Go into the world and evangelize

The Sunday Gospel reading yesterday (24-05-09) was about the message of our Lord Jesus Christ as He Ascended into Heaven, as yesterday was the solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. The Holy Gospel reading is according to Mark 16:15-20.

“[Jesus] said to [his disciples,] “Go into the whole world and proclaim to gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18 They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. 20 But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”

I happen to post my first Sunday Reading (inspired by Valeriano Avila, a layman himself in his weekly column) http://www.philstar.com and I hope, by God’s grace, I will be able to continue to keep posting similar articles in future as part of my re-evangelization effort.

I share the view of Valeriano when he said, “I am only a lay person and am not even schooled in Theology”.

He further added, [...] “this is what our Lord Jesus Christ has commanded those who wish to follow him… to go into the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

Valeriano pointed out that amongst the columns that he writes, his Sunday column is the most difficult and time consuming for him simply because he needs to make sure that he does not stray away from the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

I feel it is timely for me to have started this Sunday Column since last week when, at the same time, “Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged all Catholics-- but especially young people-- to put modern means of communication to their best use in spreading the Gospel.” The Pope has even launched his own FaceBook. Read Here.

We must be reminded by St. Jerome who once said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” So if we want to know how to start evangelizing, then get a Catholic Scripture diary, which gives us the daily gospel reading for the whole year. Of course, we should have a Bible in our own house and if we can afford it, get the Catechism of the Catholic Church or its cheaper and shorter version, “The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” which is very easy reading. I hope that this book is available at the Daughter's of St. Paul for sale.

As advised by my spiritual Director, Rev. Fr. Michael Modoit (who is also my nephew), we have to be very careful in deciphering what the Lord says in the Scripture. It is therefore advisable to join a Bible Study class, or consult your Parish Priest, lest we are misled by our own interpretation. In one of the Bible studies that I have attended, we were made aware that Satan is always there to mislead us in interpreting the Word of the Lord.

For instance in yesterday's Sunday Gospel, our Lord Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Yet on May 6th Wednesday a couple of week ago, our Lord said this in John 12:44-50, “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.”

That is just a sample of what we might encounter. But when we are called to Evangelize, fear not for the Holy Spirit will guide us in the same way the Holy Martyrs were guided even up to this day.