I often leave my laptop on all night with the live stream telecast of EWTN playing. When I woke up this morning, Mass was just ending, telling me it was time to get ready for work. So up I jumped (as fast as my weight-challenged and sore body would let me this morning) and got in the shower. When I came out, Father Pacwa's program, Threshold of Hope was finishing up. He was taking questions of a general nature pertaining to faith from the people who were calling in to the program. I didn't hear the question, but a part of his answer is what compels me to share it here.
Many people say, "God love you!" when greeting you or saying goodbye, but a good deal of the time it sounds so superficial and sentimental that you have to step back and question if the speaker means it or not. The same is not true when someone like Mother Angelica or Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul II said it. You can tell a difference when it is said by someone who has an obvious relationship with the Trinity, through Jesus Christ. When people who are so close to holiness you can feel it in their presence, it is more than just sentiment; it becomes a statement of fact backed by authority and conviction.
It's the difference between this, which is sentimental,
When Father Pacwa shared this answer, one of the first memories that popped into my head was of the TV programs that Archbishop Fulton J Sheen had in the 50's and 60's. He always ended them with "God Love You!" and a "twinkle" in his eye that made you aware that it was not just sentiment, but fact--and an exhortation to return His love.
That's evangelization in a nutshell. Try to tell someone with conviction today, "God Loves You!"
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