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).

The Joy of the Gospel (Gaudete Sunday A)

One day, I was home for a short break, my 5-year old nephew seemed to be restless moving around the house. Finally, he mustered his courage to approach me and whispered something to me. “What did you say?” I clarified. He said a bit louder, “tablet.” He was asking for a gift, and he wanted to have a Samsung tablet for him to play with! OMG! I explained to him that it was quite expensive, that I did not even have one for myself, and that I didn’t think he was ready for it. He seemed to have understood me and did not bother me anymore about it.

The following day my mother approached me and asked me, “what’s a tablet?” Apparently, my nephew had asked her too for the same gift and my mother, without thinking twice, said yes! So, the kid had been jumping for joy until he realized that my mother was taking him to Mercury Drug to grant his wish.

Are you one of those who seek joy in the thousand forms of pleasures offered by today’s technological smart gadgets? Here’s a better way of having joy in life: The joy of the gospel.

Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, invites us to rejoice and to experience what truly gives joy from within. Our liturgy bids us rejoice not because of any sophisticated gift that we received but because of the gift of the salvation that has come through and in Jesus Christ. The readings today remind us of the fulfillment of the prophetic promise of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ and the joy that accompanies this fulfillment.

The first reading for instance (Is 35:1-6a, 10), speaks of the salvation, comfort and healing that is promised to take place in the messianic era accompanied by everlasting joy for those who are ransomed:

“Be strong, fear not! Here is your God; he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy” (v. 4-6, 10).

Moreover, the gospel reading (Mt 11:2-11) affirms the advent of the promised Messianic era in Jesus Christ.  Asked by John’s emissaries of his identity, i.e. whether or not he is the Messiah, Jesus in affirmation pointed them to the very signs which the Prophet Isaiah spoke of:

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (v. 5).

Clearly then our readings illustrate to us the fulfillment of the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the Good News. This is what brings joy to everyone.  This is the joy of the Gospel which Pope Francis speaks of in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. Inspired by this exhortation, allow me to offer three ways of experiencing true joy which our smart gadgets cannot give:

The joy of being loved and forgiven.  Experience will tell us that ultimately there is no joy in the path of consumerism. Pope Francis affirms this in his apostolic exhortation when he recognizes as a great danger in today’s world “the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.”  In such desolation, God is no longer heard, “the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt and the desire to do good fades” (EG, 2).

What brings back the joy is a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ.  In Jesus we experience the infinite love and mercy of God.  Even if we have shunned God’s love over and over again, the Lord awaits our return to him. He is never tired of forgiving us; His boundless and unfailing love restores our joy and makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew (EG, 3). Let us then hear God’s invitation and allow him to love us and to embrace us back in his mercy.

The joy of sharing the gospel.  This renewed encounter with God’s love liberates us from our narrowness and self-absorption. It propels us to offer our lives in the task of evangelization.  As Pope Francis explains, “For if we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others?” (EG, 8).

This is the joy of the mission to evangelize or to proclaim the good news of God’s love and mercy. And the Pope wishes that “the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope,l be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ” (EG, 10).

The joy of remembering. The joy of evangelizing always arises from grateful remembrance. The believer is essentially “one who remembers”. Hence, this invitation for the new zeal for evangelization does not mean forgetting our living history but returning to the source in order to recover the original freshness of the Gospel and to express it with more eloquent words with new meaning for today’s world (EG, 11).

Memory is an essential dimension of our faith.  Our celebration of the Eucharist is “the Church’s daily remembrance of, and deeper sharing in, the event of Jesus’ Passover” (EG, 13).  As we approach Christmas, let us bring our families together to experience the joy of remembering our Lord as we celebrate joyfully our Christmas liturgy.

Have you found joy in life? The search has probably been long and even frustrating especially if you have been religiously listening to advertisements. This consumerist formula for joy is not working. It brings all of us down including our dying planet. Gaudete Sunday, on the other hand, bids us to be joyful because of the good news of salvation in Christ. Let us embrace the Gospel and the joy that comes with it. And life will be different.