One December night, my friend Fr. Mark went out to sing Christmas carols. When he went to the first house and began singing, an elderly man came to the door and tears began to roll down his face. Fr. Mark, seeing that the man was moved to tears, asked "Are you remembering happy childhood memories?" "No," the man sniffed, wiping a tear. "I'm a musician."

Dear Father Joe:
How do I witness to my Catholic faith without being called a Jesus freak?

That's easy. Don't mention Jesus.

Sorry, I had to do that. I love this question. I hope we know not just that we have to witness to Jesus, but witness well. So, how do we do that without being called a "Jesus freak?" I don't know that we can. I think persecution for loving God is inevitable. In fact, I think that if we aren't being harassed about our faith, we may be doing something wrong.

Our lives must be about Jesus. Our school, our work, our family Æ everything about us must proclaim the truth of the Catholic faith to the world. A warning, though: the world won't like it.

Look at the Gospel of John, chapter 1. The world does not like the light. The letters of John makes this clear, as well. Heck, look at what happened to Jesus. Do we think that anything different will happen to us for proclaiming Him?

The first step, then, in effectively sharing our Catholic faith is to accept that some are not going to like it. Some people will make fun of us, shun us or even work against us because of our decision. We must remember the words of Jesus that we are blessed when we are persecuted for Him.

Once we understand this simple principle, there are certain things we can do in our sharing of our Catholic faith that will help us be effective. We don't do these things to avoid suffering. We do them to make sure that our witness is one people want to follow. How do we do this? Here are some of my ideas:

We must be authentic. A lot of people equate acting phony with being Christian, and that is not it. Be who you are and who God created you to be. God knew what He was doing when He made you with your personality. Don't crush it because of false ideas about piety.

Discern when you should speak and when you shouldn't. A lot of times, our silence will speak better than a speech. If we see a wrong action, or hear something inappropriate, a lecture may not be the appropriate response. People not laughing at stupid or sinful things I've said have challenged me more often than a long discourse on the decay of Western morals and civilization.

Be honest in all your dealings. Don't give any person a reason to be scandalized by cooperation with evil. If you proclaim yourself a faithful follower of Jesus and the Catholic faith, then people will be watching you closely. We must be men and women of character and never give anyone reason to say or think, "Well, Joe is a Christian and he did it."

We will make mistakes. We will, at times, go overboard, or slip in moral situations. There will be times where the witness we present will be more harmful to the kingdom of God than helpful. When we fail Æ notice I didn't say "if" Æ we must ask God's forgiveness and seek to make right whatever needs to be made right. Don't get discouraged! God's love and power is bigger than our sinfulness and failings. People who proclaim their Catholic faith and fail at times are not hypocrites. They are known as "Catholics." Catholics sin; sick people need a doctor Æ it's the same thing.

Be informed, knowledgeable people. Know why we teach and believe the things we teach and believe. God doesn't often ask for blind faith. We can be informed, intelligent, faithful followers of our Catholic faith.

Besides FAITH Magazine and the Catechism, there are some solid resources out there, both on the Internet and in our libraries. Here are a few great resources I would recommend for getting information on our Catholic faith (this is, obviously, not exhaustive):

1. Envoy Magazine (www.envoymagazine.com)

2. the book "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton is fantastic

3. a Web site with everything Catholic on it is: www.newadvent.org.

All that I have said is a tall order, isn't it? Clearly, we are going to need divine help. Don't forget to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide you.

Now, get out there and live your faith!

Enjoy another day in God's presence!

Originally Published: December 2003