My take on the new evangelization

Evangelization, Evangelization, Evangelization. In truth not a word I associated with personally as a lay faithful of the Catholic Church, until about a year ago; though it was a word I was familiar with and mainly associated with followers of other Christian non-catholic religion. Then it appeared as if all of a sudden, and Evangelization became a buzz word in the catholic community. However it had started gaining momentum several years before, during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI and his call for the new evangelization; however I was late getting to know about it and getting on the 'new evangelization' train.

Anyway as it so happened, my parish priest started talking about it a lot and calling on everyone to take part in the work of evangelization. He reminded us that it was our primary Christian calling to evangelize and the parish organized street evangelization programs that as many as we're interested were encouraged to take part in.

I did take part in one of such programs, though in truth it felt a bit weird just randomly going on the streets and sharing with people the word of God. However this should not have been the case, for me especially, as I have been a member of this society in the church called the Legion of Mary and one of our primary duties was what we call 'Home to Home visitation' which requires members to visit homes and share the good news. But as I said earlier, I was out of touch.

Now, however, the call for all Catholics to partake in the new evangelization is hard to miss. Pope Francis has not stopped talking about it. So many central, national and even local church programs have as their theme something related to the new evangelization. The pope's latest apostolic exhortation is all about spreading the message of the good news with joy and the last world youth day celebration had as its theme 'Go and make disciples of all nations'.

Like I said, it's pretty hard to miss now. So for the majority of Catholics, we now know what we have been called to either start doing or continue doing depending on where you currently stand, but with renewed fervor.

The main question I guess is how to achieve this on a personal level; it sure is one question I have been asking myself, uncomfortable as I am to go knock on people's doors randomly to share the word. How can I take part in the evangelization mission? To start with, what even is evangelization, what does it mean to me?

The standard dictionary meaning of evangelize is 'to preach the gospel' (Dictionary.com). However the Catholic Church in the United States provides an excellent definition of Catholic evangelization rephrasing some words of Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi. "Evangelizing means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself. At its essence are the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ and the response of a person in faith, which are both works of the Spirit of God. Evangelization must always be directly connected to the Lord Jesus Christ....There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed." (http://www.camdendiocese.org/index.php/what-is-catholic-evangelization).

I will focus on the first sentence of this definition which corroborates something which I discovered in scripture recently when seeking answers on how to evangelize and what God opened my eyes to see. A few days ago I read a passage from the gospel of Mark, chapter 2:1-12. This is the story of the healing of the paralytic and one that I had read, heard and listened to sermons on several times. On this day it struck me that the first thing Jesus said to the paralytic was 'Your sins are forgiven'. For sure, I don't think that this was what the paralytic or his four friends were expecting; in truth at that time the people did not identify with Jesus as the son of God who had the power to forgive sins and liberate them from the power of the evil one, what they did know was that he was a great healer (curing the sick) and a great provider (feeding the multitudes). But oftentimes, Jesus would tell the people he encountered 'Your sins are forgiven' (Mark2:9, Luke7:48), or 'Your faith has saved you' (Mark10:52) before they saw the physical manifestation of their healing.

In this I see a pattern: the miracles Jesus worked which were recorded in the scriptures showed that while carrying out the physical healing, Jesus was also concerned with the spiritual healing of the people. He used every opportunity for healing, casting out demons, feeding the hungry and all the other works that he did to pass across a higher message; the need for spiritual healing and salvation.

What can we learn from our teacher and master? In our day to day lives we encounter people in need; perhaps they come to us for assistance either financial or material, sometimes it's just to give them a shoulder to lean on in their moments of trial and difficulty, it could be to support them with a listening ear, it could be to reach out to that lonely neighbour or colleague or individual we see around but for whom it doesn't look like much is happening. When we come across or are presented with these opportunities, in meeting their corporal needs let us also remember that more importantly, we need to meet their spiritual needs. Let us use these opportunities to share the joyful news of the gospel and the liberation that is in Christ Jesus. This is one way we can evangelize, bringing the good news of Jesus into every human situation.

Let me conclude by sharing this verse, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. 'Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes! He helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.'

May this be our inspiration, consolation and testimony, when it's all been said and done.