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Muslims often try to convert non-believers — including Christians — to their religion, and they are succeeding far too often.

As Islam becomes more widely practiced in the U.S. and Europe, you’re likely to meet a Muslim at some point who will challenge your Christian beliefs.

Make sure to familiarize yourself with these three ways a Muslim may try to convert you.

1. They compare their rigorous fasting to Christians’ lighter fast
During their holy month of Ramadan, Muslims completely abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Definitely more rigorous than the Church’s current laws on fasting! We only have to fast a couple of times a year, and when we do fast, we just eat less — fasting usually doesn’t mean complete abstinence from food.

The greater self-discipline required for the Muslim fast definitely makes Islam seem like a tougher, more masculine religion than Christianity. If you tell a Muslim you’re fasting and then proceed to eat a small, meatless salad, they’ll be confused.

2. They boldly practice their faith in public
It’s not uncommon to see Muslims lay out their prayer mats in public, kneel down, face Mecca and begin to pray. Many will use their break times at work to pray. Some have even been spotted praying on the side of the highway!

That’s some real dedication. And they’ll note it to convince you of the truth of their religion.

Of course, there are Catholics who have no qualms about publicly expressing their faith. But many of us are just too timid. For example, does your family pray out loud together while eating at home, but not in a restaurant? If so, you’re not alone. Many of us hide our faith in public.

Which makes it easier for Muslims to convince people that their religion is more sincere.

3. They may try to trap you on the Trinity
To be fair, most Muslims have never studied the Christian doctrine of the Trinity from Christian sources. They often depend on hearsay from their fellow Muslims. The result is that they usually have a mistaken idea of what Christians actually believe about the Trinity.

For example, expect them to question you on how Jesus can be both God and the Son of God. And they may challenge you on Jesus’ divine sonship by claiming that God has no wife, and therefore cannot have a son.

Of course, the Trinity is a tricky subject even for most Christians. Check out this post we made on how to explain the Trinity to your Muslim friends.

Many Catholics falter in their faith because they’re caught off guard by unexpected challenges. Don’t let this happen to you! Bolster your faith now so that you can be prepared when anyone, including your Muslim friends, challenges you. And maybe you can even turn the tables and lead them to Jesus!

 

 

Let’s talk about heaven. After all, getting there is the main point of our lives.

Granted, we’re limited in what we can say. As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

There are some things we know for certain about heaven. Here are five.

1. There will be no more sin or temptation
Since we have free will in our earthly lives, is it possible to sin or experience temptation in heaven?

The answer is “no.”

This is because the vision of God in heaven is the fulfillment of all human desire, making it impossible to want anything else apart from God. The problem on earth is that we don’t have this vision of God and the fulfillment that it brings. This makes us susceptible to looking for “heaven” in the wrong places.

2. We will enjoy the fruits of our merits from our lives on earth
At judgment, we will face an accounting of our lives. For those destined for heaven, this accounting will be a blessing. All of the acts of love and sacrifice we carried out on earth will bear fruits of joy and love in heaven.

3. We will finally know the full truth about ourselves
Not only will heaven reveal the full truth of God to us, but we’ll also see the full truth about ourselves for the first time, as living icons of God’s love and conduits of His grace.

4. Not everyone will have an equal amount of glory in heaven
Our degree of glory in heaven will be based on how we loved and served God on earth. Since people don’t serve God with the same level of commitment, not everyone will harvest the same fruit.

Don’t worry, though. No one in heaven will be jealous or sad about this inequality. Think of each of us as different-sized cups. While each of us will only be able to hold the amount of heavenly glory our cups allow us, we will all be filled to the brim.

5. We will fully possess Christ and be possessed by Him
Heaven is where our spousal relationship with Christ reaches perfection. This will not have any of the limitations of spouses on earth. Christ will fully possess each one of us as if we were the only person in heaven. Imagine that!

So that’s just a sketch of some of the things we know about heaven. And here’s one more: In heaven, we will forever be enraptured in the sight of truth, beauty, and goodness Himself and finally come to that fulness of love and knowledge we so deeply yearned for on earth.

 

 

There are some beliefs Catholics share with Muslims, such as the importance of prayer and fasting.

