Evangelism
Evangelism is the act of proclaiming the Gospel, that is, the Good News of Jesus Christ. By this term we also mean to announce the kerygma, that is to say the essential content of our faith, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, that he died and rose again, that he is our Savior, and that he calls us to conversion. As we saw in our article on baptism, each baptized person, in addition to being a priest and king, is a prophet, which calls him to evangelize. The Word of God makes many calls to witness at the end of the four gospels with for example Matthew (“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” Matthew 28:20), or Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (“Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! ” 1 Corinthians 9:16). In addition to the Word of God, what do the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the other texts on evangelism say? Let's dive in with this article by Hozana. At the end of this reading, we invite you to discover other great questions about christian life.
Evangelism in the Catechism of the Church Catholic
Only one number of the Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly mentions the word “Lay people also fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization, “that is, the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life.” For lay people, “this evangelization. . . acquires a specific property and peculiar efficacy because it is accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world.” This witness of life, however, is not the sole element in the apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the faithful.” (No. 905).
In addition, number 942 recalls that by virtue of their office as prophets, the baptized are called to testify: “By virtue of their prophetic mission, lay people “are called . . . to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind” (No. 942)
What do the other texts of the Magisterium say?
In addition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, other texts speak of evangelism and witnessing:
The Second Vatican Council, with for example the Constitution Ad Gentes: “Therefore, all sons of the Church should have a lively awareness of their responsibility to the world; they should foster in themselves a truly catholic spirit; they should spend their forces in the work of evangelization. And yet, let everyone know that their first and most important obligation for the spread of the Faith is this: to lead a profoundly Christian life.” (Ad Gentes No. 36)
The Code of Canon Law: “All the Christian faithful must direct their efforts to lead a holy life and to promote the growth of the Church and its continual sanctification, according to their own condition.” (Canon No. 210)
Evangelii gaudium (“the joy of the Gospel”), Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis: “All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized.” (Evangelii Gaudium No.120).
We limit ourselves to these three texts, but we could have cited many others.
Is evangelism an option?
The Word of God, the texts of the Roman Magisterium, which we have cited above, show us that evangelism is not an option, but a duty. As we have seen, being a prophet through baptism calls us to witness and evangelism.
With Hozana, let us pray to evangelize
With Hozana, let us pray to be faithful to our baptism, especially through the exercise of our office as prophets, which consists of evangelizing and testifying.
Hozana offers you many communities to develop your action as a prophet. We propose this community topray with your guardian angel, or this community to live a holy life.
We also invite you to refocus on prayer, because from prayer comes mission. For this, we make it easy to keep up with the readings of the Mass of the day.
