Patience

Nevertheless, the task is not an easy one, and you will need a lot of patience and should firmly resolve not to grow discouraged. The conversion of a bad Christian – Catholic or not – is more a miracle than the conversion of a pagan. Bad Christians tend not to understand and to distort everything we tell them about Jesus and his teachings, because what they have before their eyes is not Jesus Christ but only a caricature of Jesus Christ.

Perseverance in prayer

In the face of this difficulty, we must be constant in our prayer: “Pray without ceasing on behalf of other men. For there is in them hope of repentance that they may find God. So let them be instructed, at least by your works. To their blasphemies return your prayers (…) in answer to their cruelty, be gentle (…) let us seek to be followers of the Lord.”²⁷

Wanting to understand, out of apostolic zeal

Dearly beloved daughters and sons, what is the fundamental reason for our spirit of openness, for our desire to understand everyone? It is our apostolic zeal. If we were to flee from those who don’t know or practise the faith of Christ, we would not give them the opportunity of seeing our example and would not offer them the true image of Jesus Christ that is reflected in our lives, even in the midst of so much personal wretchedness.