A young woman confessed to her priest that she was guilty of the sin of pride: "I look in the mirror and think I'm the most beautiful woman in the world." The priest said, "That's not a sin, that's a mistake."
Doctor, "Your recovery was a miracle!" Christian Patient, "Thank God! Now I don't have to pay you."
No, that's not how Christianity works. In one of his first messages the day after his election Pope Francis challenged us "to come out of ourselves and to go to all the existential peripheries and grow in boldness a church that does not go out of itself sooner or later will become sick in [the] stifling, anemic atmosphere of its own enclosure."
Pope Francis challenged us to live up to our call to be missionaries. Yes, all of us are called to go to the peripheries of our extended family and society members who may be living a Godless and less meaningful existence.
Pope Francis challenges us to minister to them where they are now. We are to be church to the poor and even to reach out to those whom we may have offended. I recently came across a challenge to be kind to our enemies, after all we made them.
Here is a little story to illustrate how we can best evangelize. A monastery in ancient times was failing. Its membership was falling and the brothers were unenthusiastic. A Rabbi famous for his wisdom was consulted. The message he gave was simple: The messiah is among you.
A gradual change came over the monks. They started treating each other with respect. The atmosphere surrounding them became so wholesome that soon new members were joining and the community was reborn. (from The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace by Dr. M. Scott Peck).
If we can start seeing Christ among us then our Christian community will be reborn. Our church will be more attractive than a Godless existence on the periphery. We will become the paradigmatic mission Pope Francis challenged us to become. We will be the ideal, the standard against which society can measure itself.
Now that is how Christianity should work.
