To be Catholic is to evangelize. Let me say that again. To be Catholic is to evangelize. Evangelization is at the very heart of what it means to be Catholic.
Most of the time, Catholics are the worst at sharing their faith. We let our tradition speak for itself. We know the religious tradition we inherit is so great, there is no way we can know it all nor explain it all nor defend it all, so we let the tradition speak for itself. That is ok, because our tradition really is impressive. The legacy of faith left by the Church and handed on to us is impressive. It does speak for itself, provided that someone is looking for something like Catholicism. But as we also know, our Catholic tradition, as impressive as it is, as powerfully as it testifies to the truth of Jesus' Resurrection, can also be ignored. People are busy. People are subjective. There are lots of people not looking for the right religion, and those that are oftentimes do not end up joining the Church.
To be Catholic is to evangelize. I say it again. To be Catholic is to evangelize. To be Catholic is more than being attentive to the moral teaching of the Church, more than acknowledging the ministry of the Holy Father, more than knowing how to pray the Rosary and more than finding the courage to go to confession, as important as all of these things are. To be Catholic is to evangelize, to share our faith. To be Catholic is to accept a part in the mission of Christ to redeem the world and to bring it back into relationship with God our loving Father. To be Catholic is to find a way to share our faith with those who do not know Christ, and to bring them, however we can, into God's family the Church, the bride of Christ to whom He wishes to give His gift of eternal life.
More often, we know the stories of those friends and family who have left the Church. We know these stories more than we know the story of those that we have brought to the faith. People who have sponsored RCIA candidates for baptism or confirmation in the Church know what it is like to witness someone come to faith, and to enter into the Church. It is a most fulfilling ministry, always strengthening the faith of the sponsor more than the faith of the one receiving the Easter sacraments. I am convinced that the people who are actually growing stronger in their Catholic faith are those that are finding a way to share and to teach their faith. This is why evangelization is so central to the mission of the Church. The Church is only a sect, a cult, a scared group of gnostics, like the apostles were before the gift of the Holy Spirit, unless She finds a way to share the Gospel and to preach it to the world! If the Church is not sharing and teaching Her faith, she is losing Her faith, which is guaranteed Her by the Holy Spirit. We know on this great feast of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit that guarantees the holiness of the Church and the deposit of faith does not guarantee these things only in a defensive way. No, the Holy Spirit inspires the Church to score points, to play offense, to be aggressive, and so with us Her members. If we are not finding a way to teach or to share our faith, we are losing our faith. This is the difference, I am convinced, between KU students who grow in their faith while at KU, and become more certain of their Catholic identity in the midst of a culture that denigrates their faith, and those who slowly but surely lose their Catholic faith, casting aside the tremendous gift of faith that they have received. The difference is this. Some students witness to their faith, courageously calling upon and receiving the gifts of the Spirit, whereas some students only live the faith for themselves, and if they only do this, their faith cannot and will not survive.
I'll be the first to admit that sharing our faith is not easy. Opportunities are rare, and proselytism doesn't work. Yet we all must find a way to share the story of how we have come to know Christ and what difference He has made in our lives. We should all know our story of how we received the faith, and how Christ has personally touched our lives with His love and mercy, and set us free to be different, to be the people we deeply want to be. We should all be able to speak of our friendship with Christ, whenever given an opportunity, and be ready to share why we go to Church, and what membership in the Church is like! We should always be inviting others to come and see where Christ is staying in the Catholic Church. To be Catholic is to evangelize.
Archbishop Naumann has challenged us, by making evangelization one of the priorities of the Archdiocese, to do something to strengthen the tradition and legacy of the Church that we too often take for granted and let speak for itself. Pentecost is a time to reflect upon the sacrifices of many who have gone before us to hand down the tradition of our faith to us, and to imagine with the Holy Spirit how we will further that tradition. We are called on Pentecost not to just play defense, to just maintain the tradition of the Church. No we are called to add to it, to play offense, to be aggressive. To be Catholic is to evangelize. No apologies. No excuses.
The practice of our Catholic faith must be supported by the friendship we have with Christ in and through the Holy Spirit, who reminds us of everything Jesus did and said, and makes Him present to us so that we may be united with our Lord. If we are not sharing our faith with others, it is often because this intimate friendship with Christ has grown stale, or is being ignored. It is because we are writing our own autobiography without Christ, instead of being in conversation with Him, and writing our story together with Him. Through the great Solemnity of Pentecost, we ask to be open the the gifts of the Spirit and to recommit ourselves to deep and intimate prayer - to listening with the ears of our hearts and to seeing with the eyes of our hearts, confident that the Lord is with us and calls us His friends.
Finally, in finding ways to share our faith, we must be confident that we are not selling something to our friends and family that they may or may not need. We are not used car salesmen. No, we are selling something that is written at the most profound depths of the human heart. We are selling Christ, who fully reveals man to Himself, and completes the mystery of every human person. We trust in the Holy Spirit to write on the hearts of all people the truth and the mystery that we celebrate on this holy altar every Sunday, so that when we share our faith with people, we are not telling them what to do or what to believe, but inviting them to go deeper into the mystery of who they are and who they want to be, and sharing with them that through our friendship with Christ, we have been set free. That is why we are sent to proclaim the Gospel to every nation and language, because the truth of the Gospel is already written on their hearts, if only they have someone to tell them what is there! To be Catholic is to evangelize. No apologies. No excuses. +m
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