Then there are beliefs we vehemently disagree on, such as Jesus being the Son of God.

Many Muslims assume that calling Jesus God’s son means that God must have had a wife. Because of this misconception, they can easily brush off the teaching of the Son of God as blasphemy.

But when correctly explained, the question of Divine Sonship cannot be refuted.

Here’s how to walk through it.

 

1. Start with the Book of Genesis
Genesis begins with God as the creator: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” But it also intimates all three persons of the Holy Trinity.

We read that the “Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” As we move into passages from Wisdom, we know Jesus as the Word that spoke creation into existence: “Let there be light.”

So there, even in the Old Testament and at the beginning of all things, we have a hint of the Trinity.

2. Ask your Muslim friends what God was doing before creation
We agree with Muslims that God is Lord and creator. But He’s not Lord without subjects, nor is He creator with creatures.

So what was He before creation? I actually once heard about a Muslim who responded that at this point God was “nothing.” He was then pressed on what God was doing. Again, he responded, “Nothing.”

Really?

In Islam, one of the 99 names of Allah (God) is “Loving.” But what — or whom — was He loving before creation? A Muslim may respond with “He loved Himself.” But loving yourself isn’t really love, at least not in the full sense.

If God is eternal and eternally loving, then God must have loved another person. An eternal person. And that eternal person receives that love and then responds to it with love. And that exchange of love is so real that it’s a third person.

God the Father, from all eternity, loved God the Son. The Son receives that love and returns it back to the Father as the Holy Spirit. Three divine persons, equally loving.

Wow!

3. Ask them whether God needs us
They may say “yes.” There are some Muslims who believe that God actually needs us to worship Him.

But isn’t God self-sufficient through all of eternity? To say that God “needs” us actually diminishes His self-sufficiency — something no devout Muslim wants to say!

God existing and loving as a Trinity doesn’t need us, because He’s already a family of love. Three persons each fully possessing the one divine nature, co-equal and co-eternal.

Doesn’t this make our existence all the more wonderful? God didn’t need us, but He freely chose to create us as His children to freely love Him back. All of this simply because of His overflowing love that comes from the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What could be more awesome than that?

 

Jesus commanded us to help spread the faith, each according to our state in life and our abilities.

But how do we witness effectively? Do we speak the truth bluntly and make our listeners aware of the eternal consequences of their actions? Or do we focus on what we have in common as a starting point?

While each situation calls for a different approach, there are certain general guidelines to follow to make your witness more effective.

1. Start with God and happiness
It can be tempting to start a conversation with non-Catholics or cafeteria Catholics by pointing your finger at them and unleashing a tirade of “Thou shalt nots,” attempting to induce fear in their hearts of God’s judgment.

Only in such cases is your listener likely to look at you as a holier-than-thou control freak.

While a stern approach is sometimes needed, it’s often ineffective. You need to start with something positive: God and His plan for our eternal happiness.

Every command He gives us is ordered to the fullness of love and joy we will experience in heaven. You need to show how the Catholic position on abortion, marriage, or whatever you’re discussing fits into this big picture.

Otherwise, it just sounds like you’re throwing out soundbites or random rules to follow. Setting Church teaching within the larger context of our happiness makes that teaching more appealing and sensible.

2. Be blunt
Don’t be harsh, but be blunt. We hear so much today about dialoguing. This is necessary, but not at the expense of truth.

Be honest about your intentions. Atheists are, in general, good at this. They don’t fool around with weak statements like “I want to encourage you to x, y, z.” They say it like it is: “Your religion is full of [insert swear word].”

To which you can reply, “Maybe it is. Let’s fight it out.” This is so much more productive than someone saying, “I just want to have a conversation.” Which often translates to “I want to have a sneaky conversation to sneakily work my beliefs into your heart.”

3. Make sure you and your listener are speaking the same language
Words are tricky. You may use them in one way, and your listener in another. What happens is that you both end up talking past each other.

This often happens in conversations around abortion. You may speak about the right to life and understand the word “right” within the context of the virtue of justice and the theology of creation. Some abortion defenders use it as more of a violent affirmation of the way in which they can give expression to their liberty.

So start the conversation by asking your listeners what they mean by the terms they use.

