until the Church deems them credible. Let the Church guide you. Don't be a jerk, but be cautious, and look out for those red flags that something's fishy with a message.

Read More
Church Life, SpiritualityMichael GormleyOur Lady, apparitions, deposit of faith, private revelation
DAY SIX: THE JOY OF TRIAL

The Desire to Fit In

Let no one tell you that being in high school is easy. There seems to be so much riding on your exams, your grades, your after-school activities, that it produces a lot of stress on its own. There is also the enormous pressure to look, talk, and act a certain way. Some people feel these pressures differently than others, but they are still there. Fitting in, not standing out- for a lot of teens in school, this is priority number one. And it doesn’t go away once you get into college. It is perfectly natural for most people to not want to stand out in the crowd.

Being Catholic does not always make it easy to fit in. There’s Ash Wednesday, when people tell you that you have a smudge on your forehead all day. It makes you stand out. Then you have to explain why you have ashes on your head. The purpose of the Catholic Church is to call everyone into a real relationship with Jesus Christ, and with that relationship comes ways of living and thinking that are increasingly unpopular, and even hated. But the goal of the Church is not to appeal to the majority, but to be faithful to Jesus.

Read More
Catechesis, SpiritualityMichael GormleyBeatitudes, persecution