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Image: Statue of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, the first Korean Catholic priest
Pope Francis Catechesis 14 on Evangelization and apostolic zeal
Saint Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Catechesis. The passion for evangelization: The apostolic zeal of the believer. 14. Witnesses: Saint Andrea Kim Tae-gon
His question was: “Are you a disciple of Jesus?”
Dear brothers and sisters,
In this series of catecheses that we are undertaking, we are going to be in the school of some of the saints who, as exemplary witnesses, teach us apostolic zeal.
Let us reremember that we are talking about the apostolic zeal, that we must have in order to announce the Gospel.
Today we are going to find a great example of a who had a passion for evangelisation in a distant land, namely the Korean Church.
Let us look at the Korean martyr and first priest St Andrew Kim Tae-gon.
But, the first Korean priest: you know something?
The evangelisation of Korea was done by the laity!
It was the baptized laity who passed on the faith, there were no priests, because they had none. Then, later… but the first evangelisation was done by the laity.
Would we be able to do the same? Let’s think about it: it’s interesting.
And this is one of the first priests, St Andrew.
His life was and is an eloquent testimony to the proclamation of the Gospel, to the zeal for it.
About 200 years ago, the land of Korean was the scene of a very severe persecution. Christians were persecuted and destroyed.
To believe in Jesus Christ in Korea at that time meant to be ready to bear witness even unto death. From the example of St Andrew Kim, we can draw out two concrete aspects of his life.
The first aspect is the way he met the faithful.
Given the highly intimidating context, the saint was forced to approach Christians discretely, and always in the presence of other people, as if they had been talking to each other for some time.
Then, in order to confirm the Christian identity of his interlocutor, St Andrew would use these devices: first, there was a pre-arranged upon sign of recognition: “You will meet with this Christian and he will have this sign on his clothes or in his hand.”
“And then, he would surreptitiously ask the question – but all this under his breath, eh?—“Are you a disciple of Jesus?”
Because other people were listening to the conversation, the saint had to speak in a low voice, and say only a few words, the most important ones.
So, for Andrew Kim, the expression that summed up the whole identity of the Christian was “disciple of Christ.”
“Are you a disciple of Christ?”—but in a soft voice because it was dangerous.
It was forbidden to be a Christian there.
In fact to be a disciple of the Lord means to follow him, to follow his way.
And the Christian is by nature one who preaches and testifies to Jesus.
Every Christian community receives this identity from the Holy Spirit, as does the whole Church, since the day of Pentecost (cf. Conc. Vat. II, Decr. Ad gentes, 2).
It is from this Spirit that we receive the passion, the passion for evangelisation, this great apostolic zeal; it is a gift of the Spirit who gives.
And even when the surrounding context is not favorable—like the Korean context of Andrew Kim—it does not change; on the contrary, it becomes even more precious.
St Andrew Kim and other Korean believers have shown that witnessing to the Gospel in times of persecution can bear much fruit for the faith.
Let us now look at a second aspect – a concrete example.
When he was still a seminarian, St Andrew had to find a way of secretly welcoming missionary priests from abroad. This was not an easy task, because the regime of the time strictly forbade all foreigners from entering the territory. That’s why it was so difficult before to find a priest who could come to do missionary work: the laity did the missionary work.
Think about what St Andrew did—once, he was walking in the snow, without eating, for so long that he fell to the ground exhausted, risking unconsciousness and freezing.
Suddenly he heard a voice saying, “Get up, walk!”. Hearing this voice, Andrew came to his senses and saw something like the shadow of someone guiding him.
This experience of the great Korean witness makes us understand a very important aspect of apostolic zeal; namely, the courage to get back up when we fall.
But do saints fall? Yes, they do! From the very beginning.
Think of St Peter: he committed a great sin, didn’t he?
But he found strength in God’s mercy and got up again.
And in St Andrew we see that strength: he had fallen physically but he had the strength to go, go, go to carry the message forward.
No matter how difficult the situation may be – and indeed, at times it may seem that there is no room for the Gospel message – we must not give up and we must not abandon the pursuit of what is essential in our Christian life: namely, evangelization.
This is the way.
And each one can think to him or her self: “But what about me, how can I evangelize?”
But you look at these great ones and you consider your smallness, we consider our smallness: evangelising the family, evangelising friends, talking about Jesus—but talking about Jesus and evangelising with a heart full of joy, full of strength.
And this grace is given by the Holy Spirit.
Let us prepare to receive the Holy Spirit this coming Pentecost, and ask Him for this grace, the grace of apostolic courage, the grace to evangelise, to always carry the message of Jesus forward. Thank you.
