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EVANGELIZATION
Deacon Ed Kleinguetl
By virtue of our Baptism, we become disciples of Christ and fellow workers with him in his mission of evangelization. Missionary activity conjures images of foreign countries and impoverished people. However, the spiritual hunger is present in our communities. “The hunger for love is more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta). In Part 1 of this series, we will explore how we too can engage in this mission. Especially as we prepare to enter into this Advent season and reflect on the coming of Christ, the gift we can all bring is the good news.
Recently, Molly and I completed a Deacons and Wives’ Retreat where the theme was “Evangelization, Dialogue, and Ecumenism.” Evangelization has always stood out as an important theme to me ever since high school where I initially began to discern a religious vocation. Even then, I saw so many people question the relevance of the Church in their lives. Today, I am still discerning where God is calling me to serve in His Church in the area of evangelism (whoever said discernment ends with ordination?). Today, we see so much drought around us – the economy, broken relationships, doubt, the emptiness left from subscribing to consumer spirituality, and the list could go on. More than ever, it seems like people need to hear the message of the Gospel – there is an urgent hunger and yearning to find peace and fulfillment. Thus, for me, the theme of the retreat was intriguing.
The single most important message that stayed with me from the retreat was the comment, “The evangelizer must first be evangelized.” Our lives must be forever changed / transformed by love. Otherwise, we are just actors on a stage (the word for “actor” in Greek is hypocrite). We need to be the image of Christ the Servant, who is the image of God for us. Only through this transformation can we do what Jesus wants us to do.
In a recent Gospel reading, we hear of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem for not recognizing the time of its visitation. The question for us today is whether we recognize God in times of our visitation. Where is God? We always seem to want an answer to this question. Yet like the whispering wind where Elijah encountered God on Mt. Horeb, God comes to us too in whispers – hints of his presence in simple ways in our everyday life. Do we recognize Christ in the poor, the broken, those in most need? Do recognize God speaking to us through our friends, through strangers, and our everyday activities in life? Often, we are so busy and the encounters, our visitation, seem to pass us by. Yes, we encounter God in prayer. However, in my instance, prayer prepares me for my encounter with God in the ordinary and mundane experiences of life. When my spiritual life is in synch with everything else, then can I most readily recognize the hand of God in so many subtle ways.
The Transfiguration has always been one of my favorite scenes in the Bible. It is a great hint of the glory of Christ to which we are called as partakers of God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). It is our destiny. Peter’s reaction to the encounter is essentially, “Let’s stay here. It’s nice. It’s safe.” He wanted to erect tents so that the blissful experience could continue. However, the reality is that Jesus reaction was, “No, let’s not stay here. Let’s go down and complete the journey.” Sometimes, we just don’t want to go where the road is leading us – we like the safe and comfortable. However, Christian life does not allow us to live in the safe, comfortable environment. It calls us to go forth – to live and to love and to build community. The Holy Spirit, who is the love of God dwelling within us, sends us forth. As St. Paul writes, “The Love of Christ compels us to live not for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for us” (1 Cor 5:14-15).
We who love God are sent forth to love our neighbor. Partaking of God’s divine nature – union with God – is not our solitary union with the Godhead. It is union with one another and with God. This is our calling (“Father, I pray that they may be one as you and I are one.”). Evangelization results when we who have been touched by God’s love want to share it with others. We share this love not by mere words, by witness. “So we are ambassadors for Christ, as God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).
We who are loved by God are sent by God to be ambassadors of reconciliation. We are called to heal brokenness. This is one of the more significant challenges in our calling to live as disciples of Christ: How do I “heal” brokenness? We may not be able to provide a job for the unemployed husband who has a family to support. We may not be able to bring back the husband to a wife who is devastated when finding herself abandoned. We may not be able to feed every hungry person. We may not be able to heal the physical pain of the chronically or terminally ill. We cannot bring back a child or spouse who has died. So, how can we “heal” brokenness?
This is a good question for each of us to ponder as we look around at the brokenness that surrounds us. In Part 2, we will reflect on the answer.
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