20171130
BE JOYFUL EVANGELIZERS
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Red.
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First reading
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Romans 10:9-18 ©
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If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing
from the heart you are made righteous; by confessing with your lips you are
saved. When scripture says: those who believe in him will have no cause
for shame, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: all belong
to the same Lord who is rich enough, however many ask his help, for
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But they
will not ask his help unless they believe in him, and they will not believe in
him unless they have heard of him, and they will not hear of him unless they
get a preacher, and they will never have a preacher unless one is sent, but as
scripture says: The footsteps of those who bring good news are a
welcome sound. Not everyone, of course, listens to the Good News. As
Isaiah says: Lord, how many believed what we proclaimed? So
faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of
Christ. Let me put the question: is it possible that they did not hear? Indeed
they did; in the words of the psalm, their voice has gone out through
all the earth, and their message to the ends of the world.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 18(19):2-5 ©
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Their word goes forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Mt4:19
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Follow me, says the Lord,
and I will make you into fishers of men.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 4:18-22 ©
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As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in
the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow
me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and
followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of
Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father
Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and
their father, they followed him.
BE JOYFUL EVANGELIZERS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Rom 10:9-18; Psalm 19:2-5; Mt 4:18-22 ]
St Paul said,
“The footsteps of those who bring good news are a welcome sound.” Indeed, this is what is
needed in the Church to bring about a new evangelization. We need joyful
evangelizers. This is what Pope Francis in his first encyclical asks of
the Church. “I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new
chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for
the Church’s journey in years to come.” (EV 1) He further said,
“Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come
back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that
‘delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that
we must sow…’ (EG 10)
Indeed, if
the world rejects Christianity and particularly Catholicism, it is because we
have presented the message of the gospel wrongly. For many, it is a set
of doctrines, rituals, laws and morals to fulfill. It is about some
abstract truth or doctrines. It is concerned with living a righteous life
in obedience to the laws, being free from all sins so that we might win our
salvation. When the Good News is reduced to mere doctrines, rules and
merits, this is indeed bad news. Precisely, the letter of St Paul was
written to debunk the Jewish’ belief that salvation is through obedience to the
laws. But as St Paul expounded in this letter to the Romans, none of us
can observe the laws perfectly.
Salvation
cannot be earned but is freely given. This is what the good news is all about.
Justification by faith alone! It is not through our good works that we
are saved. But faith in Jesus alone. “Since all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an
expiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Rom 3:23-25)
This is reiterated in his letter to the Ephesians. “For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God
– not because of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph 2:8f)
But the Good
News is more than just a message that declares that we are saved. The
Good News is about a person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. St Paul declared that
he had been “called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he
promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the
gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the
flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of
holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through
whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of
faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including yourselves
who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” (Rom 1:1-6)
In this
salutation of St Paul to the Romans, he captured succinctly what the gospel is
all about.
It is about Jesus, promised by God since the days of old, who had come into
this world in the flesh. By His death and resurrection, He was proclaimed
as the Son of God. In Jesus, therefore we see the mercy and unconditional
love of God for us. His death is God’s way of declaring His total mercy
and forgiveness for our sins. His resurrection is an affirmation that
death is not the last word in this life. We can live with confidence in
this life, knowing that we are always forgiven in spite of our weaknesses; and
we are assured of life everlasting after our life on earth. The Good news
is therefore about Jesus who is our hope and salvation. He is our glory
and our life. Jesus is the source of authentic fulfillment in
life. He is the one who can lead us to the fullness of life, through a
life of service, and resurrection at the end.
What, then,
prevents us from being joyful evangelizers? Many of us are merely
instructed in the doctrines but we lack an encounter with Jesus in a personal
way.
It must be noted that in the gospel, when the first disciples were called by
the Lord, Peter and Andrew “left their nets at once and followed him.”
Similarly, James and John, “at once, leaving the boat and their father, they
followed him.” We must not imagine that they followed Jesus just because
He called them. Nay, in John’s gospel, they already saw how Jesus
lived. They already came to conclude that Jesus was the Messiah.
