Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 30, 2015
Spiritual Ponderings
Helping Fallen Away Catholics

We have been exploring the idea of Fallen Away Catholics and how to bring them back to the Church with the help of Sr. Theresa Aletheia Nobel FSP book: The Prodigal You Love: Inviting Love Ones Back to the Church. There is so much more that could be said on this topic but I hope that this past month has started you ponderings on how you may invite others back to the Church, how you make the Church a more welcoming place, and what you can do to prevent others from leaving the Church. Quotes from Sr. Theresa Nobel FSP book are in bold and my commentary is in normal font.

The story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) demonstrates the nature of God’s unconditional love. Before Zacchaeus even met Jesus, he “was trying to see who Jesus was” (19:3). His curiosity prompted him to disregard social propriety and, like a carefree child, to climb a sycamore tree. Saint John Paul II described Zaccheus’s curiosity as the fruit of the mercy of God which preceded Zacchaeus and drew him to Jesus. The desire to know Jesus is part of the dynamic of God’s love; it is a grace that prepared the heart of Zacchaeus for conversion and change, and it is a grace that God can make available to all of our loved ones. The grace that prepared the heat of Zacchaeus for conversion came from the very overflow of love that God had for him and for each one of us. Zacchaeus does not waste this grace of desire but rather searches Jesus out and is rewarded. Jesus stops in front of Zacchaeus and asks the infamous town tax collector if he can stay at his house. Of all the people in town, Jesus knowingly chooses to stay at the house of a public sinner. In fact, he not only chooses to stay with Zacchaeus, Jesus seems to urgently desire to spend time with him. He says, “I must stay at your house” (19:5,). Jesus is not afraid to show Zacchaeus his great desire to be in his company. The words and actions of Jesus show that God’s love for us is urgent and palpable.
If Jesus was the captain of the dodge ball team at recess He would pick you first (no matter what your skill level is) so much does he desire to be with you. It would be a miracle of sorts though because He is God and everyone would end up on His team. I think you get the picture though.

While it is never risky to be judgmental, it is almost always risky to be merciful.
God calls us to get out of the boat and to walk on the waters of the Chaos of this world to bring others His mercy. Nowhere does God call us to be timid or to bury our talents.

Unfortunately, many people claim to disagree with Church teaching on the basis of reason. However, their concept of reason is highly individualistic and relativistic. They limit their assent only to those things that they personally can understand and bring themselves to agree with... When we separate our faith from our reason, we damage our ability to reason.

I have stated this many times before, I do not believe that I have every met a “true atheist.” I have met a lot of “anti-theists”. In my book an anti-theist is someone who claims that there is no God because they do not want to obligate themselves to the rules of being in a relationship with God, or they have the wrong image of who God is, or they feel that they have been hurt by God and thus try to get back at God by pretending He does not exist - giving God the silent treatment. We must help them meet the God that Jesus Christ reveals to us. The God who is Love.

First of all, realize that giving the right answer is not the most important thing. If we know the answer to a loved one’s question, that’s great. But knowing the answer can often play only a small part in bringing someone closer to God. How we answer a question is much more important.
You are in many ways an ambassador of God. As people see you so they will see God. If you are mean they will think God is mean. If you are joyful, they will see God as joyful.

When loved ones ask us questions about the faith, they are making themselves vulnerable and, in some way, are unlocking the mystery of who they are before us. Because they may try to protect themselves in their vulnerability, questions can come across as challenging and angry. If someone comes across this way, we can still chose to respect that person’s dignity by responding in a respectful way. Even if a person’s question is so clearly off base that we cannot answer it, we can still take the person seriously. It helps to remember that no matter how or why a person asks a question, we can give thanks that he or she is asking a question because this provides an opportunity for dialogue. Their approach may be off-putting or downright rude, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can respond without taking such things personally. It helps to remember that a person’s aggressive approach may be coming from a place of hurt, the source of which we may not know, but the person deserves a compassionate response nevertheless. If we remain calm, and do not take personally the way a question is asked, we will be more likely to respond in a way that will be heard.