The New Evangelization

Since Pentecost, Christians have been spreading the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection throughout the world.

It first began with the pagan world of the Roman Empire. Christianity then spread to the barbarian peoples of Northern Europe. Missionaries brought the gospel to Asia and Africa. When the New World of the Americas was discovered, men and women of faith went out to establish churches and schools bringing the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.

In all these cases, Christians brought the good news to people who had never heard about Jesus. Sometimes these missionaries were persecuted and put to death. However, in time, Christianity took root and began to flourish. Now, by the grace of God, there are Christian churches in just about every country in the world and there are only a few places where the gospel has never been preached.

We call this work of bringing the gospel to people “evangelization”. It is the effort to answer Jesus’ call to “make disciples of all nations and baptize them….” It requires us to teach the world about the person of Jesus Christ and all He did to save us.  It also involves the work of helping people and society as a whole to put into practice the message of Jesus.

Today, especially in our society, we find ourselves in a very different situation than those first missionaries of the gospel. We have succeeded in baptizing a large number of people. They may have even been taught the faith and received their first communion and confirmation. However, they are failing to live by the faith they were taught. In fact, many of them have rejected that faith. They have heard the message of Jesus and have not been convinced.

In many ways, the situation we face today is much like the one that Jesus encounters in today’s gospel. The people of Nazareth believe they know who Jesus is. He is simply a carpenter and the son of Mary. Saint Mark tells us that they “took offense at him.” Because of their lack of faith, Jesus could not do any miracles for them.

In the same way, we live in a society that believes it already knows Jesus. They don’t think there is anything new we could possibly tell them that they haven’t already heard. They might still call themselves Catholics, but they have stopped practicing their faith. When they hear us speak about Jesus, they might not outright reject the message but they are indifferent to it. To them, the good news is old news.

This reality weighed very heavily on Pope Saint John Paul II. He reflected on it in his encyclical, The Mission of the Redeemer in 1990. In it he said that what is needed today is a “new evangelization”. That is, we must bring the gospel of Jesus Christ in fresh and challenging ways to people who have already been baptized so that can begin to put their faith into practice. We must re-propose the gospel message to people in a way that helps them to realize that there is more to Jesus Christ than they think and engage them in wanting to learn more.

How do we do that?

First, we must be putting the message of Jesus Christ to practice in our own lives. The fact is that many people have grown indifferent to Christianity because they haven’t seen many examples of good and faithful Christians. If we are not in love with Jesus and showing it by the way we live, how can we expect to get others excited about the Christian message? On the other hand, if we are generous, joyful and kind, others will want to know our secret. Then they will be open to hearing that Jesus is the reason for our hope.

Secondly, we must speak about Jesus and His message with confidence. The gospel runs contrary to the world’s values. We can often feel intimidated in telling people what we believe because it runs against what others believe. We fear that we will be called bigots or fanatics. Make no mistake, the devil uses that fear to keep us from sharing our faith with others. The reality is that there is power in the name of Jesus. When we speak about the gospel, the Holy Spirit takes over not only giving us the right words but making the person listening to us more receptive to what we have to say. Therefore, we should never be afraid to speak up whenever we have an opportunity to share our faith. The Holy Spirit will help us.

We can also speak boldly and with confidence because Jesus’ message is true. It meets the deepest longing of the human heart. There is nothing that the world can offer that compares to what God offers us in Jesus Christ.  People are suffering because they lack meaning and have no sense of purpose. Just as we would give bread to a starving person, we should bring Jesus to people who are starving for hope. And just as no starving person would turn away good food, so people who have fallen into despair will not turn us away if we can offer them hope in Jesus Christ.

Finally, we must be patient. It takes time for the truth to sink in and really change a person’s heart. No matter how true our words are and how well we may put them, people need time to think about and make sense of the gospel of Jesus. The important thing is that people believe that we want what is best for them and that we are always there for them when they need us. If we are humble and kind, then they will feel comfortable bringing their questions to us and, by God’s grace, it will begin to make sense to them.

Pope Saint John Paul II in a message to the people of the Americas wrote, “... it is more necessary than ever for all the faithful to move from a faith of habit...to a faith which is conscious and personally lived. The renewal of faith will always be the best way to lead others to the Truth that is Christ" 

If our world is to be transformed, then we must ourselves be transformed by the word of God and then bring that word boldly to everyone we meet. It is the only hope for a world that, frankly, is going mad. In the end, only God can change minds and hearts. Therefore, let us ask Him to help us to overcome our fear and to use us to bring His Son to others. Let us also ask for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our world so that Jesus can be truly known. That will make all the difference.