Nathanael even confessed in Jesus as the Son of God and the King of
Israel. (cf Jn 1:35-51) So when Jesus called them, He was calling
them as their Lord and Saviour. When we perceive that the Lord is calling
us, our response to His call must be immediate and decisive.
Thus, the
fundamental task of an evangelizer, before any catechesis can take place, is to
announce the Kergyma, which is the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord. Again, this is what
Pope Francis is telling us when he wrote, “the first proclamation must ring out
over and over: ‘Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now
he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free
you.’ This first proclamation is called “first” not because it exists at
the beginning and can then be forgotten or replaced by other more important
things. It is first in a qualitative sense because it is the principal
proclamation, the one which we must hear again and again in different ways,
the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis,
at every level and moment.” (EG 164) This was what Pope Emeritus
Benedict did when he was elected pope, for the first encyclical that he wrote
to promote the New Evangelization was entitled, “God is love.” This is
the heart of Christian Faith.
What is
equally important is that this Kergyma must be announced and celebrated again
and again.
Pope Francis said, “the priest – like every other member of the Church – ought
to grow in awareness that he himself is continually in need of being evangelized”.
Thus, it is exigent that evangelizers, even as they proclaim the Good News to
others, must also be renewed constantly in their personal encounter with the
love of God in Jesus. Pope Francis underscored this point when he said,
“We must not think that in catechesis the kerygma gives way to a supposedly
more ‘solid’ formation. Nothing is more solid, profound, secure, meaningful
and wisdom-filled than that initial proclamation. All Christian formation
consists of entering more deeply into the kerygma, which is reflected in and
constantly illumines, the work of catechesis, thereby enabling us to understand
more fully the significance of every subject which the latter treats. It is the
message capable of responding to the desire for the infinite which abides in
every human heart.”
Without this
personal encounter with the Lord, evangelizers will lose their joy, their
inspiration and their passion for the gospel. The truth is that as
evangelizers we are helping many people to be healed, to be loved, to be
enlightened, but who is healing them and empowering them? In truth, many
evangelizers are individualistic workers and alienated from others. Many
of them hardly have time to spend with Jesus, basking in His love and being
intimate with Him. They are busy preparing talks and planning
programs. Consequently, evangelization is seen as a task or a job to be
performed, not as part of one’s life and identity. This is true for
“professionals” in the ministry, particularly priests and religious and
full-time lay workers when there is a dichotomy between their ministry and
their personal life. Pope Francis made this observation when he wrote,
“As a result, one can observe in many agents of evangelization, even though
they pray, a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of
fervour. These are three evils which fuel one another.” (EG 78)
This can lead
us to a pessimistic outlook of our mission. The reality is that in the
work of evangelization, there will be challenges and trials. Those
without a real relationship with the Lord and depend on their own strength
alone will become forlorn, disillusioned and frustrated. They look at the evils
in the world, the scandals in the Church, the irresponsibility of religious
leaders, the obstacles put by those in authority stifling the growth of the
Church, and fall into despair. Without the eyes of faith, we will give up
hope for the Church and the world. Pope Francis recognized this
pessimism that robs the joy of evangelizers when he wrote, “The evils of our
world – and those of the Church – must not be excuses for diminishing our
commitment and our fervour. Let us look upon them as challenges which can help
us to grow. With the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit
always radiates in the midst of darkness, never forgetting that ‘where sin
increased, grace has abounded all the more’ (Rom 5:20).
Our faith is challenged to discern how wine can come from water and how wheat
can grow in the midst of weeds.” (EG 84)
So let us not
be defeated by such temptations, whether the temptations of the world to glory,
power and wealth, or the temptation to despair and give up. Rather, we must place
our faith in the Lord who died and rose from the dead, conquering evil and even
death. The Lord will help us to overcome all trials. With St Paul,
we remember the words of the Lord. “My grace is sufficient for you, for
power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)
“So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of
Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I
am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9f)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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