How to evangelize in summer? 5 tips to sanctify holidays

With the arrival of summer to the northern hemisphere, many begin their vacation, a rest period away from the routine, but also a privileged opportunity to meet the faith.

A bishop, a mother of family and a priest share from their own realities some tips to “sanctify holidays” and evangelize from the rest places.

1. A time to connect with God

The Mexican Eugenio Lira, bishop of Matamoros-Reynosa, stood out in conversation with ACI Press that summer is a rest time to “recreate us”, that is, to “renew us integrally.”

Therefore, he advised “dedicate moments to prayer and contemplation” to “connect” with God and “see better the great gifts he gives us”, being aware “that we are loved unconditionally and infinitely.”

In this context, the Mexican prelate invited to value more and be aware that “we must responsibly take care of our life.” He also advised to dedicate spaces to reading good books, “to dialogue with family and friends, and do something for others, such as evangelizing, missing, visiting the sick, prisoners, a home, or asylum house.”

He even encouraged to take advantage of social networks to “share some evangelical message that transmits faith, love and hope. We can always do something to improve and help the life of others be better.”

2. Strengthen family ties

Leticia Sánchez de León lives in Rome with her husband and four children. Although he studied the law degree in Madrid, he has been dedicated to strategic communication since 2016. He currently has a blog about family and education communication, and is a moderator of family guidance courses.

Sánchez de León shared several tips to “live a Christian summer, healthy, cheerful, generous with others, where God is breathed in the small details and where all family members will take strength” to return to the routine in September.

For the mother of the family, putting these little things into practice, “we will delve into what it means that the family is a domestic church in the middle of the society of our time and from where the person will be screened to build a more just humanity, more cozy, more peaceful, more peaceful, more cohabitant, more deeply human.”

First, he advised to strengthen family ties and meet “the tune” among family members: “On vacation we have more time to look into our eyes with our spouse and with our children and to listen to us more,” he said.

For this, Leticia stressed, it can help “pray for them before starting vacation days.” He also invited husbands to maintain good communication and take care of harmony between them, and “on vacation many times jumps through the air.”

He also encouraged to enjoy simple family plans: “Those memories will be strongly fixed in their hearts, and tomorrow what they will remember of what a family will be those plans together, where everyone had a place, where everyone could choose, where some did things for the others.”

3. Institute detachment and generosity

He also warned that sometimes there is an “distorted holiday” idea. Therefore, he recalled that it is a moment “to instill some values ​​that we have so hard to transmit during the year, due to the lack of leisurely.”

In this regard, he highlighted two family values: detachment and generosity. Although during the holidays the rules and schedules are “relaxed,” he advised parents to say “no” occasionally, so that children value things more. “The virtue of detachment and austerity are not much fashionable today and they call much attention when they look in other people,” he explained.

“In families,” he added, “everyone has to help and collaborate, always putting small orders appropriate to their age and helping them if we are not able or need a push: throw the garbage, take out the dishwasher, put the table, water the plants, empty the beach bag, hold the swimsuits, etc.”

4. Holidays, but with God

All these ideas, said Leticia, “actually start from the will to live our vacations with a Christian sense”, since “everything is deeply linked to our life with God.”

“How are we going to make sense of the holidays and the plans and the relational moments if we distract ourselves from the ultimate meaning of our life? How to bring Jesus to others during the holidays if we do not have it inside us and within our summer houses between beach towels and fried potato bags?” He asked.

“God wants to be with us in summer, he wants us to enjoy and want to see us enjoy Him. God wants to be in family plans and in the ice cream churretes in our children’s shirts: we can share everything with him,” he said.

To achieve this, he advised “not to forget the small spiritual or piety practices” that usually do during the academic year: such as the rosary prayer, a little spiritual reading, the angelus at twelve or bless meals.

“By doing these practices we raise our soul to God and we can give thanks for what we are receiving this summer. Holidays are also a great opportunity to pray more calmly, read with desire, deepen our relationship with God,” he said.

Finally, he pointed out that, “if we maintain that tune, we will also be more able to better look at others, help them, serve them, overcome the friction, have more patience. Putting God in our day to day will help us to live a more Christian summer that will rest and fill our soul deeply. We will also create for us indelible memories about which to continue building during the coming years.”

5. Preach with the example

Fr. Héctor Razo, Mexican priest of Opus Dei, said in conversation with ACI Press that evangelization on vacation “can be done through one’s life and the example of a life lived with Jesus.”

“Sometimes Christians can think that changing the world in which we move – that world that is increasingly secularized – is a feat that would take us years, or perhaps centuries, when in reality it is not so,” he said.

Thus, he invited to think about the early Christians: “They had everything against and yet they managed to make a whole society pagan to Christian. How did they do it? With their example, because they belonged to Christ and that person had changed their hearts.”

He remembered in this sense to St. Josemaría Escrivá, “the saint who would preach the universal call to holiness through ordinary life”, who summarized him in a phrase: Know Jesus Christ, make him know, take him everywhere. That is, “to be so in love with Christ that it is so natural in us to talk about him to whom we are around.”

To achieve this, he encouraged to “live our own faith where we are; without embarrassing ourselves. If in our house we blessed food, also do it when we are on vacation with our friends and relatives.”

“Teach the children that also on vacation God deserves a space: going to Mass on Sunday and perhaps one more day during the week. Praying the Rosary with a pair of days a week, with the intention of asking for something especially and making all of that prayer of that prayer; that is, that each child has to direct a mystery,” concluded Fr. Razo.