How to 'Let Your Light Shine' to Illumine the Path to God

When I was a child, my mother sometimes took me with her when she visited a bedridden woman, Mary, in a nursing home. As we entered the room, Mary, a devout Catholic, usually had a rosary draped around a hand. Even though an affliction had robbed her of her ability to walk, she never complained and was always cheerful, always smiling. Her mission in life was to pray for the poor, the hungry, the victims of war, and those immobilized as she was. The good example she set inspired all her visitors and the staff members of the home.

Wittingly or unwittingly, she was following the admonition in Matthew 5:16: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Setting a good example is indeed a powerful way to lead others to God.

Now consider this story. There was an elderly man in 1880s France who let his light shine in a humble, quiet way. While he was in a compartment of a passenger train whispering the rosary and fingering his beads, a young man who had recently graduated from a university entered the compartment and seated himself across from the old man. When he saw the rosary, he ridiculed prayer as futile, saying science had relegated religion to the realm of wishful thinking and superstition. When the older man questioned the younger about how he reached that conclusion, the latter said he would mail him empirical evidence supporting his view and asked for an address. The old man fumbled in a pocket and produced a business card. On it were printed these words: “Louis Pasteur, Director of the Paris Institute of Scientific Research”

Pasteur, of course, was one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century. Among his achievements were the validation of the existence of germs as causes of diseases, the development of the rabies and anthrax vaccines, and the development of a process (pasteurization) to prevent spoilage of milk, wine, fruit juices, and various foods. His pioneering work prevented the bankruptcy of French food and beverage industries and, over ensuing decades, saved millions of lives worldwide.

The account of the incident on the train has been widely accepted as true, although no printed documents have surfaced to verify its authenticity. To what extent the account’s religious message has affected its listeners is unknown, but it’s a fair guess that many thousands—or perhaps even millions—took it to heart.

Not infrequently, I myself have benefited from good examples set by others. For example, early in my career as a journalist in my hometown of Williamsport, Pa., my boss assigned me to write a feature story on a soup kitchen operated by the Sisters of Christian Charity.

When I arrived a half-hour before the noon meal, the nuns were laboring over steaming pots and crackling frying pans while a long line of the destitute was forming outside. One of the nuns was in her nineties, but she went about her tasks with the same enthusiasm and vigor as the younger nuns. She was heeding the words of Christ in Matthew 25:40: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” Her example pricked my conscience and inspired me to increase my contributions to the needy in the form of money, canned food, and clothing.

When the diners were savoring their delicious and nutritious meal, the supervising nun whispered to me, “Look at them. You can tell they are close to God.” Their humility and their courage to ask that they might receive (Matthew 7:7) set another memorable example for me that day.

Over the years, I have come to realize that even the smallest gestures can have a positive effect—opening a door for a shopper, helping a motorist change a flat tire, returning a lost wallet, babysitting, donating to a rummage sale, wearing a necklace pendant in the shape of a cross, buying a book with bible stories as a gift for a first communicant, saying grace before a picnic meal, or giving up a bus seat to an elderly passenger.

Others with more magnetic and outgoing personalities than mine apply their talents to more challenging ways of evangelization, using methods such as leading bible-study sessions, inviting neighbors to go to church with them, answering non-Catholics’ questions about Catholicism with well-prepared explanations, and holding get-togethers with people of different faiths.

When Catholic evangelists choose any these methods, they should avoid resorting to condescension and ridicule. Instead, they should be kind, patient, and supportive.