My Son the Evangelist

Photo by mvictor, 2006, via Morguefile.com

My eight-year-old son and I decided to use our time in the car to talk, pray the rosary, and listen to Catholic talks on CD.  At first, I would be the one who decided which CD we were going to listen to, maybe Dr. Scott Hahn or Fulton Sheen.

After a few months this changed.  My son would say, “Can we hear the one about Johnnette  Benkovic?"  I would say sure, I would play it and didn’t think much of his request.

Recently he wants to hear Matthew Kelly’s Raising  Amazing Children over and over again. Now and then he will make a comment or a question about the topic that Mr. Kelly is discussing. Not too long ago, though, something amazing happened.

My husband, my son, and I were lying around chatting and laughing and all of a sudden my son says, “Do you want your habits to change? Tell me what your habits are and I will tell you what kind of a person you are.” My husband stopped to look at my son and give him his undivided attention.

Of course, I knew exactly what he was saying, the wonderful inspiring words we had often heard on our drive spoken by Mr. Kelly. My husband, however, was perplexed, “Where did you learn this?” he asked my son.

“This is Matthew Kelly’s wisdom,” my son answered..

After many minutes of listening my son stopped, my husband and I got up and that was that. I wondered though if my son was in a way spreading God’s good news with these words. Was he trying to bring his dad closer to Jesus? My son and I both know my husband is not a practicing Catholic though we read the Bible as a family from time to time and pray before dinner.

This, I think, was one of those ordinary moments that the Holy Spirit uses to draw us closer to the Lord. Maybe he thought my son would be the perfect one to evangelize his dad. I do think my husband was listening and his heart was touched; he did have a smile on his face for many minutes after my son’s version of Mr. Kelly’s wisdom.

As many of you know, I pray for my husband’s conversion everyday and have for years. I pray to St. Monica, Mother Mary, St. Joseph, and my litany goes on.  I can’t wait for the day when all three of us can go to Mass as a family and celebrate the Lord every week.

I will not give up hope; after all, it's God’s timing, not mine.

Copyright 2015 Elizabeth Desiderato.
Photo by mvictor, 2006, via Morguefile.com