Image source: Wikimedia Commons
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The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ calling the first apostles brim with the mysteries of grace and conversion. We’ve always taken St. Andrew the Apostle to be one of the patrons of the work of the Coming Home Network because of his example of bringing people to meet Jesus. As you may recall in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, after being invited by Jesus to “Come and see,” Andrew runs to find his brother, Simon. We read how Andrew excitedly announced to his brother, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ) and, without further ado, “brought him to Jesus” (Jn 1:35-42), who immediately declared that Simon would henceforth be called “Peter,” the “Rock” upon which Jesus would eventually build His Church.
In the example of St. Andrew we have a microcosm of the whole story and essence of evangelization. Andrew has a simple but life- changing encounter with the Lord, and in response, goes off to tell his story and to bring others into a similar encounter. There is no long discourse to persuade Simon of the bona fides of the alleged Messiah. Andrew instinctively knows that if he can just get Simon to encounter Jesus, that will be enough.
We have a tendency to think of evangelization primarily as a matter of complex intellectual discourse or apologetic argument. Certainly, we should strive to learn our faith and to “make a defense to any one who calls [us] to account for the hope that is in [us]” (1 Peter 3:15). At the same time, throughout the Gospel, we see examples of people whose hearts are irrevocably changed simply by their encounter with Jesus. As Dr. Peter Kreeft writes in his book Jesus Shock:
“Those who meet Jesus always experience either joy or its opposites, either foretastes of Heaven or foretastes of Hell. Not everyone who meets Jesus is pleased, and not everyone is happy, but everyone is shocked.”
It is not knowledge about Jesus but experiential knowledge of Him that changes us and prompts conversion. Our first priority should be to bring people to Jesus, because the potential “shock” of that encounter will always be more powerful than any explanation or persuasive argument we might add.
In order to bring other people to meet Jesus, we ourselves must be well acquainted with Him in the ways He has given us to be so. We must read Sacred Scripture, be committed to spending time in daily prayer, faithfully receiving the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation. If we are meeting and remaining close to Jesus in these ways, evangelization may well start simply by inviting other people to “come and see” with us. Protestant evangelicals are often better than Catholics at some of these simple types of invitations: Would you like to pray for a moment with me? Some friends and I are getting together to read and discuss the Bible—care to join? Could I tell you a little bit of my story? As Catholic converts, we now believe we have additional profound and incarnational opportunities to bring people to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist: I’m going to the chapel to spend some time with Jesus. As Catholics we believe He is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. Would you like to come join me?
Now, like St. Andrew, we don’t know how people are going to respond to our witness and invitation to “come and see.” They might accept our invitation to pray, read the Scriptures, come with us to Mass, etc—especially if they know us and our lives lend some credence to our creed. They might also decline our invitation. But in either case, we have made an opening for the Holy Spirit and (provided we handle it graciously) left the door open for future conversations.
Perhaps we hesitate to invite because the possibility of questions and conversations are precisely what we are afraid of. Once again, not all are necessarily called nor given the ability to be skilled debaters or to carry around encyclopedic knowledge of the faith—and that is ok! These gifts can be helpful, but they are not a prerequisite for inviting people to encounter Christ and sharing our Christian witness. Indeed, such gifts can just as easily be an impediment if we are not careful. I am reminded of a quote that Brother Rex, a member of our Pastoral Care Team, shared with me many years ago from Thomas Merton:
Why do we get angry about what we believe? Because we do not really believe it. Or else what we pretend to be defending as the “truth” is really our own self-esteem. A man of sincerity is less interested in defending the truth than in stating it clearly, for he thinks that if the truth be clearly seen it can very well take care of itself. (No Man Is an Island)
More important than making a case for Christ is simply sharing Christ as we have met and come to know Him. We don’t have to dress up the Gospel to make it more attractive nor does everything depend on our ability to make convincing arguments. That the truth—that Jesus—be clearly seen—this is the primary thing we should be trying to accomplish in our invitations, words, and example.
This is one of the reasons we love and believe in the power of the “conversion story” at the Coming Home Network. The authors who share their testimonies in this newsletter and the guests that come on The Journey Home program do not do so in their capacity as “experts”—as apologists, philosophers, or theologians—but rather as witnesses. Their goal is to simply, faithfully share their experiences of coming to meet Christ and discovering His fullness in the Catholic Church. Our conversion stories aren’t, ultimately, about “us”—but about Jesus.
In his first homily after being elevated to the Papacy, Pope Leo XIV reminded his brother cardinals that it must be their commitment to:
“…move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified, to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.” (Homily, Sistine Chapel, Friday, 9 May 2025)
We are called to share the Gospel and to make disciples of all nations. May we learn from the example of St. Andrew of the power of simply bringing people to meet Jesus.
