The last words of someone are usually considered extremely important. Perhaps they express a final wish, or summarize what was most important to the person. Thus we do well to consider the final words of Jesus just before he ascended into heaven:Posted on 09/02/2010 1:35:47 AM PDT by markomalley
The last words of someone are usually considered extremely important. Perhaps they express a final wish, or summarize what was most important to the person. Thus we do well to consider the final words of Jesus just before he ascended into heaven:
Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20).
This is often called the “Great Commission” in the sense that it is the overarching mission, job one, the standing orders for the Church, for any Catholic. There is nothing ambiguous about it either. Jesus says go! But where Lord? Everywhere! Every nation, every person. And Do what? Make disciples of them by drawing them into the sacramental life of the Church through baptism and teaching them everything I have commanded. Finally He bids us have no fear of this for he is with us to the end.
Pretty clear, right? And yet it is possible for the Church, a parish or a Catholic to push Job One down the list. Pray, sure, attend Mass, OK, tithe, I’ll try. Evangelize? Oops, I’m a little busy and rather shy too, you understand…..
Time to Obey – After years of declining Mass attendance, churches closing, schools, seminaries and convents shuttering their doors, children and family members no longer practicing their faith, perhaps it is just time to get back into the business of obeying Jesus Christ and his command that we evangelize. It’s not the job of some committee in the parish, it’s your job and mine. It’s not merely the pastor’s job, it’s the parishioners too. Remember, shepherds don’t have sheep, sheep have sheep. It’s easy to blame the Church or the liturgy or poor catechesis but the primary place the faith is handed on in the family. Pastor’s have to lead but the Pastor isn’t at your dinner table every night, not at your workplace, family gathering or neighborhood meeting. All of us have to do this, all of us must obey.
A Parish that Obeys has a Future – In my own parish, after years of declining numbers we’ve decided to obey Christ. I had been assigned to this parish in the early 90s and Mass attendance was at about 800 each Sunday, about average for a city parish. I left to pastor elsewhere in the diocese and upon my return to this parish I noticed a much emptier Church and looked to the usher counts for recent Sundays: 482, 502, 473, 512. In ten years the count had dropped 38%. 300 people had drifted away. People seemed unaware of this. When people disappear one by one over ten years it’s less noticeable. But I, returning after ten years noticed it. And my parish is not unique. Most parishes are down in numbers from what they used to be.
Now some folks like to “explain” declining numbers by talking about demographics, sociological trends, secularization and the like. But thank God, I’m blessed with a parish that wants to hear from God, which knows that God can make a way out of no way, a parish which prays for their pastor to get a Word from the Lord. And the Lord did not disappoint. The word was simple, “Obey.” Obey the great commission, obey Job One. The Lord seemed rather clear and put it on my heart to say to the Parish that if we will obey the Lord in this we have a future. If we do not obey him we do not deserve to exist. For too long the Catholic approach to evangelization was to open the doors and expect people to come. But Jesus sent them out to where people were to call and invite and evangelize. It’s time to obey.
So, for the past year we have been preparing through prayer and study to go forth in a door to door campaign into our neighborhood. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two and so we also will go in obedience. Almost Fifty people have agreed to make the weekly walk for 8 weeks starting September 11. Fifty will pray while we walk and others will prepare a meal on our return. We’re stepping out. I do not know if the Lord will give us many new souls or few but only this I know, if we obey, we have a future.
We are also reaching back into our families and inviting them back, listening to their concerns and setting forth a host of activities. These activities are designed to draw them back and interest our neighbors so we can get to know them and make the invitation to be disciples. We will have concerts, the blessing of the animals, Bible studies, civic meetings etc. Anything to get folks here and meet them, befriend them and invite them to discipleship. Just the beauty of our building and joy of our parishioners preaches Christ. I preparation I’ve been walking the neighborhood and meeting people.
