Pursued by Truth
Hi all, today is the last day you can get my book, The Prodigal You Love: Inviting Loved Ones Back to the Church at our webstore for 15% off.
If you have loved ones away from the faith, what is an investment of eleven bucks to get help inviting them back?
Still unconvinced?
Download a free sample chapter.
And enjoy another excerpt from my book:
My grandma, Elinor Brandi Shea, was a woman who enjoyed life. My grandfather, Charles Shea, died young, leaving her to care for five children on her meager salary as secretary at the local Catholic school. Despite the tough circumstances of her life, or perhaps because of them, my grandmother was a strong and holy woman. I got to know her because every time one of my four younger siblings was born, Grandma Shea would get on a plane and spend a couple of weeks helping my mom around the house. When she would visit, we would play endless card games. She never tired of me asking to play, but I do not remember ever winning one game against her. When I would complain, she would say to me, “Theresa, life won’t give you a break, so I don’t give you a break. You have to win fair and square.”
I don’t remember discussing God with my grandma, but her life spoke to me of God. Sometimes the holiest people are not those who flaunt their faith or talk about pious things, but rather those who live their lives to the fullest, loving everyone around them. Elinor Shea was this kind of holy—she loved me, she loved my family, she loved everyone, and her love spoke of God. It was not hard for her to love because she lived life to the fullest. She suffered. She lived through tough times. But in her Catholic faith she found the strength to persevere. She was one of those rare persons who grow and mature to the fullest capacity of their humanness. Like a bonfire amid candles, her wisdom and strength shone brightly on those around her.
Sometimes when loved ones leave the faith, we think we need to do something. But effective evangelization is really less about doing and more about being. My Grandma Shea preached her faith by being herself, by exuding warmth, strength, maturity, and joy. God calls us to holiness more than he calls us to the work of evangelization. Holiness is primary. Why? Because more than anything else, holiness attracts others to the Church. Pope Francis affirmed this when, echoing the words of Benedict XVI, he wrote: “It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but ‘by attraction.’” Evangelization is more about attraction than it is about anything else. When we have loved ones who are away from the Church, God asks us to become holy so that we may give glory to God and attract others to him in the Church. In short, God asks of us the same thing he asks regardless of our situation—to become saints….
Your loved ones are in my prayers!
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