4. Do the research if you can
Have you ever had someone refuse to debate you and simply point you to resources? It’s annoying, right? You want to shout, “If you want to convert me, you do the work and try to convince me. I don’t have the time to read a dozen books.”

You should make the same effort when witnessing to the faith. Do the research, rather than make your listener do it.

Obviously, there are moments when you just don’t have the time. Then, it’s fine to point them to resources. But at least make an effort to know what you’re talking about.

Give these four tips a try next time you’re talking to a non-Catholic or cafeteria Catholic. Again, these are not hard-and-fast rules. You may have to adapt from time to time. But they’re generally the most effective ways to share the faith with those around us.

 

We often hear our Protestant friends decry evolution as an assault on the divine inspiration of Scripture. After all, Genesis says that God made everything in six days. Not really enough time for dinosaurs to become birds or apes to become men!

Catholics don’t have to reject every aspect of evolution, but there are some precautions to heed.

Here are six things every Catholic needs to keep in mind when it comes to evolution.

1. Faith and reason are harmonious
Truth is one because reality is one. Legitimate scientific facts will always line up with theological truths. There is no such thing as a “double truth” that’s true in science, but untrue in theology.

2. Catholics must firmly reject scientism
The problem with many evolutionists today is that they embrace scientism — the belief that science can explain all of reality. This is, of course, false. Spiritual realities such as grace or transubstantiation are outside the boundaries of science.

3. God created everything
Whether He chose to create everything directly or through evolution, God is the author of all things and continues to hold them in existence. If evolution is true, it is part of God’s providential unfolding of all creation in love.

4. It’s permissible to believe in material evolution
Belief in material evolution is not contrary to belief in either God or the inerrancy of Scriptures. As the Church has long taught, Scriptural inerrancy does not mean that God willed to describe the universe in a scientifically exact way. Many of the Church Fathers actually believed that the “seven days” are symbolic for longer stretches of time.

5. The human soul is specially created by God
Our bodies may have evolved, but our souls did not. That’s because they are immaterial and immortal. Matter alone cannot produce spiritual effects.

6. We all come from one original pair
This point is necessary in order to affirm the solidarity of the human race, the transmission of Original Sin, and the universal nature of Christ’s sacrifice. However, these beliefs don’t preclude the existence of several human-like pairs from which God chose one pair to infuse with spiritual souls.

To be clear, all of this doesn’t mean a Catholic must accept evolution. The Church still permits belief in direct creation of each thing we see today.

And, of course, a Catholic can’t uncritically accept every aspect of modern evolutionary theories such as Darwinian evolution.

But you do have a LOT of freedom to follow the evidence where it leads. The important thing is to always adhere to God’s divine revelation and exercise charity toward other Catholics who may disagree with you on this issue.

 

Stoicism is an ancient philosophy popular in Greece and Rome that emphasized virtue and self-control, among other things.

While some Stoic teachings are at odds with Christianity, others offer great practical advice for those of us overwhelmed by our fast-paced world.

Here are four things you can learn from the Stoics to have a happier, more peaceful life.

1. Slow down.
Stoics resisted the urge to go with the flow. They recognized the importance of slowing down and using their reason to judge what actions were most prudent in a given situation.

Too often we let ourselves get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern life. We quickly justify immoral actions for the sake of getting ahead.

For example, maybe your boss is pressuring you to take part in a shady financial transaction. It’s easy to let that pressure make you rationalize the action. But if you slow down and think about the negative consequences to follow, you’ll find more strength to say no.

As Christians, we go beyond the Stoics. We don’t slow down merely to focus on ourselves, but more so to reorient ourselves to spiritual things.

2. Do a nighttime reflection.
The ancient Stoic Seneca recommended this practice. It’s similar to the Christian examination of conscience.

Seneca reflected on everything he had done during the day, including his thoughts, words, and deeds. He didn’t shy away from discovering his vices.

This practice is a great way to grow in holiness. Take time before bed to do an examination of your day. Have the guts to call yourself out for your failing, but also humbly recognize your accomplishments and thank God for them.

3. Do a morning reflection.
The revered Stoic Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, instructs us to prepare ourselves in the morning for whatever we will encounter that day. This includes the busybodies and rude and ungrateful folks we’re liable to meet.

