7 Simple Ways to Share Christ This Christmas

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” With these memorable words, Charles Dickens has captured the sentiment of every enthusiastic Catholic evangelist regarding Christmas. On the one hand, Christmas is an evangelist’s dream – a time of joy and hope , with an abundance of opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a weary world. On the other hand, Christmas can be an evangelist’s worst nightmare – a time of stress and struggle, when it seems like the world in general and the people around one’s own dining room table in particular, are indifferent or openly hostile to all things related to Christ. Here are seven simple tips for sharing Christ this Christmas with your family, friends, co-workers and even the guy who just cut you off in the parking lot on the way to Midnight Mass.  1.       Put the oxygen mask on yourself first.  In other words, don’t let the hustle and bustle of the season overwhelm you to the point that you shelve your own prayer life. In order to share our faith, we need to be living our faith in an active and intentional way. Be sure to pray daily, get to confession and Mass and spend time soaking in the Real Presence of Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration. Fortifying ourselves spiritually will give us the strength and the tools to fortify others.2.       Smile.  Sounds too easy, right? Wrong.  A smile transmits the joy that we experience in our hearts.  A simple smile is a welcoming invitation.  Pope Francis speaks often of the joy of the Lord and the importance of radiating that joy to others.  He plainly stated in a homily on May 10, 2013:  “Sometimes these melancholic Christians’ faces have more in common with pickled peppers than the