By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo
To evangelize means to help bring others closer to God. It means not keeping our faith only to ourselves or making it a private affair, but to share our faith to others. Evangelization is one of the five promises we have made during baptism which is to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed and serve all people following the example of Jesus.
Evangelization is the fruit of a mature spiritual life. Once we have acquired that intimacy with Christ, we would now be sent to fulfill the second part of the two greatest commandments: love our neighbor. After acquiring the love of God, love of neighbor necessarily follows. And the best way to love our neighbor is to share to them the greatest good that we have found: God. It is said that to evangelize is like a hungry person telling others where to find bread. It’s an act of gratitude towards God for having received many good gifts from Him. We are not supposed to keep those gifts only for ourselves but share it to others because that is the nature of a gift. A gift is meant to be given and not for keeping. Goodness is diffusive by nature. If you are really a good person, you would want others that share of the good that you have found. That is by the way the very reason why God created us. God wants to share His goodness and happiness to us and so He created us men and angels. When we evangelize, we imitate God who shared the good that He has.
When we share our faith to others it grows more in us. It is one of the laws of the spiritual life. Material things, when we share them, would gradually decrease. But spiritual things when shared with others grows more in us. To evangelize is a necessary part in being a follower of Christ for we are all sent. The spiritual life is said to be a “Come and go” formula. Christ tells us at the outset “Come to me…” and later on He sends us to “Go and bear fruit…”. Every disciple is sent. No one hears the word of God and not getting sent. In Scripture Saul becomes Paul, Simon becomes Peter, Jacob becomes Israel, Abram becomes Abraham because of their mission to evangelize and serve. Their identity has changed because of their mission. We never really know who we are until we know our mission, people around us might identify us for who we are to them, but God has a specific identity for us tied up to our mission. “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col 3:3)
How do we specifically evangelize? First, by giving good example. When others see our good behavior and good works and of course the good and happy life that necessarily follows with it, others would be inspired to listen and follow us. Good example means making others see the impact faith in God has on our lives. Second, if we are able, to teach others about Christian faith like giving a class on Catechism or on the teachings of the Catholic Church, then we should do so. If we are not inclined to teaching, we can share our faith through writing or other means. If you are in a certain Catholic community, your help in organizing evangelization activities would already be good enough. And lastly when we give spiritual advise to others. This would actually be the best form of evangelization because it is evangelization through friendship. When we see our friends doubting their faith or have not gone to confession for a long time, and if we truly are their friend, we would help them clear their doubts about the Catholic faith and bring them back to God by helping them go back to confession and along with the other sacraments especially the Holy Mass.
Evangelization is never-ending activity for any follower of Christ because that’s what God Himself constantly does to each person through that person’s conscience: make that person come back to Him. But often times He also uses us as His instruments to help make us fulfill the second greatest commandment, love of neighbor. God usually uses two-bladed scissors to cut into our heart, our conscience, and the help of others in bringing us back to God. “Nothing pleases God more than to be his Son’s helpers and to undertake the charge of saving souls.” (St. Charles Borromeo)
