Last week we started with Sherry Weddell down the path that leads to deep, active Catholic faith. From basic trust, a person moving toward the faith might next be drawn through natural curiosity about what in the world we Catholics are up to. It’s still a somewhat ‘surface’ interest, and not the deep investment of ‘studiositas’, but it’ll do to get some conversation started.

This is where all the strange (to an outsider) and characteristically-catholic things we do right out in public might become signposts for the lost. If we show a great sense of humor about how odd it all must seem to others, and welcome their that-is-so-weird questioning without defensiveness, they just might come back for more and end up genuinely interested in the faith that links it all together. I appreciate Sherry’s caution not to overwhelm the teaspoon of interest with an ocean of response! Let’s leave ’em wanting more.

The questions I’m pondering today are, “Can you remember when you became “curious” about the faith?” and “How would you explain the difference between an active and passive faith?” They go right together for me, because, as an evangelical Christian, the active – manifest in Catholic practices, rather than having no noticeable repercussions in the world of action – faith of my Catholic friends attracted me in exactly the way Sherry describes.

As I spent more time with the Catholic families we knew (because our boys were in Scouts together) I noticed their conversations about which Mass to attend (not an issue for our one-service-together family), their use of the term ‘Adoration’ (which seemed to set it apart as different, somehow, from whatever ‘adoring’ I might be doing in my personal prayer time with Jesus), their ever-present rosaries and saint cards (were they really going to be so very open and casual about practices that seemed practically illicit to this protestant??), and the fact that they didn’t seem to feel any need at all to explain themselves to me, or try to garner my assent to whatever things they believed.

They were actually so completely non-defensive about their strange beliefs that it put my ready-to-rumble, on-guard stance into impotent disuse. I did become curious about what their own thought process must be to accommodate such variant practices without even blushing! So, I began to ask, and the rest is history.

We need more – lots more – of this manifesting of our faith in publicly visible ways. Yay to ashes on the head; let’s get some more Eucharistic processions going outside our churches; how ’bout some right-in-daylight rosary praying; and could we be late to a few protestant dinner parties, “Because I lost track of time while adoring Christ”?

Here’s the rub, and I think we should face it: we don’t like being on display. It feels very odd when someone comes to my house and watches me as though I’m a new kind of specimen they’ve not encountered before. It’s hard to kneel for that rosary where passing cars can see you. We don’t want to be the oddball who’ll just eat the salad, thanks, at their Friday night barbeque. BUT, if it’s a bit of a sacrifice, surely we can be taught to see how worthwhile and helpful it might be to allow ourselves to be ‘lifted up’, like Christ, for public viewing. Then maybe he’ll draw them all to himself through our willingness to be seen actively practicing the faith! Go Sherry….bring it on!

PS You can still join in on the easy-peasy lawn chair catechism study of Sherry’s book, Forming Intentional Disciples.