In the Archdiocese of Washington as well we are getting focused anew on Job One. The Archbishop is preparing a pastoral letter on Evangelization. He’s been restructuring the Central Pastoral Administration around the task of evangelizing. We’re reaching out in new ways such as this blog, and preparing to do far more by revamping the Website, reaching out through Youtube, podcasting, direct and targeted e-mail, focused facebook pages and other social media. The Archbishop’s letter will reveal other plans as well. We want to be more pro-active and obey Christ by intensifying our work to explicitly evangelize using all the new methods available.
And perhaps you’ve heard that Catholic Radio has come in the last month to the Nation’s Capital: WMET 1160 AM. You can also stream the signal at their website here: http://grnonline.info/ The station presents EWTN programming and is part of the Guadalupe Radio Network. Soon enough, local programming will also be presented in addition to the EWTN lineup. This presents a great leap forward in the ability of the Archdiocese and the wider Church to fulfill the mandate of Jesus to evangelize, to proclaim the Gospel to everyone.
And what of you? How do you obey the mandate of Christ to evangelize? Every Sunday at Mass you are sent forth by the deacon or priest with these words: The Mass is ended, go in peace.” There’s that word again: Go. It means “Go and tell someone what you have heard and seen. Tell someone of Jesus whom you have met in this liturgy and who has ministered to you with his Word and sacrament. Tell someone what a difference he has made in your life.” Go.
These days evangelization comes in many different forms. Even if you’re shy, what does it take to do things like:
The Bottom line is that we have got to get back into the business of obeying Jesus Christ in the mandate to Evangelize. To be a disciple means to obey. Jesus was not ambiguous about his final wish: Go, Go everywhere, in every available way. Go. Make disciples of everyone by drawing them into the sacramental life of the Church and teaching them everything the Lord has commanded. Go.
My mother-in-law entered the Catholic Church this past Easter because the mere actions and lifestyle of her daughter (and apparently me... the mind boggles) gave her the idea that maybe we had something she wanted too. It took 15 years, but she has directly confirmed that if we'd spent that time hammering her with Scripture and doctrine it wouldn't have worked.
There is a time for instruction, there is also a time for a living witness, confusing the timing can lead to disaster. Not everyone is equally suited for the task of instruction, a quick look around the religion forum proves that. I know I'm not, except in very few circumstances.
Everyone wants to be the mouth, nobody wants to be a toe.
Then, by all means, be silent
“I am not Catholic.”
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Most Gracious Apologies. I hereby retract all I said, please, if necessary, have the moderator remove them.
Christ left us with a wonderful message to share with others.
We have seen how Christianity has grown. A great amount of diversity within the Church. While I truly believe that the Catholic Church is the one true Church, we need to continue to follow Christ with our love for him and our neighbor.
We need to continue to make the Church and ourselves holy by sharing this message from God - both by word and deed.
We can be happy and fulfilled in Christ as we grow in understanding and wisdom. We need to chose to be with Christ and follow him and share His Love with others.
It can be hard to open the eyes of others and they will need to desire to be open to Christ. We need to stand firm on the principles taught by Christ and be willing to speak out and to make sacrifices to follow them.
If we truly want to be with Christ, others will see that and want to follow Christ also.
I read this earlier today and have been thinking about it since.
It's a tough one.
My own reaction is similar to those posters who talk about evangelizing through our actions. I do believe that actions often speak louder than words. But I also believe that sometimes, our actions may provoke questions, and we need to be ready to answer those questions, to the best of our ability, and even more importantly, in a position of openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The other thing to remember is that the people we need to evangelize are generally those closest to us. For those of us who are married with children, transmitting the faith to the best of our ability to them is our very most important evangelistic task. Also, many of us know many Catholics - whether friends or relatives, co-workers, etc. - who are, at best, nominal or occasional Catholics. By our example and our gentle words, perhaps we can evangelize these, too, to bring them to fuller participation and deeper faith.
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