20191130
BE
JOYFUL EVANGELIZERS
30 NOVEMBER,
2019, Saturday, 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
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.
|
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!
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Mt4:19
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Follow
me, says the Lord,
and I
will make you into fishers of men.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Matthew 4:18-22 ©
|
'I will make you fishers of men'
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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