It was pouring rain when I left for Mass this afternoon, so I took the "Pedway" as far as I could. As I was tromping up the stairs back to street level, I heard a man's voice coming from behind me. "Are you a Roman Catholic nun?" Yes, indeed. Turns out the youngish businessman had an aunt who was a Carmelite. How very nice. But he himself was "not Catholic anymore." Oh? "Latter-day Saints. You should look into it. Amazing truth."
The self-possession required to restrain me from bursting out with "Are you nuts?" also prevented me from saying anything more suitable. I am really awful when it comes to these pastoral "situations" when tact and wisdom are called for. (I'm much, much more adept at writing, which is, after all, why I started a blog!)
Believe it or not, the gentleman made several other attempts to pique my interest in the depths of doctrine to be found among the Latter-day Saints. I was happy when a "walk" light gave me the opportunity to bid him adieu (still holding my tongue).
Then in church, praying over the situation... ("Jesus, can you believe that guy trying to proselytize a nun? And in such a ham-handed way!") ... I realized that the over-the-top manner this man used in trying to "wow" me into investigating Mormon doctrine was a kind of hint that he was not all that secure in his newfound religion. In other words, folks, it's not too late to get him back to the Eucharistic fold.
So please join me in praying for Mr. Mormon Man, our fellow Catholic who only thinks he's "not Catholic anymore." We most probably will not have the satisfaction of knowing the outcome of our prayer, but surely this unusual encounter had to be a moment of grace...
3 comments:
Hi Sr. Anne Joan,
I'm a fan of all of the blogs by the Daughters of St. Paul... and actually I think the Lord may be calling me to the Daughters of St. Paul (I hope so!). So I just thought I'd say hi.
There are a lot of Mormons where I live and they are such nice people. They'd make great Catholics! Thanks for reminding is to pray for them!
Oh sister I know how you feel. An opportunity presents itself to evangelise and your brain goes to porridge. I get home and go over and over what I should have said. My daughter (who is studying to be a psychologist) explained to me that it meant my processes are slow, not defective (how kind of her!) just slow. I think of it as the retrieval sustem in my computer is not as fast as others. Like you I am better at writing; when I have had time to think.
God bless
Sharon
I can relate to that too, as things like that have happened sometimes to me. On the spur of the moment I have a hard time thinking of what to say. Next time I'll pray to the Holy Spirit for the right words!
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