YOU are called!
Every one of us is called to be an evangelist. Jesus never leaves it an option for you or me. In fact, it is a command straight from His lips. Jesus invites us to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. Jesus said:
“Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
We are to proclaim the Good News of His love and forgiveness to all people, everywhere, and at all times. The purpose of evangelization is simply to lead people to a personal encounter and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Saint Paul was convicted to preach and could not help but share what God had done in his life:
“Woe to me if I do not preach!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).
Jesus, Peter, Paul, Matthew, John, and all the saints tell us to be evangelizers for Christ. Popes tell us that the greatest mission of the Church, whether priest, religious, or laity, is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone in our words and through our life.
Pope Paul VI said:
The Church “exists in order to evangelize, that is to say in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of his death and glorious Resurrection.”
Pope John Paul II said:
“… the moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization and to the mission. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”
Pope Benedict stated:
“Evangelization is not an option but the vocation proper to the People of God, a duty incumbent upon it by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.”
The New Evangelization – What is it?
“The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith. Pope Benedict XVI called for the re-proposing of the Gospel “to those regions awaiting the first evangelization and to those regions where the roots of Christianity are deep but who have experienced a serious crisis of faith due to secularization.” The New Evangelization invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.” – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
“But I preach Christ with my life – not words”
When challenged to share the love of God with people, many Christians (especially Catholic Christians not typically driven to share the Gospel by word) will respond: “I do not need to preach by word, or, share my faith verbally. I simply let my life reflect Jesus.” This attitude derives from a saying attributed to St. Francis: “Always preach the Gospel, and, if necessary, use words!” There is of course nothing wrong with that, in general, except that St. Francis never said it, and, the Bible never affirms this. Instead, St. Francis used words and his life to reflect the Gospel. He never relied only on good deeds to preach the Gospel, but deeds and words. Thomas of Celano wrote this of St. Francis: “He filled all the earth with Christ’s Gospel, so that often in one day he would make the circuit of four or five villages or even towns preaching to everyone the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.” Clearly, St. Francis used words to preach the Gospel. Remember St. Paul? He reminds us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God” (Romans 10:17). How can people hear unless we speak? Peter and John said: “For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Indeed, the New Evangelization is not a “silent, wordless” evangelization (see for example Scott Hahn’s book, “Evangelizing Catholics: A Mission Manual for the New Evangelization”, Our Sunday Visitor, 2014).
So it is here that the words of Pope John Paul II ring loudly to our hearts:
“there can be no true evangelization without the explicit proclamation of Jesus as Lord.” He further states empathetically that “evangelization as the joyful, patient, and progressive preaching of the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ must be your absolute priority!”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of this great privilege we have in participating in evangelization:
“Lay people also fulfill their prophetic mission of evangelization, that is, the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life” It further encourages us that “this witness of life, however, is not the sole element in the apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers…or to the faithful” (CCC 905).
He died for you.
Jesus was unjustly arrested, falsely imprisoned, endured unfair trials, suffered painful scourging, was beaten bloody, underwent public mockery, had sharp thorns driven into his head causing blood to flow and was crucified by soldiers who drove nails into His hands and feet. Finally, a spear was thrust into His side where blood and water flowed. Yes, this is what Jesus endured for you. Jesus paid a price for your sin and my sin so we can have eternal life with Him in Heaven. St. Paul reminds us that “God demonstrates His love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This is the joy of the Gospel!
What’s stopping you from sharing His love?
“How are men to call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). So… what’s stopping you from telling the story of what God has done in your life? Will you get out of the boat, like Peter, and share the glorious and life changing Good News of Jesus Christ with those you meet? The eternal destiny of people is at stake. What else is important enough to ignore this great command of Jesus?
“The Holy Spirit will teach you
in that very hour what you should say”
(Luke 12:12)
