Friends say the funniest things.
A couple of years ago, my When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics co-author Anna LaNave and I were doing book-related presentations at the Catholic Information Center in downtown DC. We didn’t prove to be a very big draw, so we were especially appreciative of our friends–many of whom we had met when they went through the Landings program for those considering a return to Catholicism–who showed up.
At the end of the night after everyone else had left, a woman who was originally a Landings
friend remained. She’s someone I see fairly often, and when we get together, we tend to talk more about good food and travel and work and our shared movie obsessions than about faith.
“Great job,” she said. “I just wanted to say you’re the reason I came back to Church.”
I started to give all the credit to her and the Holy Trinity, where it properly belongs, and to the welcoming atmosphere of Landings, where no question is off limits. But she shook her head.
“The discussion there was good, but it was better when you and I and a few others would go to the bar across the street from church afterward,” she said. “You showed me it was all right to have a beer and talk about God at the same time.”
I share this story not to say I’m all that… but to say any of us can be all that to someone at any given time, and not even know it. God not only puts people in our lives to guide us, he also uses us, often unknowingly, to bring others closer to him. Funny how our opportunities to reflect Christ can come in a pew, in the workplace, at home, or even at an Irish pub across the street from church.
