"Evangelization:
the world's greatest need in the 21^st century."

What will be the greatest need of the 21^st century?

A cure for cancer and Aids? Will that be the world's greatest need in the new millennium? A cure for the common cold, perhaps? A super-fast computer chip? More jails--is that what we will need most in the next hundred years? With our ever-growing prison population, you could certainly make a good case for that.

It's difficult to know how a particular person would respond to that question; except, I would say, when that particular person happens to be the present Holy Father. Believe it or not, I think it's pretty easy to figure out what his answer would be. Based on what he's said in so many of his writings, I'm convinced the pope would say that the greatest need of the 21^st century will be evangelization! As he wrote in his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope: "There exists today the clear need for a new evangelization. There is the need for a proclamation of the Gospel capable of accompanying man on his pilgrim way, capable of walking alongside the younger generation." [p. 117]

When you look back at the 20^th century, you can't help but sense that the Holy Father is right on target. As most of us know, in this century, great numbers of people have rejected the Gospel in favor of ideologies like communism, fascism, nazism, materialism, hedonism, and a host of other godless philosophies. And the result? The most violent century in the history of the world! Millions have died in wars--far more than in any other century of recorded history; millions more have been killed by abortion. Not even our schools are safe anymore, as the tragedy in Colorado two weeks ago sadly demonstrates. Recently I read a very interesting quote which relates to all this. The person said, "The 21^st century will be religious, or it will not be at all." I think the Holy Father would say "Amen" to that. The world desperately needs to be converted to Christ and his Gospel of love, mercy and forgiveness--or it will eventually self-destruct.

Should all this depress us? No, not at all--at least not according to the pope. As the Holy Father has said, "There are no grounds for losing hope." [Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 112.] Rather, the present state of affairs should INSPIRE us--it should inspire us to want to become good evangelizers! Because the fact is: Christ is counting on us to be his instruments in this process of transforming the world in the third millennium.

St. Peter, in today's second reading, gives us some practical insights on how to do this--on how to become good evangelizers. He begins in verse 15 by saying, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." Sometimes that's translated, "Venerate the Lord . . . in your hearts." The message there is: "If you want to be a good evangelizer, then make your relationship with Jesus Christ your number one priority in life! That's at the core of what it means to 'sanctify Jesus' in your heart. Thus "Cafeteria Catholicism" and "Sunday-only Catholicism" are not acceptable. You cannot give what you do not have. If you do not have a strong relationship with Jesus that you are nourishing every day through prayer, then you will not be able to help others to have a deep relationship with him."

St. Peter goes on: "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence." St. Paul said something similar in chapter 4 of his letter to the Ephesians when he wrote: "Speak the truth in love." But, of course, in order to speak the truth we must first know it and understand it. This means that to be a good evangelizer, we must make the daily effort to grow in the knowledge of our Catholic faith! Those "Gospel Truth" flyers, by the way, that we're attaching to the parish bulletin periodically, are designed to help you in this regard. They're meant to be a part of your continuing education as a Catholic evangelizer. So, needless to say--please read them!

St. Peter goes on in this text and he tells us to keep our consciences clear in verse 16. His message there is that if we want to be good evangelizers of others, we need to make the effort to back up what we say by our good example. And, since no one of us will be perfect in the example we give, the implication is that we must examine our consciences frequently and go to Confession often. St. Francis of Assisi, the great evangelizer, used to tell his friars to "preach always; if necessary use words." St. Francis understood that if we aren't repenting of our sins and striving for perfection in our own lives, then our words--no matter how clever or eloquent--will ultimately fall on deaf ears.

At this point in the chapter Peter begins to speak about opposition and suffering. He first talks about being "maligned," and he mentions the fact that some people will actually "defame [our] good conduct in Christ." Here we have a sobering reminder that not everyone will accept the Gospel--even if we speak the truth in perfect love and back up what we say with a Mother Teresa-like witness. Jesus himself was not 100% successful in his evangelization efforts, nor should we expect to be in ours. But that's not a valid excuse for not trying! In fact, I dare say that one success--one saved soul--is ultimately worth a lifetime of effort!

Finally, St. Peter talks specifically about suffering, mentioning the fact that Jesus suffered for our sins so that he might lead us all to God. "So that he might lead us all to God"--thus it would be true to say that Jesus evangelized all of us through his suffering. The good news which follows from this is that we can also evangelize people by suffering: by offering up our pain in union with our Lord's, and by suffering with the right attitude of mind and heart. In this regard, remember the story of Dr. Felix Leseur? I told this story on Good Friday of 1998. Dr. Leseur was a physician and an avowed atheist who lived in Belgium at the turn of the century. He married a young Catholic woman named Elizabeth, who became seriously ill in 1904. She was bedridden; she lived in almost constant pain for ten years. When she was close to death, she called her husband to her bedside and said to him, "Felix, when I am dead, you will become a Catholic and a Dominican priest." He responded, "Elizabeth, you know [how I feel]. I’ve sworn hatred of God; I shall live in that hatred and die in it." She repeated her words and not long after passed away. It was 1914. Later Dr. Leseur found her will, in which Elizabeth had written these words: "Felix, in 1904 I asked Almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul. On the day I die you will have been bought and paid for. Greater love than this no woman has." By a special grace of the Holy Spirit, Leseur’s heart was converted, and eventually he did become a Dominican priest. Bishop Fulton Sheen used to tell that story, which he first heard a few years after he was ordained a priest. He heard it from his retreat master, Fr. Felix Leseur, of the Order of Preachers, otherwise known as the Dominicans.

Elizabeth Leseur evangelized her husband through her suffering. We can do the same for others through our crosses

--if we choose to.

Let me close today with the words of our Holy Father--himself one of the greatest evangelizers of the 20^th century. May his words, and the teaching of St. Peter in our second reading, inspire us to share our Catholic faith with other people. After all, if the world's greatest need is to be met in the 21^st century, we all must be willing to do our part as the Lord's evangelizers. The pope writes:

"If we look at today's world, we are struck by many negative factors that can lead to pessimism. But this feeling is unjustified: we have faith in God our Father and Lord, in his goodness and mercy. As the third millennium of the redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs. . .