0
0
Illustration: Vocation of the Apostles, a fresco in the Sistine Chapel by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1481-82
Pope Francis general audience
Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Catechesis. 4. The first apostolate
“The passion to evangelize, apostolic zeal”
Reflection: Matthew 10:1:7-16)
Jesus said to his disciples: “1He called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity . . . 5These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomor′rah than for that town.“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Let us continue our catecheses; the theme we have chosen is: “The passion to evangelize, apostolic zeal”.
Because evangelizing is not saying: “Look, bla-bla-bla” and nothing more.
There is a passion that involves your all: the mind, the heart, the hands, going out … everything.
The whole person is involved with this proclaiming of the Gospel, and for this reason we speak of the passion to evangelize. Having seen it in Jesus, the model and teacher of proclamation, let us turn now to the first disciples and what the disciples did. The Gospel says that Jesus “appointed twelve, whom he called apostles, to be with Him and to send them out to preach” (Mk 3:14 –And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach). (Note: two things: so that they might be with Him and send them out to preach). There is an aspect that seems contradictory: He calls them to be with Him and to go and preach. One would be inclined to say: either one or the other, or either stay or go. But no. For Jesus there is no going without staying and there is no staying without going. It is not easy to understand this, but it is so.
Let us try to understand a little bit what is the meaning with which Jesus says these things.
First of all, there is no going without staying: before sending the disciples on mission, Christ – the Gospel says – “calls them to himself” (see Mt 10:1 above). Proclamation comes from the encounter with the Lord.
All Christian activity, especially mission, begins there.
It is not learned in an academy: no! It begins with the encounter with the Lord. Witnessing Him, in fact, means radiating Him. But, if we do not receive his light, we will be extinguished. If we do not associate with him, we will ourselves ourselves instead of him – “I bring myself and not him” – and it will all be in vain.
Therefore, only the person who is with Him can bring the Gospel of Jesus.
One who is not with Him cannot bring the gospel. He will bring ideas, but not the Gospel.
Equally, however, there is no being (with him) without going (out to preach).
In fact, following Christ is not an intimate matter: the relationship with Jesus does not grow without proclamation, without service, without mission. We note that in the Gospel the Lord sends the disciples before they have completing their preparation: shortly after calling them, he already sends them!
This means that the experience of mission is part of Christian formation. So let us remember these two constitutive moments for every disciple: being with Jesus and going, sent by Jesus.
Having called the disciples to himself and before sending them, Christ addresses them with a discourse, known as the “missionary discourse” – as it is called in the Gospel.
It is found in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Matthew and is like the “constitution” of the proclamation.
From that discourse, which I advise you to read today — it is only a small page of the Gospel — I draw three aspects: why to proclaim, what to proclaim and how to proclaim.
1. Why announce.
The motivation lies in five words of Jesus, which will do us good to remember: “Freely you received, Freely give” (v. 8). That’s five words. But why announce? Because freely I have received and I must give freely.
Proclaiming does not start from us, but from the beauty of what we have received freely, without merit: encountering Jesus, knowing Him, discovering that we are loved and saved.
It is such a great gift that we cannot keep it for ourselves, we feel the need to spread it; however, in the same style, that is, in gratuitousness. In other words: we have a gift, so we are called to make a gift of it; we have received a gift and our vocation ismaking a git of it for others. The joy of being children of God is in us.
It must be shared with our brothers and sisters who do not yet know it!
This is the reason for the announcement. Go and bring the joy of what we have received.
1.What to proclaim
Second, what then should we proclaim? Jesus says: “Preach, saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (v. 7). This is what is to be said, first and foremost and in everything: God is near.
But never forget this: God has always been close to the people. He Himself said it to the people.
He said, “Look, what God is as close to the nations as I am to you?” (Deuteronomy 4:7)
Closeness is one of the most important things about God.
There are three important things: closeness, mercy and tenderness. Don’t forget this.
Who is God? The Neighbor, the Tender, the Merciful. This is the reality of God.
We, in preaching, often invite people to do something, and that’s fine.
But let us not forget that the main message is that He is close: closeness, mercy and tenderness.
Accepting God’s love is more difficult because we always want to be at the center. We want to be protagonists. We are more inclined to do than to let ourselves be shaped, to talk more than to listen.
But, if the first place is what we do, we will still be the protagonists.
Instead, the proclamation must give primacy to God: give primacy to God, God first, and to give others the opportunity to welcome Him, to realize that He is near. And I am behind Him .
3. How to announce
Third point: how to announce. This is the aspect on which Jesus dwells most: how to proclaim, what is the method, what must be the language to proclaim; It is significant.
He tells us that the manner, the style is essential in witnessing.
Witnessing does not only involve the mind and saying something. Concepts: no.
It involves everything, mind, heart, hands, everything, the three languages of the person: the language of thought, the language of affection and the language of work.
The three languages.
One cannot evangelize only with the mind or only with the heart or only with the hands.
Everything is involved. And, in style, the important thing is witness, as Jesus wants us.
He says: “I send you out as sheep among wolves” (v. 16). He does not ask us to know how to deal with wolves, that is, to be able to argue, counter and defend ourselves: no.
We would think like this: we become relevant, numerous, prestigious and the world will listen to us and respect us and we will defeat the wolves: no, it is not so.
No, I send you like sheep, like lambs – that is the important thing.
If you don’t want to be a sheep, the Lord won’t defend you from wolves. Make do as you can.
But if you are a sheep, be sure that the Lord will defend you from wolves. Be humble.
He asks us to be like this, to be meek and with the desire to be innocent, to be willing to sacrifice.
This in fact represents the lamb: meekness, innocence, dedication, tenderness.
And he, the Shepherd, will recognize His lambs and protect them from wolves.
Instead, lambs disguised as wolves are unmasked and mauled.
A Father of the Church wrote: “As long as we are lambs, we will win, and even if we are surrounded by many wolves, we will be able to overcome them. But if we become wolves we will be defeated, because we will be deprived of the help of the shepherd. He feed, not wolves, but lambs” (St John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on the Gospel of Matthew).
If I want to belong to the Lord, I must let Him be my shepherd and He is not shepherding wolves.
He is shepherding lambs, meek, humble, nice to the Lord.
Still on how to announce, it is striking that Jesus, instead of prescribing what to bring on mission, says what not to bring. At times, one sees some apostle, some person moving, some Christian who says that he is an apostle and gave his life to the Lord, and he carries a lot of baggage: but this is not the Lord’s, the Lord makes you light of crew and says what not to bring: “ Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff “ (vv. 9-10). Do not bring anything.
He says not to lean on material certainties, to go into the world without worldliness.
This is what to say: ‘I go to the world not with the style of the world, not with the values of the world, not with worldliness – that for the Church, falling into worldliness is the worst that can happen’.
I’m going with simplicity. This is how it we announce: by showing Jesus more than talking about Jesus.
And how do we show Jesus? By our witness.
And, finally, by going together, in community: the Lord sends all the disciples, but no one goes alone.
The apostolic Church is entirely missionary and in mission it finds its unity.
So: go meek and good as lambs, without worldliness, and go together.
Here lies the key to announcing, this is the key to the success of evangelization.
Let us accept these invitations of Jesus: let his words be our point of reference.
