Every saint shared the Gospel. Here are specific principles from four of them we need to apply in our own lives.

I defended the discipline of marketing at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, on Saturday at the Fall Conference of the DeNicola Center for Ethics and Culture. I was responding to a paper at another academic conference — the Symposium on Transforming Culture at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

It was all very academic.

But I wanted to share my main points here, because it bears repeating: We are not just “Church” people sharing the Gospel in a “churchy” way. We are meant to “go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns, and villages,” as St. John Paul II put it.

In fact, that’s what every saint did. Here are a few principles from their lives.

As St. John Henry Newman said: Personal care, not argumentation, wins people over.

That doesn’t mean you need to flatter someone, or “love bomb” them with insincere gestures. It also doesn’t mean “discipling” someone, if that means something other than authentic, genuine friendship built on real respect for them as they are and real concern for their highest good.

You can’t fake that. You need to actually love them -- which starts with praying for them, making sacrifices for them, admitting where they are right and you are wrong, and seeing their worth despite their flaws, just as you hope they see your worth despite yours.

Like Cyril and Methodius you have to speak their language.

It’s true that “They only care what you know if they know that you care.” But it is also true that “They will only learn what you know if they understand what you say.”

Catholics speak a language filled with Catholic moral concepts, Catholic preconceptions, and reliance on Catholic authorities. Most people don’t understand anything at all about that. So, it you want to be understood, you have to expand your vocabulary to include theirs.

It’s a biological reality: From the cradle to the grave, people respond most to other people. Showing someone a picture of a smiling person will make them smile; showing them an abstraction — a shape, mathematical equation or philosophical statement — will make them frown.

That’s why in his first letter, Peter said, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”

He wants you to explain not why “one” ought to be moved by Christ, but why you were moved by Christ.

Don’t say, “Here is why faith in Christ can give you purpose and meaning.” Say, “Here is why faith and Christ gave me purpose and meeting.” They can’t argue with that — they can only learn from it.

St. John Paul II’s genius was in focusing on what Catholics are for, not just what we’re against.

When we speak about our faith, we often focus on what it opposes. We talk about Thou shalt nots and critiques of secularism, and the consequences of damaging ideologies.

But we rarely speak about what the Church does to make the world a better place.

St. John Paul II didn’t do it that way. I once wrote an article called “Ten Things I Did Differently This Week Because John Paul Existed” that listed all the ways he emphasized the positive in transformative ways: the Mass, the Rosary, Catholic higher education, the Catechism, Divine Mercy, political freedom, the youth, and openness to life.

I love writing for Aleteia, because its whole mission is just that: Sharing positive contributions the Church makes to the world today. Share it with someone who needs to hear it!