Evangelize comrades like Christ did

Everyone can experience temporal real and true happiness! Our Catholic Faith offers it to all – all we need to do is immerse in it.

Smart phones, emails, texts, tweets, Facebook – none of these nor any other created good can lead to true happiness in this life.

How does one live a fully Catholic life every day? We need to turn to God. Weekly Sunday Mass attendance is the start of it all. We nurture and sustain our bodies daily with food to live, and we must do the same for our souls, feeding them spiritually and sacramentally, receiving Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. Just as athletes train constantly to compete and win, so too must we practice our faith constantly if we are going to have a chance in winning in the battle of good versus evil. St. Paul describes it beautifully: “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Following every Sunday, there is a Monday, when we are met with the demands of life. Family and financial responsibilities can be become burdensome and stressful and steal away our happiness if we do not prioritize our Catholic Faith daily.

We live our faith well by making it part of our everyday lives, at home and at work. Claim your home for Christ with a blessed crucifix. Add a statue or an image of Our Blessed Mother: she leads us all to Jesus! At work, place a holy image such as a Holy Card of your favorite saint near your computer screen, or as a screen saver. These are visual reminders that keep us focused on virtues.

Daily prayer is vital. Prayer is simply talking to God. Make meals special by beginning with a blessing and thanksgiving prayer. Bring your family together daily for prayer – a decade of the rosary, daily Mass, or a simple prayer together.

Through these spiritual exercises and the presence of religious images, our senses can truly feel the presence of God in our lives and in turn we live and breathe our faith in an almost subconscious manner, leaving very little room for vices. It becomes part of who we are, making us one with Christ, and leading us naturally to become evangelizers of the Gospel. That oneness gives us the joy and peace that makes our happiness real in this life.

Most importantly, unity with Christ allows for a virtue-driven life, which affords us the ultimate opportunity of an eternal union with God and thereby achieving perfect eternal happiness!

Let us heed St. Thomas Aquinas’ words: “It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness …….Therefore, God alone constitutes man’s happiness.” (Summa Theologica Part 2 Q.1.)

CHEF NEIL FUSCO is founder of Cucina Antica Foods, Corp, a specialty Italian food-products company. Raised on a farm in San Marzano in southern Italy, he learned his family’s production and cooking with the renowned San Marzano tomatoes they’d grown there since the 1800s. His newly released cookbook is May Love Be the Main Ingredient At Your Table (2017), with amusing and heartfelt stories about faith, family and recipes from his Old World childhood.

Escarole Salad with Walnuts and Parmigiano-Reggiano • serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 large head escarole
1 cup walnuts, toasted
1 red onion, sliced into thin rings
½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, shaved, plus ¼ cup grated
¼ cup raisins
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. When using escarole for salads, try using the inner part of the escarole head with light green or white-ish leaves. Save the darker leaves for soup or sautéing.
2. Chop escarole into large, bite sized pieces (you can also tear the escarole). Bathe and rinse thoroughly and spin dry.
3. In a large bowl, toss escarole, walnuts, sliced onion rings, shaved Reggiano and raisins.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing well.
5. Plate and top with grated Reggiano