Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, recently published an apostolic exhortation entitled, “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel.” Basically, it’s Pope Francis’ blueprint for what he calls the new evangelization.
Each one of us, by virtue of our Baptism, is called upon to be an evangelist. However, many people have a great difficulty with the concept of evangelizing to others. Perhaps it’s because we envision evangelists as “Bible Thumpers” preaching on street corners telling everyone they’re going to hell, or the folks who go door to door trying to get people to join their church, or the shaved headed sari-wearing folks we sometimes run into at airports. A lot of people feel uncomfortable with that kind of evangelizing and can’t see themselves doing it.
So how do we evangelize? I think the first, and perhaps the simplest way, is how we live our lives and how we treat people. Do we treat others, including those with whom we may disagree, with the same respect that Jesus showed others? Do we expect others to meet us at a certain point or are we willing to reach out to others where they’re at just as Jesus did? Are we willing to show them the way?
Another simple way is to invite someone to come to church with you. We all know people who have fallen away from a regular practice of their faith. Sometimes a simple invitation is all it takes.
We will be hearing a lot more about Pope Francis’ call to evangelization in the coming months and years. Hopefully, we will all look into our hearts to determine the best way that we can answer this most basic and essential call of being a Christian.