Net Resources for the Evangelist
Testimonies, Stories and Vignettes
extracted from various sources
A letter from St Francis Xavier to St Ignatius
Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!
We have visited the villages of the new converts who accepted the Christian religion a
few years ago. No Portuguese live here the country is so utterly barren and poor. The
native Christians have no priests. They know only that they are Christians. There is
nobody to say Mass for them; nobody to teach them the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary
and the Commandments of God's Law.
I have not stopped since the day I arrived. I conscientiously made the rounds of the
villages. I bathed in the sacred waters all the children who had not yet been baptised.
This means that I have purified a very large number of children so young that, as the
saying goes, they could not tell their right hand from their left. The older children
would not let me say my Office or eat or sleep until I taught them one prayer or another.
Then I began to understand: "The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
I could not refuse so devout a request without failing in devotion myself. I taught them,
first the confession of faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, then the
Apostles' Creed, the Our Father and Hail Mary. I noticed among them persons of great
intelligence. If only someone could educate them in the Christian way of life, I have no
doubt that they would make excellent Christians.
Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only:
there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going
round the universities of Europe, especially Paris, and everywhere crying out like a
madman, riveting the attention of those with more learning than charity: "What
a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks to
you!"
I wish they would work as hard at this as they do at their books, and so settle their
account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them.
This thought would certainly stir most of them to meditate on spiritual realities, to
listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires, their
human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God's will and his choice. They would
cry out with all their heart: Lord, I am here! What do you want
me to do? Send me anywhere you like - even to India.
USING YOUR UNIQUE GIFTS AND ABILITIES
Do
the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Timothy 4:5).
For the Christian, true fulfillment in life can be summarized by the popular bumper
sticker slogan, "Bloom where you're planted." Peter said it this way: "As
each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another" (1 Peter
4:10). Your greatest fulfillment in life will come when you discover your unique gifts and
abilities and use them to edify others and glorify the Lord.
God allowed me to understand this vital principle before entering the ministry while I was
still employed as an aerospace engineer. I knew God wanted me to be an ambassador for Him
where I worked, so I started a
breakfast Bible study in the bowling alley next door. My announcement about the Bible
study had only been posted in our office about an hour before a Jewish fellow pulled it
off the wall and brought it to me. "You can't bring Jesus in here," he objected.
"I can't do otherwise," I said. "Every day I walk in here Jesus comes in
with me." He was not impressed with my response!
One of the men who found Christ in the Bible study took over when I left Honeywell to
enter seminary. A few months later I went back to visit my friends in the Bible study.
"Do you remember the Jewish fellow?" the leader
asked.
"Sure, I remember him," I said, recalling his brash opposition to our Bible
study.
"Well, he got sick and almost died. I went to the hospital and visited him every
night. Finally I led him to Christ."
I was ecstatic at the realization that I had become a spiritual grandparent. The sense of
fulfillment was exhilarating. And it all happened because I started a simple little Bible
study where I worked in order to do what Paul said: "Do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5).
Father, I want to bloom where I am planted and resist the defeating temptation to compare
myself to others.
Source: Bill Haefele's Daily Devotional