Some How-To Tips for Would-Be Spiritual Pyromaniacs
There are many analogies that can be used to describe an apostle. An apostle can be likened to a farmer who sows the seeds of the Faith. Or a fisherman. A hunter. A soldier. One analogy that is not so common, but which I love very much is this one — a spiritual pyromaniac. An apostle is out to set souls on fire with the love of God. And if this sounds like a daunting task, I assure you that it need not actually be one. Take it from a native of California: great conflagrations often start very small.
As apostles, we are not looking to set off thermonuclear explosions in people’s lives. What we want are sparks. Sparks everywhere. But how do we go about getting the holy sparks of interest or curiosity about the Faith lit up in people’s lives? Here are a few ideas.
Catholic and Proud of It
The first thing to know is that your external appearance and actions say a lot all by themselves. Obviously wearing a religious habit is a big help in this department. Whenever the Sisters are out in public, we regularly have people coming up to us out of nowhere with, “Oh, you must be so hot in that thing;” or, “It’s been ages since I’ve seen a nun in a habit! What Order are you from, Sister?” I remember one time I was standing on the corner waiting to cross the street, and a teenage boy came up behind me, very gangster-esque and said, “I like your church outfit.”
Now, lay people may not have the advantage of habits or cassocks, but you have plenty of other options. Wearing a Miraculous Medal, wearing a scapular or rosary, making the Sign of the Cross when you hear an ambulance drive by, or when you pass a church or a cemetery; making a point of saying grace when you go out to eat; leaving your ashes on after morning Mass on Ash Wednesday. Ladies, with your long, lovely skirts; gentlemen, with your belts on, shirts tucked in. Parents, with your four, five, six, seven, eight, nine plus beautiful Catholic children traipsing after you around town. People notice these things. Sparks fly when you just live your Faith!
Conversation Sparking
But certainly words are very powerful, too. In terms of starting — or sparking — a conversation with somebody, one strategy that we have found very easy and very effective is to notice your surroundings: pay attention to what you are seeing right in front of you so that you can connect it with something in the Faith. For example, if you are at the barber shop, you might say, “Oh, your name is Tony! You know, I once read the story of how St. Anthony came to be patron saint of finding things. Have you heard it?” For them, it is neat Catholic trivia — for you, it is your apostolic mission. Or if you are at the bank, you might strike up a conversation with, “Your last name is Brocelli — that’s Italian, isn’t it? Have you ever heard of Padre Pio? What an amazing man!” Or if you are writing a check out for the cashier at the grocercy store, and you happen to notice the date is October 12. Why not mention to the cashier, “I guess it’s some big feast day over in Spain. Have you ever heard of Our Lady of the Pillar? It’s a neat story!” Tell them!
The examples could go on forever. You are out flower shopping and you tell people about St. Therese. You are out shoe shopping and you mention Saints Crispin and Crispinian. The connections to the Faith are everywhere, if we but have eyes to see. And just knowing the lives of the saints gives you a virtually inexhaustible fund of anecdotes that are easy to tell but almost impossible to forget. Very convenient for an apostle.
Besides the lives of the saints, knowing your history can also come in handy. I once met a young man who told me, “I’m not really religious. I’m really into aliens. No, really! There have been so many sightings, so many people claiming to have seen things or been abducted — how could they all be lying?” I said, “Did you hear about the sighting they had in Portugal in 1917? It was unbelievable! There were 70,000 witnesses; there were reporters from all the major newspapers who wrote up the story with pictures and everything. There were crazy atmospheric disturbances.” His eyes were enormous. And his response was, “Oh, my — really?? I’m going to look that up! I’m so glad I met you!”
A Crash Course on Drag Racing
What if it is too impractical or awkward to start the conversation with a reference to the Faith? By all means, start with something completely unrelated and wait for an opening. I remember striking up a conversation with a fellow who worked in an auto parts supply store. I pointed to the drag racing car cabled to the ceiling of his business, and I said, “That must be a pretty special car.” He said, “Yeah, drag racing used to be pretty big around this town. So I asked him (and not completely disingenuously), “What is drag racing exactly?” He then explained to me all about how this 8,000 horsepower engine gets a dragster going from zero to 300 miles per hour in four seconds flat, burning in those four seconds approximately forty-four gallons of nitromethane fuel, which happens to be the exact fuel burning rate as a fully loaded 747 jet engine, only the jet produces 25% less energy. I asked him, “Did you race?” He said, “No. I like fishing.” That what the opening I had been waiting for. I told him, “I just finished this great book. The priest who wrote it said that trying to help people get to Heaven is kind of like fishing. He said you bait them with the Truth. Isn’t that interesting? Nothing less than Truth will satisfy the human heart.” I said, “Are you Catholic?” He was Catholic. “Are you going to Mass?” He was not going to Mass.
So you see, it was not that I particularly cared about drag racing. (I didn’t.) I cared about him. I cared about him enough to give him two minutes of my time, just listening to him, building up in that time something of a rapport so that when it was my turn to talk, to offer him a Miraculous Medal, to offer him an exhortation to take his Faith seriously as the most precious thing he has on this planet, he would be in a disposition to hear me out. Which he did, very gratefully.
Learn to Be Likable
That is the final thought I will leave you with: As apostles, we can’t appreciate too much how much our effectiveness boils down to simple likability. Is it the be-all-end-all of our missionary efforts? No. Is it a valuable tool? Yes. And in some cases, vital. If we make a point of remembering people’s names, if we take the trouble to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries; if we take the time to talk to people and especially to listen to them; if we smile extra, if we tip extra, if we bend over backwards to help people out when they need it; they will like us more. And if they like us, then they will listen to us. And if they are listening to us, then they can learn from us. And when they are learning…well, then we have a fire going.
That is what being an apostle is all about. It is about striking the flint of our enthusiasm against the steel of their ignorance or their indifference or their prejudice — and hoping that some kindling of good will will catch. “Be who God intends you to be,” says St. Catherine of Siena, spiritual pyromaniac par excellence, “and you will — you will — set the world on fire.”
One soul at a time. One spark at a time.
