You’re not ready. You don’t know all the answers to the deep theological questions someone might ask, or you are afraid you’ll say something wrong and turn someone away from the Church forever.

They aren’t ready. They have a lot going on right now, and you need to find a better moment when they might actually say yes to your invitation.

These are just a few of the things that often hold us back from evangelizing.

The reality is, you’re never really going to be ready.

I remember when discerning the sacrament of marriage, there was excitement, but also uncertainty. The divorce rate is high — what if we fail like so many relationships seem to do these days?

We didn’t know what the future might hold, but that didn’t stop us from taking the next step. There was so much more to be gained than there was to be lost being paralyzed by the unknown.

Talking to many young couples about expecting their first child brings the same kind of uncertainty. The world is a crazy place and getting crazier — should I really bring a child into this environment?

So often, young couples want to have it all figured out — the job, the house and all the finances lined up perfectly before they bring a child into their family. Again, the reality is you will never really be ready. After having kids, I can testify that nothing will ever prepare you for what comes next.

But that uncertainty, that unknown, is where God tends to operate best.

The world at the time of the Nativity was in chaos, too. There was political turmoil; false prophets and Pharisees were seemingly everywhere. The Jewish people were deeply divided as everyone had their own ideas about how they had gotten into this mess and how they needed to act to gain God’s favor. If we just do this one thing, God will redeem us!

Does that sound familiar?

But entering amidst the chaos, Jesus came to bring hope and redemption.

After Jesus’ parting words to His disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28) and to “wait in Jerusalem for power from on high” (Luke 24), you can only imagine the uncertainty His followers wrestled with. What’s next?

Again, God does not abandon His people. He sends the Holy Spirit down upon them and sends them out to speak of God’s saving love. And the world was forever changed that Pentecost day as the mission of the Church has continually gone out to the ends of the earth ever since.

The apostles weren’t more prepared to speak the Good News by human standards. And the world of that time wasn’t any more ready to hear it, either. The conditions were seemingly terrible, but they spoke anyway because it was what the Lord was calling them to, and He would provide the grace.

So, too, we don’t feel ready. And maybe we’re not. Maybe the people we want to speak to about Jesus don’t seem ready to hear it. But if we rely on the same graces of the Holy Spirit promised to us by the Lord, what can stop us from transforming our world with the love of Jesus?

Brian Miller is director of evangelization and discipleship for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.