By Emil Saidi
As faithful followers of the Resurrected Lord, we continuously practice our faith to the best of our abilities.
We celebrate the Divine Liturgy every Sunday, regularly participate in the Sacrament of Confession and nourish our relationship with Jesus Christ through daily personal prayer.
Now this may sound like we are doing a great job in being Jesus’ disciples. But, unfortunately it is not quite enough. You may be asking yourself, how so?
Well in this Season of the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we passionately proclaim: “Christ is Risen, He is truly Risen. And we are witnesses to that.”
Now if we are truly witnesses to His Resurrection from the dead, wouldn’t we be eager to courageously and zealously share this truth with the whole world? Ask yourselves, is it enough to have our own personal relationship with Jesus and keep Him all to ourselves?
Let us remind each other that Jesus commands us to go out and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19), to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Mt 5:13-16).
In other words, He commands us to fulfil our mission as baptised Christians—our mission of evangelisation. However, the common questions arise: “What if I don’t know what to say? What if it’s awkward? What if I get persecuted?”
To assist us with our mission of evangelisation, the Maronite Eparchy of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania has established and launched the Maronite Catholic Centre for Evangelisation. Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay’s vision for this centre, is to serve parishes to become centres of evangelisation and missionary outreach.
Through this, the faithful will fundamentally be formed and equipped with the foundation and tools required to go out and reach those who have gone astray, and bring them back to the source of hope, joy and peace: Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Let’s take St Peter as an example to address some common fears of ours. In one instance, we have Peter denying Jesus three times and in another instance, we have Peter bringing 3000 souls to Christ through his evangelisation. Can this really be the same person?
How can the same man go from denying that he knows Jesus in front of one maid, to then having the courage to stand in the middle of Jerusalem, raise his voice and address the thousands of men from all nations under heaven, about his witness to the Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? How can Peter turn his fear into such courage in just 53 days?
Well the truth is, Peter did not change. Instead the Lord, yet again, was faithful to His words: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).
The Greek word for “power” used in this verse is “dynamin”, which is the root of the English term “dynamite”. It is seen that “dynamin” is not just any power, rather it often refers to a miraculous or marvellous power. Just as St Peter received this power on the day of Pentecost, we too have received the exact same power once we were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of our Baptism and Confirmation.
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, there is no greater time then now to trust in this power of the Holy Spirit, to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to every single person we encounter. We must be contagious, so that everyone who comes into contact with us walks away with a renewed sense of hope in the Lord’s unconditional love for them.
In order to love one another as Jesus has loved us, we must not be indifferent. Rather, we must encourage, empower and invite each other to strengthen our relationships with the Risen Lord.
Think about it, the people that are not in the pews celebrating the Divine Liturgy every Sunday will be found in our homes, workplaces, universities and social groups. What are we doing in order to make a difference? How are we being the disciples that Jesus called us to be? How are we making disciples for the Lord?
Let us not be afraid and never forget Jesus’ promise to us who go out and evangelise: “remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).