The Peru article must have really twigged something in her soul. She asked how I liked working for the church and then came this...."do you think the church will ever progress with modern times?"
Aaaah! When you look for opportunities to evangelize God will ALWAYS send someone your way! I wrote a few paragraphs back to Leila. I am sure there will be more in the days to come. In the meantime I thanked God for sending me to Catholic Online all those years ago where I learned orthodoxy and how to write charitably and how to back up my claims. Another thing I learned was not to throw the book at people.
When a 6 year old learns to read do you give them the encylopedia and say, "here, read this." No. You start out by reading to them when they are small, by teaching them the letters of the alphabet and then introducing phonics. Then as their comprehension and general knowledge grows you give them more challenging material.
When my 46 year old friend, mired in Lebanese superstition and North American relativism, asks me if the Church will ever progress do I tell her she's going to hell because she is living in mortal sin? No. I start small, tell her my story, how I came to knowledge gradually, how I am nourished by the Sacraments and prayer. I do not dumb down the Faith but I feed it to her in little morsels and let her get used to the taste - because right now she's finding it a bit sour. Been there, done that.
However, patience is a bitter plant that bears sweet fruit. Maybe today was Step Two of her conversion. And this is new for me too - not acting like a steam roller, not acting like a know-it-all, not expecting her to be on the exact same page as I am when I've had 6 solid years of formation and Catholic fellowship.
Please pray for her. For Leila to "come home" it's going to be a bumpy ride.
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