20181130
BEING AN EVANGELIZER
30 NOVEMBER,
2018, Friday, St Andrew, Apostle
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Red.
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First reading
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Romans 10:9-18 ©
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Faith comes from what is preached, and
what is preached comes from the word of Christ
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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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'I will make you fishers of men'
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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.
BEING AN EVANGELIZER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ROM 10:9-18; PS 19:2-5; MT 4:18-22 ]
The word
“proselytization” today has a negative connotation. To proselytize is the attempt to convert
someone to one’s own religious faith. It is concerned with recruiting new
members and winning someone over to one’s doctrines and cause. As
Christians, we do not proselytize. It is not about getting new converts
or persuading people to our cause.
Rather, Christians are
called to engage in the work of evangelization. It is the announcement of the Good News
about Jesus Christ. It is not so much a sharing of doctrines but a
sharing of the Good News about a person, Jesus Christ, whom we encountered as
the Son of the Living God. St Paul wrote, “I have become its
servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of
God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages
and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them
God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious
riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory.” (Col 1:25-27; cf Eph 3:8-11)
This Good News is
offered by announcing and sharing.
It is given freely and must be received freely. It is meant to give hope
and direction to people who are looking for meaning and purpose. The
messengers of the Good News are not a threat to the life of people but they are
meant to add greater value to the life that people are already living.
That is why the Good News is always proclaimed with joy and must be accepted in
joy. Today, many are waiting to receive the Good News. But as St
Paul said, “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.”
How, then, are we called
to be evangelizers? We
have the example of St Andrew, the great evangelizer, to teach us what it takes
to be an evangelizer. In the first place, we need someone to introduce us to
Jesus. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, but the latter
pointed out to him that Jesus is the “Lamb of God.” (Jn 1:35) We will always need others to
lead us to the Lord. Later on in John’s gospel, we read how those who met
Jesus would bring others to Him as well. Andrew was one who brought
others to Jesus. We read in John’s gospel “There were some
Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They
came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. ‘Sir,’
they said, ‘we would like to see Jesus.’ ‘Philip went to tell Andrew;
Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.” (Jn 12:20-22) It is noteworthy that we
need mediators to bring us to the Lord. Faith is not self-taught but
imparted.
Secondly, evangelization
is not about the proclamation of doctrines, not even of morality, but
encountering a person, which is Jesus Christ. Again Pope Benedict wrote succinctly, “We have
come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the
fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an
ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person,
which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Deus est
Carita, 1) Indeed, St Andrew came to encounter the Lord personally by
staying and living with Him. When he and another disciple said to Jesus,
“‘Rabbi’ (which means “Teacher”), where are you staying?’ ‘Come,” he
replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was
staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the
afternoon.” (Jn 1:37-39) It
must have been a most memorable and significant encounter with Jesus that they
even remembered the time. Meeting Jesus and interacting with Him was
their conversion experience. They were impressed by the person of Jesus,
not just His teachings and knowledge.
Secondly, evangelization
is a spontaneous sharing of the Good News. Upon encountering the Lord, they
could not stop themselves from sharing their encounter with their loved
ones. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon to tell
him, “‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought
him to Jesus.” (Jn 1:4`f) Later
on, Jesus found Philip, and Philip brought Nathanael to the Lord. (cf Jn 1:43-50) A clear sign that we have
received the Good News is the spontaneous desire to share our encounter and
experience of Jesus with others. It is not the sharing of doctrines or
morality. It is sharing about Jesus who has changed our lives.
That is why we need not
go for formal training to be an evangelizer, a catechist, a theologian or a
priest. Every baptized
Catholic is called to be an evangelizer by virtue of our baptism. This is
the common call for members of the royal priesthood. All of us are called
to share our personal relationship with the Lord with others. In other
words, we are not required to share and expound doctrines about our Lord but
simply what the Lord has done for us and what He means to us for our life,
direction and happiness. When we share about our relationship with the
Lord, it is non-threatening and certainly no one can accuse us of proselytizing
or indoctrination.
Thirdly, evangelizers
are called to make others evangelizers. In the gospel of John, we have Andrew who
brought the boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish to the
Lord. (Jn 6:5-8) He
was able to lead others to the Lord by inviting them to share whatever limited
resources they have for the work of the mission. Therefore it is not
enough to evangelize others, but the ultimate goal of evangelization is to make
those evangelized, evangelizers in return. In this way, the gospel will
never be short of preachers and evangelizers. Indeed, if we do not mentor
others after us to continue the work we are doing, we would have failed as
teachers and evangelizers. So even when evangelizing others, we must also
teach them to be evangelizers by sharing the Good News the way we shared with them.
Fourthly, official
evangelization begins with we are called by the Lord. In today’s gospel, we have the
official call of the apostles by the Lord. Peter and Andrew “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.” This was followed later by the call of “another
pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.” Some are
called to be full-time evangelizers, whether as a priest, religious or a lay
person. Those called to full time in the ministry are consciously
undertaking the task of evangelization in a formal manner and acting in the
name of the Church.
Fifthly, evangelization
needs ongoing formation. Again,
we can learn from Andrew why it is important to grow in knowledge of our
faith. He was not afraid to ask Jesus hard questions even though the
answers were difficult to understand. When Jesus predicted the
destruction of the Temple, we read that, “Peter, James, John and Andrew
asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will these things happen? And what
will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” (Mk 13:3f) They might not have fully
understood what the Lord was saying to them but they were ready to learn and
gave themselves time to understand what was difficult. Indeed, only much
later on in their ministry when these words were fulfilled that they came to
understand more fully the prophecies of Jesus regarding His passion, death,
resurrection and all that He taught them.
Finally, we must
remember that we evangelize ourselves best by evangelizing others. To evangelize is not a magnanimous
act on our part. We are simply giving freely what we receive
freely. However, more importantly, by saving others, we save
ourselves. By announcing to others about our faith, we reinforce our
faith. This is why St Paul wrote, “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.” It is not enough to believe
that Jesus is Lord but we must announce Him so that our conviction would be
strengthened more and more.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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