The Need for Evangelization
Last week, in my article, “The New Parish,” I mentioned that I now have time to work on evangelization ministry that is near and dear to me. I thank God that I have been able to spend a significant amount of time working on evangelization ministry and, since last week’s article, prolife ministries. This gives me life. It feeds my soul. It is what I am meant to work on.
What I did not mention in last week’s article, and I do not know if I have mentioned at all recently, is why evangelization ministry is important to me. First and foremost, evangelization is important because God has put a call in my heart for it.
Evangelization is also important to me because of my own story. I grew up in a family that did not go to church often. When I did go, I knew Mass is something important but I did not know why. After receiving Confirmation at the age of twelve, I did not go to church again until I was 28 years old. When I returned to Mass, I knew right away I had found a treasure. When I went to seminary, I began to understand what the treasure is, centered on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. My desire for evangelization is my desire to share what I have come to learn and understand with others so that everyone can know the treasure God has given us in our Catholic faith.
One only needs to watch the news to know that not everyone has embraced what God offers us in our Catholic faith. The world is in rough shape. I wonder if we have hit bottom yet. I hope things are as bad as they will ever get. I do not want to think about things getting worse. I pray for better.
Sometimes we say the world is worse than ever before. Yet there are also people who think things are great because people have more freedom than ever before. The trouble is that we do not always choose to do good things with our freedom.
Is the world worse than ever before? It seems to me that the answer to that is yes. However, I sometimes wonder. Is the world getting worse or, with today’s high-speed communication, do we simply hear more of what happens in the world. We certainly hear it faster.
A non-moral example of how much and how fast we hear news is that when an earthquake strikes anywhere in the world, we hear about it within hours. I also think of the number of tornadoes and the amount of flooding we have seen in recent years in the United States. Are there more tornadoes? Is there more flooding or is it just that we hear more about them? I do not know the answer to these questions.
When it comes to mass violence, violence is nothing new, but the means of violence have increased greatly. Several millennia ago, violence between people meant hand to hand combat. Then came knives and swords. With the development of spears and bows along with spears, fighting began to happen over a small distance. Then guns were developed furthering increasing the distance at which violence occurred. Now, we have missiles, planes, and intercontinental missiles. Wars can fought over great distances. Terrorists with bombs and guns can kill more people in an instant than ever before. Yet, any violence is still dependent on what human beings choose to do.
The Bible shows us that violence and morality are nothing new. For instance, in last Monday’s first reading from Jeremiah we heard that the people of Israel had become like a rotten loincloth and “good for nothing.” They were disobeying God. As we heard in the responsorial psalm on Monday, the people had forgotten God who had given them life. They had sinned. Jesus came to save us from our sins. Yet, people continue to sin.
Thus, evangelization is very much needed today. I think of what Pope St. Paul VI wrote in Evangelli Nuntiandi, “Like Christ during the time of His preaching, like the Twelve on the morning of Pentecost, the Church too sees before her an immense multitude of people who need the Gospel and have a right to it, for God “wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth”” (57, emphasis added).
As those who have already received the gospel, we have a duty to share the gospel with others (see Evangelli Nuntiandi, 2).
The world needs the gospel. This is nothing new. I think of how St. Francis of Assisi received a call from God to rebuild His Church. I think of Blessed John Soreth who worked for reform (see my homily for Tuesday).
If we want to change the world for the better, we need to evangelize. It is not for me to save the whole world by myself, and it is not for you to do it alone. None of us are the Savior of the World. That job belongs to Jesus. Yet, we need to do our part. Then Jesus can take our ministry of evangelization to share the gospel and multiply it thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold. Thus, we have hope.
God has a plan with a “future of hope” (Jeremiah 29:11) for us. Throughout the Bible, we hear of the remnant of God’s people even when the majority of the people gave their lives over to sin.
