Evangelize Who? Who, me?

Evangelize, proclaim the Good News! A scarey thought for most Catholics, especially when you live in a world where Jesus' name is met with derision and the mention of Catholicism is met with complaints of the Church's inordinate wealth and priest's abuse of children. (see post of December 9th)

Evangelization does not require us to "sell" anyone on the virtues of being Catholic. It only requires that we live our faith. We can be identified as Christians by the way we love one another. If we make our faith an integral part of all that we do in all our daily activities, we will be great evangelizers.

Pope Francis, before he begins his instructions, lays out what issues he will address in his letter. The emphasis in bold is mine.

14. ... The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith
the new evangelization is a summons addressed to all and ... it is carried out in three principal settings

15. In first place, we can mention the area of ordinary pastoral ministry, which is “animated by the fire of the Spirit, so as to inflame the hearts of the faithful who regularly take part in commu- nity worship and gather on the Lord’s day to be nourished by his word and by the bread of eter- nal life”. In this category we can also include those members of faithful who preserve a deep and sincere faith, expressing it in different ways, but seldom taking part in worship. Ordinary pastoral ministry seeks to help believers to grow spiritually so that they can respond to God’s love ever more fully in their lives.

A second area is that of “the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism”, who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith. The Church, in her maternal concern, tries to help them experience a conversion which will restore the joy of faith to their hearts and inspire a commitment to the Gospel.

Lastly, we cannot forget that evangelization is first and foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have always rejected him. Many of them are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition.

Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they [evangelizers] should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction”.

17. Here I have chosen to present some guidelines which can encourage and guide the whole Church in a new phase of evangelization ... I have decided, among other themes, to discuss at length the following questions:

a) the reform of the Church in her missionary outreach;
b) the temptations faced by pastoral workers;
c) the Church, understood as the entire People of God which evangelizes;
d) the homily and its preparation;
e) the inclusion of the poor in society;
f) peace and dialogue within society;
g) the spiritual motivations for mission.