I often look around my life, full of busy (and sometimes overwhelming) children, stacks of homework, barking dogs, dirty dishes, mountains of laundry and the never-ending grocery list and wonder how I’m even going to power through the day-to-day activities and take care of my own prayer life, let alone get out there and bring other people to God.

Sure, I let it be known that I’m Catholic, often in fun and easy ways. The Internet and social media are prime ground for sharing articles about faith or blog posts by Catholic moms that I connect with on a deep level. Like most of the things people share on social media, I share them to say “Hey, look. I relate to this, so maybe you will, too.” Inevitably, my fellow Catholics interact with it, and maybe a couple of comments pass back and forth. And then, as with most things in social media land, I move on to the next thing and don’t think much of it again.

Then, a few days ago, I received an interesting private message through social media from a friend that went something like this:

“Hi. My husband’s grandmother is struggling with dementia. She doesn’t know who we are most of the time. But during her conversations with us, we discovered that she used to be Catholic and her family was quite devout. She fidgets often, and I wondered about maybe getting her a rosary, but I wasn’t sure if that was OK. What do you think? You’re the first person I thought to ask.”

Talk about humbling. Not only was it amazing to hear that those faith foundations come back to someone even as they are struggling to remember all else, but that moment became an opportunity to explain what a rosary is and how it’s used to someone who was not familiar with the Catholic faith. What followed was a beautiful conversation between the two of us, including suggesting rosaries to purchase and an opportunity to pray for a family who needed it.

I’m not saying that social media faith-sharing is the end-all and be-all of evangelization (in fact, it’s more often a breeding ground for unnecessary controversy), but being open about your faith, even in the most casual environment, can open you up to beautiful faith sharing opportunities that might not come your way otherwise.

Jessica Rinaudo is the editor of The Catholic Telegraph. Contact her at [email protected].