The word “remnant” is found 77 times in the New American Bible Revised Edition of the Bible. In some of these (example Exodus 10:5), the word “remnant” is used to simply refer to material things that are left over. My concern is for passages like Genesis 45:7 where God speaks of the remnant of his people to whom He offers “an extraordinary deliverance.”
Jesus died to save us from our sins. We need to share this good news with the world.
Yet, people have not always listened. They have allowed themselves to go astray “by intermarrying and intermingling with them” (Joshua 23:12, Ezra 9:14). We need to tolerate and love those around us who do not practice our faith but we must not allow ourselves to be led astray by them. We see this in the Book of Joshua. It happened to Solomon in his marriages to wives of other religions allowed himself to be led to their ways. It continues today when we allow ourselves to be led astray by others. We need to pray for the remnant of God’s people (see 2 Kings 19:4, ).
God promises to save a remnant of the people (see 2 Kings 19:31, Ezra 9:8). This the reason for our hope (see 1 Peter 3:15). Sometimes the remnant faces great distress like during the Babylonian exile, but a remnant always remains (see Nehemiah 1:2).
We may face distress from the world around us but we can lean upon the Lord as His Remnant for hope (Isaiah 10:20-21), We find hope in the words of Isaiah 11:11, “On that day, the Lord shall again take in in hand to reclaim of his people that is left.”
There is just one thing that stands in the way of our Lord saving his people. Well, two things, our sins and our failure to do the work of evangelization to share the gospel. (As I work on evangelization ministry at my parish assignment, St. Louis, I anticipate future postings on my website about how to evangelize. For now, see Evangelization and Apologetics).
The remnant may “be very small and weak” (Isaiah 16:14) but it is not our numbers or human strength that will restore the remnant. The restoration will happen by the power of God. We need to pray (Isaiah 37:4). We need to do part, but it is the Lord who will save His Remnant (see Isaiah 37:32).
I think of the Lord’s words in Jeremiah 23:3, “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have banished them and bring them back to their folds; there they shall be fruitful and multiply.” We share our Catholic faith. It is God who makes our efforts fruitful and multiplies them.
It is when we share the gospel and what our faith means to us that people who listen will ask us to pray for them as they seek the Lord (see Jeremiah 42:2).
To be saved as The Lord’s Remnant, we must seek His Will. There were Jews who fled to Egypt when Babylon invaded to save their earthly lives. They acted in their own interest, not the Lord’s Will (see Jeremiah 44).
It’s not that we have to be perfect. The Lord knows that we will sin. That’s why God our Father sent Jesus to die for us on the Cross (see John 3:16-17, John 15:13). If we strive to follow the Lord and repent when we sin, the Lord will forgive His Remnant (see Jeremiah 50:20).
We find hope in the words found in Joel 3:5, “Then everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will escape harm. For on Mount Zion there will be a remnant, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem survivors whom the Lord will summon.” To call on the name of the Lord, we must heed the words found in Amos, “Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail at the gate; Then it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will have pity on the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:15).
We might feel there is little we can do. How many times does God need to say to us, “I will make of the lame a remnant, and of the weak a strong nation” (Micah 4:7, cf. Micah 2:12)?
We need to remember what Paul writes, “but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Sometimes what we see as a weakness is exactly what our Lord uses to accomplish His Will.
Over the 2,000 years since Jesus was crucified for our sins, Christianity has spread across the world fulfilling what we read in Micah, “The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples…And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations” (Micah 5:6-7). Spread across the world, we are in perfect position to share the gospel to everyone. We do so as God’s Remnant, “a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord” (Zephaniah 3:12).
Who is part of God’s Remnant? Sinners can be for our God “delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18). Are all Christians part of God’s Remnant? I will leave that to God to judge yet I cannot help but think of Jesus’ words, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
I can only speak for myself. I want to do my part to evangelize to give everyone I can a chance to be part of God’s Remnant. What does the Lord ask of you and are you willing to do it?
Peace,
Fr. Jeff