Creating realistic expectations for your day is not meant to foster pessimism. Marcus Aurelius says that we are all put on this earth to learn to cooperate with each other. See these unsavory figures as a way to practice charity and humility.

4. Don’t rush to judge someone.
Marcus Aurelius reminds us that those who annoy us often see their actions as sensible. In other words, most of them aren’t intentionally trying to hurt us.

Recognizing this point prevents you from losing your cool and doing something you’ll later regret. Be patient with people. You usually don’t know what they’re going through. Try to get them to see the light. If that fails, continue on with your day in peace.

You’ve probably noticed that many of these practices resemble Christian ones. Yet, many Christians today don’t incorporate them into their lives.

The benefits, though, are enormous, so why not give them a try?

 

The Catholic Church gives a healthy dose of freedom to Catholics concerning which spirituality they want to follow, what rite they want to belong to, and even what they want to believe about theological questions left open to discussion.

But then there are those who go to extremes. Here are two opposite extremes many Catholics embrace today that are actually harmful to their spiritual lives and to the mission of the Church.

1. Being overly accommodating to the world and embracing things contrary to God’s will and the teaching of the Church.
We recently saw an example of this in the infamous Chicago “bubble Mass” that is still making rounds on the internet. The church was full of giant bubbles as people sang and danced. Earlier this year at the same parish, the priest gave the final blessing by using a guitar to make the sign of the cross.

When we give up our identity as Catholics and overly accommodate ourselves to a worldly spirit devoid of the sacred, we surrender the fear of God to the fear of man.

We can’t accommodate ourselves to modern culture because there are so many things within it that are directly contrary to God and His plan: radical moral subjectivism, sexual immorality, etc.

Also, cultural fads come and go. Once the Church hangs on too much to a certain fad, it risks dying with that fad. Just look at many “modern Masses” today — many are still stuck on the same 70s hymns that have not aged well.

2. Becoming so rigid and inflexible that they don’t care if anyone’s listening to our message or can understand it.
This is the opposite extreme of what was explained above. Yes, we need to hold onto the beliefs and practices handed down to us. But we need to find ways to enunciate these beliefs in a way that will be understood by the people of today.

Pope St. John XXIII said it best at the opening of Vatican II: “The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another.”

Yet some people — such as the more extreme types of Traditionalists — are strangely resistant to this principle. They fail to see that the Church has often in the past adapted its language to the needs of the time. One prominent example is its adoption of Thomistic language and thought shortly after the Angelic Doctor’s death. Some clergy at the time thought this was radical and dangerous!

 

So how do we avoid these two extremes? It’s tough. It feels like walking on a knife’s edge. We have to both see the signs of the times and respond to them in a prophetic way that transcends them.

At the end of the day, the best thing to do is follow the magisterium — the ENTIRE magisterium — from the earliest centuries of the Church to the present day.

We won’t always do it perfectly. We are, after all, sinners.

But we at least have to try.

To tattoo or not to tattoo. That is the question and one that Catholics vehemently disagree on.

Some Catholics say, “Absolutely not! It’s immoral.” Others say that there’s nothing wrong with it and you should go ahead and get one without a second thought.

The right answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Whether you get one isn’t a huge issue and it’s not a question that carries the same moral weight as lying, stealing or adultery. Tattoos are not good or evil in themselves but can become good or evil depending on what the tattoo represents and why you’re getting it.

So if you’re reading this and have a tattoo of, say, the Sacred Heart, don’t worry. We’re not saying you did anything morally wrong.

Still, there are several reasons why Catholics should think twice before getting a tattoo. Consider these reasons as points to ponder, not commandments forbidding you from something you want to do.

1. You may be defining yourself in ways you’ll later regret.
It’s natural for us to want to define ourselves — to encapsulate or summarize our lives in a few words or pictures. This is because our lives often feel like a mess that’s impossible to make sense of.

Highlighting what’s important to you by having it forever stamped on your body seems to give your life clarity and purpose.

But here’s the thing: What’s important to us in life often changes as we go through childhood, the teenage years, college, family life, and old age. So while you may love a certain band now, it’s possible you’ll lose your taste for them later on and then your tattoo loses meaning.

