If I wear my faith on my sleeve, using signs, symbols, or jewelry, is my faith equally clear to see in my thoughts, words, and deeds? Today’s verse from the Gospel of John, 3:16, some years ago tended to show up in the most unlikely places – public events, sports competitions, graffiti – and often it was in the hands of a man with a multi-colored wig who would be holding the sign “3:16” behind a basketball team bench at a time out, the tee box of a golfing tournament when the leaders were ready to hit their drives, or at the finish line of a marathon.
Yet, the place of prominence the man grabbed to gain attention, and the man’s isolation from the crowd in which he was engulfed, made one suspicious whether the love of God expressed in John 3:16 was drowned out by such actions. Without a multi-colored wig or a sign, I can let John 3:16 come to life if I willingly serve as an instrument in God’s hands to bring to others the gifts God has for them, and recognize the gifts God has given me through others.
God loves the world through you.
—Fr. Chris Manahan, S.J. is Associate Novice Director at the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Alberto Hurtado, St. Paul, MN. For more information on Jesuit vocations, click here.