Q: What can I do to spread the Word of God throughout my school?
A: A few months ago I was walking in the mall with a friend of mine and he challenged me to get the attention of as many people as I could without saying a word. I’m always up for a good challenge (besides we were betting a lunch on this and I was really in the mood for a steak hoagie).
So I went to a dollar store and I bought the brightest red ball I could find. And I walked out of the store, put the ball in my two hands and raised it over my head. And just started walking around staring at the ball raised in my hands up in the air. Within about ten minutes there was a fairly large group of people gathered around me wondering what that lunatic was doing. I kept doing it for a couple more minutes and the crowd got a little larger. My friend came over and accepted defeat and we went and had lunch on him.
The point of this story is to show you that it’s not that hard to get people’s attention. It’s what you do with it that matters. You can either be silly or give something to them that matters. When St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words.” Or when St. Paul wrote “Your attitude must be that of Christ.” (The Letter to the Phillipians 2:6) Both of them were meaning the same thing in the idea that the best way to proclaim your faith is to show it. Show it your actions. Show it in your relationships. Don’t be afraid to be a person of faith at every moment. And if people ask why you make certain choices, tell them it is based on your faith. You choose not to run with the party crowd. Why? Because of your faith. You choose to be chaste. Why? Because of your faith. Some people look at you like your holding a red ball in the air and wonder why you want to have faith. But there will also be a great deal of people who will look at you and say, “If they can do it, so can I.”
That’s on a personal level. On a community level you can join some of the organizations or start new ones. Recently I heard about a Life Teen parish that started a Life Teen Club at their school and it’s quickly growing to be one of the largest Christian clubs in their high school. But whether you do it personally or with a group of people, just make sure you do something. And as long as you do it in prayer, and with a desire to show your Catholic faith, God will do great things with it. I’ll be praying for you.