Because most tattoos are permanent, don’t rush to stamp on yourself things you may lose interest in later. Give yourself and your tastes permission and space to evolve.

2. Tattoos don’t always say what you intend to say.
Maybe your tattoo communicates something really deep and meaningful to you. You see the tattoo and are reminded of everything in your heart connected with it.

But that doesn’t mean the message is clear to other people. For example, there are lots of people with tattoos of the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. Most fans probably got this tattoo because they genuinely love Middle Earth and the One Ring is a powerful symbol of these beautiful stories.

Yet, the One Ring is a symbol of evil in Tolkien’s worldbuilding, so you may have some people wondering why you chose that to express your love of Middle Earth rather than, say, Bilbo’s sword, Sting, or an elven brooch.

Think hard about the message you may be sending with your tattoo.

3. There are better ways to communicate what’s important to us.
It’s incredibly moving when someone gets a tattoo to commemorate someone dear to them, especially if that person is deceased.

But are tattoos really the best way to do that?

Let’s take the example of deceased parents. Your biological parents are already “tattooed” on and in you in a far more profound, human way than can be accomplished by ink. You may have your mother’s kind eyes or your father’s infectious smile. You may have inherited a love of fishing from your dad or of writing from your mom.

The same goes with religious tattoos. The image of God is already stamped on us through our reason and heart. Baptism marks you with a seal. These are far more powerful witnesses to the faith than tattoos, which fade over time, begging the question of whether tattoos are really necessary or merely cheap substitutes for faith.

Again, all of this is not to say that tattoos are wrong. These are just some sketches of thoughts and the beginnings of debates. But whether you get a tattoo or not, you’re already marked by your baptism. This sacred mark is your seal of glory as you fight the forces of evil. But it’s also your mark of shame if you abandon the Lord’s army.

Ultimately, it’s what you do with this interior mark that will determine your eternal destiny.

It’s easy to look at the saints and think that holiness involves nothing less than literal poverty, persecution, and martyrdom.

Relax. You don’t have to become a Discalced Carmelite or be fed to lions to become a saint.

Few people are called to the level of heroic sanctity of St. Paul, St. Edith Stein, or St. Francis of Assisi. Yet, we’re all still called to be saints, but through little acts of love and sacrifice that slowly conform our hearts to Christ.

These opportunities for small sacrifices are all around you. You just need to start looking for them.

To help, here are three small ways you can start growing in holiness right now.

1. Choose small sacrifices
Maybe you feel that you’re being cheap by only doing small sacrifices rather than sleeping on a bed of spikes. But you’d be surprised at how tough some of these “small” sacrifices can be!

Here are a few to try:
When out at a restaurant, find out what you want most on the menu and then get your second or third choice instead. If you always crave the bacon burger, getting a veggie burger instead can be tough.
Occasionally skip the pepper and salt. Much easier said than done!
Wear a slightly uncomfortable sweater or shirt from time to time.

We don’t realize how attached we are to our own desires and preferences until we make these small sacrifices. When offered to God, these penances help us make steady progress in holiness.

2. Turn involuntary discomfort into prayer
We just talked about sacrifices you freely choose. But life loves to force us against our will into inconvenient or irritating situations.

Maybe it’s entering your favorite coffee shop and seeing that there’s a line of 10 people ahead of you and only one barista working. Maybe it’s waiting half an hour just to talk to a customer service representative on the phone.

Rather than using these uncomfortable moments as occasions to complain, turn them into moments of prayer. God doesn’t let anything happen to us without offering us a way to turn that occasion into a moment of grace.

So, next time you’re 12 cars behind the drive-thru window, simply say, “Thank you, Lord!”

Tough, right? But how’s complaining going to make your life better?

3. Fill your day with short, spontaneous prayers
Having a designated prayer time is a good way to become disciplined in our prayer lives. But it can also make us forget that God is present with us at all times.

God wants to have a relationship with us throughout our day. Of course, this doesn’t mean talking to Him 24/7 (which is impossible), but it does mean taking time throughout the day to say very simple, sincere prayers, such as “Thank you for this day, Lord,” or, “Jesus, help me.”

Go ahead and give these three tricks a try. Stick with them, and you’ll be surprised at how much progress you’ll make in your walk with the Lord.