Overcoming Three Obstacles to Evangelization

Last updated on: July 12, 2024 at 3:15 pm by Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Overcoming Three Obstacles to Evangelization 2024-07-12T15:15:11-07:00 Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

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Evangelization is a hot topic. Should we evangelize? The biggest argument in favor is that Jesus sent out his apostle two by two to preach the Gospel.

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two (Mk. 6:7).

Importance of Evangelization

Jesus sends his apostles out to evangelize, so it must be important in some way. What do we need to evangelize? Over the course of the centuries, the Church has grown and developed a certain bureaucracy. There are certainly some benefits to this. There are so many needs to which the Church responds daily. It would be a shame that our dedication to service and hospitality could rob from us a missionary drive. This missionary drive comes from a place of joy.

The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 1).

We can fall into three traps when we desire to evangelize. It is too easy to miss the point by preaching something that is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can misunderstand the problems of the people to whom we are preaching, thus making our message irrelevant. Finally, we can forget the value of evangelical poverty as it places our trust wholly in God.

Jesus carrying a sheep

Jesus is the True Good Shepherd | Public Domain

Missing the Point

When the disciples go forth, they leave with a mission to bring the Gospel. Why is it necessary to preach the Gospel? Should we not rather be living tolerance? Is this not the supreme Gospel value? No, it is not. Tolerance is not a Gospel value. It is an invention of our modern culture. We are called to live love, justice, fortitude, and so on but not tolerance. For example, we can never tolerate evil.

If we are going to meet those who are suffering and preach them the Good News of the Gospel, we must be convinced that we are really going to help them. We must be filled with joy and recognize that our joy can change the lives of those around us who are sad.

Forcing the Message

The difficulty I find is that so many people seem satisfied with an unchristian lifestyle. They are far from God and it does not seem to affect them in the least. These are the people whom it is most difficult to help. For 9 years of my life as a Legionary, I have worked with adolescents. One of the phrases that we reflected on was: “don’t give bread to someone who is not hungry.” Too often, it feels that our Church programs are an effort to give bread to people who are already satisfied with what they have.

To evangelize effectively, we have to remember the core message of the Gospel and understand our audience. Most of us are tempted to do one but forget about the other.

Trusting Totally in God

Today’s Gospel also invites us to examine how much we need to preach the Gospel. We can use material things for spiritual benefits. We can speak about rich temporal means and humble temporal means. Rich temporal means are things like committees, buildings, church architecture and decoration. They tempt us to believe in ourselves as the source of evangelization. The second type of means is humble means.

They are marked with the stigma of the Cross and express one of the most profound truths in the Gospel: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24). In humble means, a true paradox of the dynamism of faith can be observed: the poorer they are – that is, the more destitute, the more insignificant in themselves, and the less visible – the more efficacious they are. As opposed to rich means, these humble means are not dependent on tangible success, and they do not have any internal need for temporal success. (Tadeusz Dajczer, The Gift of Faith, p. 126).

We have to remember to go back to what is simple and effective in preaching the Gospel. Pastoral programs should not get in the way of the fundamental task of letting others know the Good News that Jesus Christ has come to save them from their sins. We should learn to use humble means, since these are what began the great cultural revolution that was the Christianization of the Western world.

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About Fr. Nicholas Sheehy, LC

Fr. Nicholas Sheehy was ordained a Catholic priest in 2013 for the Legionaries of Christ. He has been involved in youth work including missions, retreats and apostolic outreach in Germany, Italy, the United States and Central America. He is passionate about the New Evangelization and formation for young adults and married couples. He is a spiritual director and retreat director, offering marriage preparation and marriage counseling through the Divine Mercy Clinic and Family Center. He is currently Executive Director and Chaplain of the Newman Center at St. Philip the Apostle Parish in Pasadena, California. You can read more about the author here.

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