Adapting to everyone’s mentality

Fr. Roy Cimagala .

THIS is a big challenge to anyone who takes his duty of helping in the evangelization of people seriously. He has to convey the highly spiritual and supernatural doctrines of our Christian faith in such a way that these doctrines are understood, appreciated, loved and lived by the people.

Given the immense diversity of people in terms of backgrounds, intellectual levels, let alone, in spiritual and moral life, anyone who has to evangelize should really have to count on a deep mastery of the subject, a wide variety of styles, and a keen sense of knowing how the people are.

But, really, before anything else, he has to count on the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit to whom he should first pray, asking for help and enlightenment. With the Holy Spirit, he can speak and evangelize in ways that are beyond his human capabilities, no matter how developed these human powers are.

With the Holy Spirit, whatever effort he makes, which will always be inadequate, we can manage to touch the hearts of the people. We should never forget that in this business of evangelization, it is the Holy Spirit who is the prime mover. The evangelizers are just human instruments who are effective only to the extent that they are vitally united with the Holy Spirit.

This does not mean that the evangelizer is spared of his duty to study things well and to learn the fine art of adaptation to all kinds of people. That’s because it’s only when he does his part that he can be an effective and faithful instrument of the Holy Spirit in the act of evangelization.

The implications of this condition are indeed tremendous.

For one, the evangelizer really has to study the doctrines so well as to incarnate those doctrines in himself. Hardly anything is more put-offish to the people than when the people feel they are just given a lecture, a disembodied intellectual exercise.

In this regard, one should distinguish among simply being a performer, an actor and being a true minister who would faithfully personify Christ in his own way. He actually does not need to be a consecrated person to personify Christ. To be credible, he just has to be consistent to his Christian identity and to what he is conveying.

Otherwise, he can get the accusation Christ hurled once on some false teachers: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” (Mt 23,2-3)

Besides, the evangelizer should really make the effort to know the people well, so that as much as possible he can be on the same wavelength when he evangelizes the people and so that he more or less can speak the same language of the people.

In this, some knowledge of psychology, people’s culture, temper of the times would be very helpful. What is more, it would be very advisable that the evangelizer spend time with the people to such an extent that he can identify himself as one of them or as intimately related to them. As. Pope Francis once said, the shepherd has to have the smell of the sheep that he tends.

Again, all these are possible if one is vitally united to the Holy Spirit, to the spirit of Christ. He can personify what St. Paul once said about how we should be: “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor 9,22)

To be sure, to able to adapt to everyone’s mentality in evangelizing is something that will require a lifelong process of study and deepening in one’s spiritual life.

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Transparency and accountability. If we want our life to be good, we need to develop a keen sense of transparency and accountability. These traits assure us that we are on the right path. That is to say, we have nothing bad to hide, and more, we are seeing to it that we are responsible for what God has given us, making these God-given gifts fruitful and productive.

A good sense of transparency will help us develop and sustain our integrity in life. It means that everything that we do is good, that is, morally good. This sense of transparency can only take root when it is based on our faith in God who sets all the laws in our life, and therefore, all that is good for us.

Besides, God actually sees everything. Before him, nothing can be hidden. We therefore have to adapt a lifestyle that would make us do everything in his presence. In fact, we are not simply meant to do things in his presence. It is more to do everything for God’s glory. Thus, when we do things without God in mind, let us be warned that we are already doing things wrongly.

We should not base our sense of transparency on human, natural and worldly criteria alone. These latter standards do not capture all the good that is proper to us. At best, they may just be silent about the finer nuances and consequences of what is generally good for us. We have to remember that many mysteries shroud our understanding of things.

But what is bad is that our human laws and worldly standards have started to go against God’s will. This, of course, can be due to our limitations in truly understanding God’s law. But it can also be due to our sinfulness and malice. Nowadays, I believe it is the latter that has led us to make laws that are openly against God’s law.

We can try to do something about this problem by teaching the children to be transparent always, first to God, then to their lawful authorities: their parents, teachers, elders, etc. And with the adults, let us remind them often of the importance and the great many benefits that a working sense of transparency brings.

The same with the sense of accountability. This has to be inculcated in the children as early as when they can be understand it. In the gospel, many are the references that talk about this need for accountability. One is the parable of the talents where a master gave his three servants different amounts to do business with while he went away. (cfr. Mt 25,14-30) The master asked for an accounting when he returned.

We even have to account for the words we speak, as attested in this passage of St. Matthew’s gospel: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (12,36-37)

St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans also said that “each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (14,12) And in his second letter to the Corinthians, he said: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (5,10)

We have to prepare for this judgment when we have to give account of what we have done with what God has given us. Let’s remember that God has given us everything that is good to us, even the way to recover our dignity as children of God once we lose it due to our sins. He has given us life, talents, the theological virtues, mercy, etc.

We should be ready to face God to give an accounting of our life with eagerness, not with fear.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com