Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Is He your Lord? Do you strive to make Him and His will your number one priority? Do you worship God the Father through Him at Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Sundays? Do you strive to pray daily so that you will remain in Him, and He in you? Does His Holy Spirit dwell within you?
If your answer to any of these questions is “no,” then stop reading this article and make whatever changes are necessary so that you may answer “yes.”
But if your answer to each of these questions is “yes,” then you are a disciple of Jesus. And if you are a disciple, then answer these questions too: Do you bear witness to Jesus? Do you share the gospel with others as you ought?
And did you know that this is necessary for our salvation? The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1816 says,
The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it. … Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
I ask these questions because it speaks to a message that is at the core of what it means to be Christian: Every disciple, without exception, is called to bear witness to God. Every follower of Jesus is called to make Him known and loved by others.
Evangelization Is Built Into Our Identity As Catholic
Evangelization, it turns out, is built into our identity as Catholics. The greatest commandments—to love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself—cannot be fulfilled if we do not evangelize in some way. It would be like covering a light with a bushel basket.
Spreading this message is why we started St. Paul Street Evangelization, and why I felt called to put together the book, Catholic Evangelization: Stories of Conversion and Witness. I wanted to motivate Catholics to evangelize—to “get off the bleachers and get into the game!”
This message is for me, and the many other Catholics who, like me, have faltered in our call to bear witness to the Lord. The book begins with my own personal conversion story—police pursuits, exploding toilets, and all—and continues with the conversion stories of other Catholics who discovered the call to evangelize in their lives. It also tells stories of our evangelization efforts and gives tools and tips on how to evangelize. In it, I wrote,
I kept thinking that we as Catholics have the fullness of the truth, yet we are so hesitant to share it with others. We have real good news, the best news anyone could give—how to save your soul and gain eternal blessedness—yet we keep it to ourselves. Further, Jesus told us to share that good news— “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19)—and we don’t! We have a mandate from God, and we are too scared, lazy, lukewarm, unbelieving, ignorant, busy, fill-in-the-blank to obey Him. … What’s the problem with us Catholics?
Catholic Evangelization
Stories of Conversion and Witness
We know the answer to that question. Our problem is that we are weak sinners, without the zeal of the Lord. What is the solution? That we turn to the Lord, repent, and begin to do what we have failed to do.
And yet, we will quickly find out that we still remain weak sinners. But I believe that despite this, we can be true disciples of Jesus and bear fruitful witness to Him. How will we do this? I think that we will do it, if we come to Him as we are. When we come to Jesus daily in prayer, and weekly (or more) at Holy Mass, we ought to come to Him as the weak sinners that we are. We need to come to Jesus as beggars. We need to come to Him in humility.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 RSV-CE). When we evangelize, we can feel inflated. Instead of that, let’s be “beggars telling other beggars where to find food.”
May you find the grace of Jesus in your weakness, and be an instrument of His for the salvation of many.
Looking for the encouragement, hope, zeal, and tools to get started in your God-given call to evangelize? Find my book HERE.
Image: Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash
