Encouraging Someone is the best way to Spread the Gospel!

Encouraging Someone is the best way to Spread the Gospel

The worst manner to destroy the hopes of a fellow worker or our own children is to put them down as they attempt to follow your abilities to success.   How often a new recruit in the very specialty you’re a master of accomplishment will try to emulate your very manner of performing your task.  If you encourage that neophyte even when he/she stumbles and makes one mistake after another, you can encourage a future expert in the same skill you already have as you take them by the hand and lead them according to your expertise.

I remember when my vocation as an electrician’s helper began which had my peers laughing when I tried using a hammer.  Instead of my hand on the handle I grasped the hammer on the head of the hammer.  They laughed to see how I would swing the tool with any force.  They laughed at my inexperience, but then guided me how to use tools so I would become proficient.

As a teacher in trade schools for 15 years It was easy to notice how quickly students expressed their approval when they were guided to correct any mistake with a gentle manner of good teaching.  I used the same method as my leaders used with the hammer experience.  No student will learn from the negative comments of a teacher or someone in the field of construction if the lessons left them wanting for a real experienced teacher in the field.  Meeting past students who were employed as electricians and recognizing me with fond memories when I was inspecting their work showed me they learned what I taught them.  It showed the real concern I used when teaching them from my experience.

We may discern what our present position as clergy matters when our different positions in ministry may have some guidance into Holy Orders.   As a Master Catechist for the Pittsburgh Diocese I remember one student from a parish in Moon Twp. came up to me inquiring about the Permanent Diaconate.  Some years later I discovered he was one of a class of new deacons for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.  It wasn’t as though I was promoting Holy Orders but because I was a deacon using the grace of the diaconate the Holy Spirit inspired this young man to seek this call from God.

When I was ministering in Midland, Texas my presence as a deacon became an impetus for one man who was inspired by what I represented as a parish deacon.  Some years later, after I returned to Pittsburgh he told me he now was a deacon in Midland, Texas due to what I exemplified.  I believe God called me to Texas for this one more addition to the diaconate.  

Both examples show that many of us can use our ministry as a premise to hearing the call from God and our seed planting is the work of the Holy Spirit.  I didn’t use text books as a teacher would, but a living example of an experience coming to life in the depths of another person about to be sent a notice of, “you have been selected as a candidate to the permanent diaconate for our diocese.”  The encouragement here is another assignment from the Holy Spirit to keep the avenue of grace flowing for new deacons in the Catholic Church to encourage other men in the ministry.  You may be one who just might be called to ministry.  Embrace it!

Ralph B. Hathaway