Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.

The beautiful thing about evangelization is that it often comes from unexpected moments. Here Paul and others have gone outside the city to find a place of prayer. Once there, they engage others in conversation and this leads Lydia to seek baptism for herself and her household. Paul set out to pray, to find some solitude, and comes back with a convert. Similarly, as we go through life, we will be faced with opportunities to evangelize others we meet. We might only have a brief moment to show we are Christians or we might have a longer time. But no matter the duration, if we reveal ourselves to be Christians not only in word, but also deed, then we shall leave a lasting impression on those we have evangelized. Our example will lead them to seek a deeper understanding of our faith and perhaps one day they will either renew their baptismal vows or make them for the first time. We should be ever watchful for these moments of evangelization because we have the responsibility to recognize them and lead others to God.

Are we open to becoming instruments of evangelization? Do we place ourselves in the hands of the Holy Spirit when we are given the chance to proclaim the Good News through word and deed? What do we do to support the evangelization efforts of the Church?

O Lord, if you consider us believers come stay with us and show us how to be better evangelizers of the Good News.

Amen.