Before the Cross | You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth

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From left, Auxiliary Bishop Edward Rice, Rev. Mr. Fadi Auro, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, Paula Willenbrink, Sister Mary Charles Mayer, RSM, and Judith Stegman of the U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins, are shown after the Mass of Consecration.

This is the first in a series of four articles I will be writing on the subject of evangelization.

Recent popes (especially Paul VI, Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI) have made evangelization a top priority for our Church. Evangelization is central to our identity as disciples of Jesus Christ. If we do not evangelize well, we fail in our most important responsibility as Christians in today’s world.

In the teaching of the Catholic Church, especially in the documents of Vatican Council II, the writing of recent popes and synods, and in the catechism, the word evangelization is used to describe the very nature or mission of the Church. The word itself comes from the Greek word for Gospel, the “good news” that Jesus proclaimed by His life and His teaching. For us Catholics, evangelization is not about imposing our beliefs on others. Instead, it is the activity of freely sharing with others our conviction that Jesus Christ is the answer to all life’s questions and difficulties. Pope John Paul II in his 1990 apostolic exhortation, “Redemptoris missio,” teaches that “the Church proposes; she imposes nothing” (#39). Evangelization is our profoundly personal witness to the person of Jesus Christ as the meaning of life itself and as the most important person in each of our lives.

Evangelization is not an optional activity for those who wish to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Before He ascended to His Father, our Lord left His disciples with this mandate: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in Him. From the beginning, the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ: “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). And they invited people of every era to enter into the joy of their communion with Christ.

“The good diffuses itself.” It’s an old theological principle. But you don’t have to be a theologian to know what it means. When we find a good restaurant we want to share it with our friends, and we do. When we hear a good song we want to share it with our friends, and we do. When we see a good movie or read a good book or find a good recipe we want to share it with our friends, and we do. The good diffuses itself. The good wants to be shared, and anyone who resists the desire to share it is rightly called selfish.

It’s a curious fact about many Catholics, however, that there is one good thing that we are reluctant to share: the good news of faith in Jesus Christ. For one reason or another, many of us have come to believe that it is selfish to keep good things to ourselves, but rude to share the good news of Jesus Christ. And, for one reason and another, we have grown comfortable with this double standard.

The time has come to challenge our culture and ourselves. The time has come to stop following those who tell us to keep God out of the public square and start following the Lord, who tells us that we will be His witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). If sharing the good news about worldly things is an expression of joy and an outpouring of love for the people with whom we want to share that joy, then it makes sense that we would show our love for those same people by sharing with them the joy of following Jesus Christ.

Where should we evangelize? In our homes, our parishes and our schools, certainly. But faith-sharing also takes place in conversations among friends and co-workers. It happens in our Catholic health care and social service agencies. Evangelization also happens in the public square when Catholics speak out against laws or government policies that deny human rights, oppress the poor and vulnerable, discriminate against immigrants or violate the most important and fundamental human right — the right to life from the moment of conception to the time of natural death.

It’s time for us to stop conforming to the world and start transforming it. It’s time for a new springtime of evangelization in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Archbishop's Calendar

 

Saturday, June 11

10 a.m. Celebrant and homilist, Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood, Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus, St. Francis Xavier “College” Church, Midtown

7 p.m. Celebrant and homilist, Pentecost Vigil Mass, Holy Redeemer Church, Webster Groves

Sunday, June 12

9:30 a.m. Celebrant and homilist, 40th anniversary of Mary Mother of the Church, Mattese

2:30 p.m. Celebrant and homilist, Rite of Confirmation of Adults, Cathedral Basilica, Central West End

6 p.m. Dinner in celebration of the Ordination Class of 1976, Norwood Hills Country Club, Normandy.

Monday-Friday, June 13-17

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Spring General Assembly, Seattle, Wash.