The Life of a Priest
Go Fishing on Ash Wednesday
Photo By: flickr/Sarah (Rosenau) Korf
Today, Ash Wednesday is one of the busiest days of the year. Today, everyone is Catholic. As many of us know many Catholics who normally do not attend Mass will be present. Although Mass times have been published on our website, bulletin and online newslettter, people will still call and ask "when are they giving out the ashes?" On a human level it can be annoying, but this is our chance to go fishing! No I don't mean literally fishing, I mean fishing for souls. This is one of those moments throughout the year in which with our kindness and charity, we can bring people back to the Church! There are many ways in which this can be accomplished. First, and foremost, I think simply being kind to the people, and not demonstrating how physically and mentally tired we are might work. People will see a happy priest. If the priest is happy, there must be a reason. As we know Jesus is the reason.
Another method of evangelizaiton is to hand out free Catholic cds, books and pamphlets from the Mary Foundation. They are offered at incredibly low prices, or for free at: http://www.catholicity.com/ These cds have worked well in my parish. Hopefully, they will change someones life tomorrow.
A third method of evangelization is to distribute the materials from CatholicsComeHome.org This organization has placed commercials on TV and they are dedicated to bringing people back to the Catholic Church. At the end of the day we might not see most of these people until Christmas. However, if just one person returns to Mass every Sunday, then all of the money, time and effort placed into bringing them back is worthwhile. May we all, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, religious brothers, and all of God's Faithful, be his evangelizers today.
Tune into to my Internet Radio Show FatherRosadoDotCom Talk Radio to learn more about the Holy Season of Lent and Ash Wednesday.
More information about the show is available at the FatherRosado Internet Radio page.
This article was originally published on Ash Wednesday 2014 on FatherRosado.com
About the Author
Father Adaly Rosado, Jr. was born in the Bronx on the birthday of Our Lady in 1984. He graduated from Dewitt Clinton High School in 2002. He went on to study philosophy at Saint John’s University and graduated with a B.A. in 2007. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s Seminary with in 2011 with a B.A. in Sacred Theology and an Master of Divinity. He served three years as Parochial Vicar in the Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Goshen, NY. He is an active blogger on FatherRosado.com and PadreRosado.com He operates FatherRosado.com Talk Internet Radio, with Joseph Siriotis available at FatherRosado.com/radio In 2014, he released Regresen a Jesús. A Spanish Language audio recording designed to help people return to Jesus in the confessional. He also signed a contract with Heart Beat Records to record a three cd album on the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Stations of the Cross. Father Rosado is currently serves on the Board of Advisers for the Office of Hispanic Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York. His primary responsibility is that of being the Parochial Vicar at Incarnation in New York, NY.
