Why blogging ultimately fails to evangelize.

Yesterday I wrote about why I love the olympics, and today I was thinking about some of the things that I wrote. It's interesting how easy it is to watch different analogies of the spiritual life and get carried away by the power of the human spirit. Our competitive nature is just enamored by the pursuit of success.

I think it's easy to see why it's so easy for us to fall into sin when we can so easily be enthralled by that pursuit. In this case it's the olympics, but in other ways it's the Oscars and its fame, it's politics and its power, it's Bain Capital and its wealth, that infatuate us and stir our desire for success. Truth be told, it takes a lot of time and effort to succeed in any of these areas. It takes discipline. St. Paul's argument hinges on a key notion: "They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable." Our success isn't fame, wealth, or power; these things are fleeting. Our wreath is eternal life. Life in relationship with Life itself. To this end, the question must be raised: Why aren't we more enthralled by the lives of the saints?

Blogging is great, don't get me wrong. I love blogs. I love everything they do for the New Evangelization, but here's where they fail, they aren't a expressive enough of the love that God has for us and, moreover, the love we have for God. In fact, that's were the 'lives of the saints' struggles to convert. The lives of the saints are great at the daily conversion of the faithful, and blogging is great, at times, at the daily conversion of the faithful. In order to evangelize, which goes beyond just the faithful, we need to be able to engage in a different way. Our love needs to be, in a sense, an in-you-face kind of love. It needs to be seen, but more than that, it needs to be experienced.

One of the reasons the Franciscans were so effective just after their founding was their example of a radical dependence on God. Our best olympic-evangelists are going to be those who live out God's love in the most radical ways. Running is great, but making it the center of your life is radical. Caring for the sick is great, but putting aside EVERYTHING else in order to care for the sick is radical. I think the question comes down to, how much are we willing to give up for the sake of the kingdom?

Blogging, as I've said, ultimately fails to evangelize because its not a radical expression of love. The best evangelization has got to be works of mercy and love. Personal contact is necessary because our relationship with God is not me and Him. It's an us and Him relationship. The kind of love God gives to us is effusive, and if He gives us His love, we are compelled to share it. Caritas Enim Christi Urget Nos!