Spirit-Filled Evangelization (Ascension Sunday B)

The Acts of the Apostles reports that after the Lord has been lifted up in a cloud before the eyes of the apostles, the latter were left standing still gazing up into the heavens. Then two men dressed in white stood beside them and asked them: “Why do you stand here looking up at the skies? This Jesus who has been taken from you will return, just as you saw him go up into the heavens.”

On this Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension, we look up heavenward because we acknowledge in faith that the Lord has completely been victorious against the alienating power of sin and evil.  Nothing separates now the human being from God for in the person of Jesus, the human being has charted his way back to God and now definitely shares in the life of God.  We look up to heaven because where Jesus is now we will all be.

However, as we keep that flame of hope alive in our hearts, we should not just stand looking up heavenward.  We need to do our task, a great task left by the Lord to his disciples as we read now in today’s gospel (Mk. 16: 15-20): “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.  The man who believes in it and accepts baptism will be saved; the man who refuses to believe in it will be condemned.”

After two millennia of proclaiming the good news, the whole world has indeed heard of the gospel.  Christianity, we can say, is now all over the world.  But this assertion is no reason for the Lord’s disciples to stop proclaiming the gospel.  This generation, some claims, is the era of de-Christianization.  The increasing secularization of societies beginning from the West (where Christianity had flourished) results to abandonment of faith or, at the least, taking faith for granted.  We see Christian societies, which had their faith in God enshrined even in their constitution, now abandon their religious values and norms to make way for human’s egoistic claims of rights—surprisingly, even those which smack of perversion.  We now see that when God is put aside, everything goes.  No more sense of sin; no more conscience to discern what is right and what is perverse.  And what is immoral can now be the norm. Sadly, many Christians are no longer bothered by this. 

The beloved Pope, now Saint John Paul II, had started the call for a new evangelization in the face of this alarming situation.  His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, rightly continued this agenda as priority concern for Europe, for North America, and for the whole world.  He established the Council for New Evangelization at the Vatican. In October of 2012, the Synod of Bishops in Rome took up the theme of New Evangelization which, according to the Pope, “speaks of the need for a renewed method of proclamation” to effectively address the heavy traces of the developments of secularization. Moreover, Pope Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium, exhorted the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by joy.

In the Philippine context where people are still religious enough to embrace Christianity (at least in name) but not Christian enough to make a difference in the social ills that beset the nation, the new evangelization is in order too.  Since the early 90s, the Philippine Church has called for the process of a renewed integral evangelization—renewed catechesis, renewed worship, and renewed social apostolate.

What makes for an effective proclamation of the good news? Difficult question. Experts in the different but related fields of disciplines may suggest new approaches.  But as far as the first reading of today suggests, two essential elements have to be there in whatever approach we try:  the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of witnessing.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1: 8).

The Power of the Holy Spirit. Clearly only by the power of the Spirit can anyone proclaim the good news effectively.  Before the Lord ascended to heaven, he allayed the fears of his disciples and assured them of the Advocate.  And on Pentecost, the apostles were emboldened by the power of the Spirit to proclaim the good news to all peoples.  Techniques in public speaking and in the use of modern gadgets now may indeed be of great help but without the Spirit that moves the hearts and enlightens the minds, any proclamation will not have its transforming power.  May the Church’s efforts for new evangelization be led and inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is what Pope Francis called the Spirit-filled evangelization. For him, the spirit-filled evangelizers are fearlessly open to the Holy Spirit like the apostles and they must pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to proclaim the Gospel not just with words but by a life transfigured by God’s presence (EG, 259). 

The Power of Witnessing.  Words well said may be pleasing to the ears but will soon be exposed as empty when these proclaimed words do not come from a true witness—one who speaks of what he truly believes in and of what he lives by.  For Christianity to make a difference once again in our world today, it needs not just preachers and teachers (and bloggers).  It needs more importantly witnesses of Jesus Christ.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta, for instance, had effectively proclaimed the love of God to the poorest of the poor and touched the heart of the whole world, believers and non-believers alike, because of her life and how she lived it as a disciple of Christ.

As the Lord commissioned the first generation of Christians to proclaim the good news to the whole world, the same Lord reminds us of that same task today.  More than ever, the world today needs to be evangelized... effectively.  On this Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension, it is not enough that we gaze heavenward to enkindle our hope for the Lord’s ultimate victory for all creation.  We need to look around us and see the realities that call for transformation through the gospel values.  In the words of Pope Francis, we are all invited to become "spirit-filled evangelizers" with “enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction!” (EG, 260).