We often hear, these days, the word evangelisation and the phrase the new evangelisation. Whereas in the past, missionaries would set off from Christian Europe in order to preach the Gospel to far distant countries, we are more and more aware that we ourselves are living in the midst of societies in need of the Gospel. God has to be announced and Christ to be proclaimed anew. We are left with no choice. If we are Christians, we have to spread out the Gospel, to evangelise.
How shall we do this? Jesus in today’s gospel and St Paul in the second reading can give us some input on this matter
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” This is the first evangelisation; the evangelisation by the works; by what we are and by what we do. We dream of being so filled with divine light that all who see us feel drawn to the light of God and the joy of the Gospel. At this level, evangelisation is one with the constant conversion of our lives and our striving after holiness. There is a way of being simply good, or merciful, or righteous, or meek, or a peacemaker that, of itself, speaks of God. Now, when we are good or merciful or meek that way, we can be sure that it does not come only from us. God is working with us and in us; He makes us good or righteous.
This is true of each of us individually, and also of our communities. There is such thing as a good family, or a good religious community, or even a good people. This is very fragile, as we know too well, but there are places where the Gospel seems to be as fully lived out as it is possible in our world. There are times when God’s charity, His love, reigns in hearts and draws many to God. Tertullian, in the second century, said that the pagans would say of the Christian community: “See how they love one another”.
Let us remember, too, that evangelisation has reached its goal when one heart is converted, when one heart sees the light. Jesus, who was the Light of God in person, did not convert all those who approached Him. But His acts of love continue to illumine us and to convert us today.
We are now ready to move to St Paul. As an apostle, the main way he had to spread the Gospel was by preaching. He announced the word of God with unflinching dedication. As we heard in the second reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the time when they received the good news of the Kingdom of God. Paul had just arrived from Athens where he had given a great discourse in one of the most prestigious meeting-places of Antiquity. He had tried to do his best, but he had not been very successful. He had left behind him only a handful of disciples.
In Corinth, however, he had a great success and converted many to Christ. He adopted a different method. He “did not come proclaiming the testimony of God in lofty words of wisdom”. Instead of trying to illumine minds with great ideas expressed in an eloquent speech, he only showed them Christ. “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
The apostle, the one who evangelises, does not come with a book of theology, but simply with the cross of Christ. Jesus’ cross is the book of the gospel, the surest arm of the new evangelisation. If the cross does not speak to you, then you have not fully met with Christ. If you do not recognise God’s love in the man who is hanging on the cross, you do not really know God and his love. The cross is the strongest word about God. It says more than we can understand about His mercy, His compassion, His justice and His love. It tells who He is – Father and Son, united in the love of their common Spirit – what His plan is – to free us from evil by humility and obedience – and how much He loves us – “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (Jn 3:16).
Now, do not get me wrong: there is definitely a time for theology, that it to say, for a careful reasoning on the truths revealed in the Gospel and handed over by the Church – and this is very important. I am not advocating any form of fundamentalism. Only, following Paul, I am trying to show the direction of what he called “the wisdom of God” and which he recognised in the Cross of Jesus: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor 1:25).
So, how shall we evangelise? Mainly, by showing a direction: the way to Christ, the direction of the cross. And this means that we, too, should not be afraid of meditating on Jesus’ Cross. A Christian is someone who has understood that the Cross is the source of life, someone for whom Jesus’ cross becomes ever more a sign of hope : Salve Crux, spes unica! For our gospel, what we have to give to the world is not a recipe of well-being for a fragile existence on earth, but the hope of salvation and eternal life which is given in Christ, our crucified and risen Lord.