We are All called to Evangelize…
The Church exists purely for the mission of evangelizing. In other words, to evangelize is the nature and character of the Church. This mission belongs not only to the ordained Ministers but to all baptized.
At the beginning of Christ’s Ministry, He appointed twelve apostles to assist him in preaching the Good News (Mark 3:14). When the mission grew bigger, Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples in addition to the twelve apostles and sent them out to the towns and villages for the work of evangelization. The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest, he said (Luke 10:2). Before he entered heaven, Jesus threw open the mission to evangelize to all his disciples. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations …. (Matthew 28:19). The commission to his disciples to evangelize includes all of us ordained and not ordained. We are all priests by our baptism. We all are responsible for proclaiming the Good News to others, particularly those yet to receive Christ. However, to be effective evangelizers, we must have a profound encounter with Christ. The deep encounter with Christ enrichs us to go out and to witness him by word and in our daily lives.
On Thursday, Joan Mibach, from our parish office , and a group of parishioners left for Tijuana, Mexico, for the annual mission trip to poor residents there. This mission has been going on for many years. Each time this mission is carried out, they do it on our behalf. And our support helps this mission succeed. St. Vincent De Paul has done beautiful work in our parish to reach out to the poor on our behalf. This is a great way to witness Christ and evangelize. Aside from service to the poor, I am aware that many people have deepened their faith and helped others to come to know Christ through Father Brendan’s retreats and seminars, and the Bible studies and spiritual groups we have in the parish.
Despite our reasonable efforts, we still have a long way to go. One way we can keep to the spirit of the New Evangelization is to keep re-evaluating our parish ministries so that they will respond appropriately to our current needs. When we constantly evaluate parish ministries, we see opportunities and challenges that we can address. This is a great way to grow our ministries. May the pastor, parish leaders, and all parishioners have the courage to always embrace the change required for effective evangelization.
Happy Sunday!
Fr. Chris