The Call to Re-evangelize
In putting this re-evangelization into practice—this apostolate of doctrine—we will have to insist frequently on the same ideas, and we will strive to present the Lord's teachings in an attractive way (for nothing is more attractive!). The Lord awaits the multitudes who, today as well, wander like **sheep without a shepherd**, without guides and without direction, confused among so many decaying ideologies. No Christian should remain passive—withdrawing—from this task, the only truly important one in the world. There is no room for excuses: "I’m not worthy," "I’m not capable," "I don't have time..." The Christian vocation is a vocation to the apostolate, and God gives the grace to be able to respond.
Are we truly a beacon of light in the midst of such darkness, or are we still gripped by laziness or the fear of what others think? To help us be more apostolic and overcome obstacles, it helps to consider in the presence of the Lord that the people who have crossed paths in our lives had a **right** to our help in knowing Jesus better. Have we fulfilled that Christian duty? May they never be able to reproach us—in this life or the next—for having deprived them of that help: *hominem non habeo*, I have had no one to give me a little light amid so much darkness.
The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword; it reaches the deepest part of the soul, to the source of life and the habits of men.
One day—as the Gospel of today's Mass relates—the Jews sent the Temple guards to arrest Jesus. When they returned, and faced with the question from their leaders, "Why did you not bring him?" the guards replied: **"No one has ever spoken like this man."** We can assume that those simple servants stayed for a while among the crowd, waiting for the opportune moment to seize the Lord, but they were left marvelling at Jesus' doctrine. How many would change their attitude if we managed to make known the figure of Christ, the true image professed by our Mother the Church! What great ignorance exists, after twenty centuries, in our world and even among many Christians!
Saint Luke says of Our Lord that he **"began to do and to teach."** The Second Vatican Council teaches that Revelation was carried out *gestis verbisque*, through deeds and words intrinsically linked. The works of Jesus are the works of God done in His own name. And the simple people made comments: "We have seen incredible things."
We Christians must show, with the help of grace, what it truly means to follow Jesus. "He who has the mission of saying great things (and all Christians have that sweet obligation to speak of following Christ) is equally obliged to practice them," said Saint Gregory the Great. Our friends, relatives, colleagues, and acquaintances should see us as loyal, sincere, cheerful, optimistic, good professionals, strong, affable, and brave... while we show our faith in Christ with simplicity and naturalness.
"We need," says John Paul II, "heralds of the Gospel who are experts in humanity, who deeply know the heart of today's man, share in his joys and hopes, his anxieties and sorrows, and at the same time are contemplative, in love with God. For this, **new saints are needed**. The great evangelizers of Europe have been the saints. We must implore the Lord to increase the spirit of holiness in the Church and send us new saints to evangelize today's world."
HCD
---