Commissioned: Testimony: Your Story for Their Earنموونە

Impossible Not to Speak

Apostles Peter and John were so excited about what they had experienced that it was impossible for them not to tell others about Jesus. Even when they were warned by the authorities to be silent, they couldn’t stop speaking. What was the source of their boldness? There was nothing outstanding about them; they were “uneducated, ordinary men.” The source of their boldness was their excitement about what Jesus had done and was doing, the sheer joy of having an ongoing relationship with the risen Christ.

This is the theme of Pope Francis’s book, The Joy of the Gospel. He wrote: “

The Gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a missionary joy…. The primary reason for evangelizing is the love of Jesus, which we have received, the experience of salvation that urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts.” #21, 264

As Pope Francis says, when our problem is that we lack an intense desire to share God’s love with others, the answer is not to call on greater willpower or to screw up our courage. The solution is to return to Jesus, to a fresh experience of His love and grace. It is the love of God that impels us, not our own strength.

The mission of telling others about Jesus does not require heroes, it requires ordinary people who are “companions of Jesus.” Evangelization is not our work, it is His work. Pope Francis expresses it so well in The Joy of the Gospel: “

Though it is true that this mission demands great generosity on our part, it would be wrong to see it as a heroic individual undertaking, for it is, first and foremost, the Lord’s work, surpassing anything that we can see and understand. Jesus is “the first and greatest evangelizer.” In every activity of evangelization, the primacy always belongs to God, who has called us to cooperate with him and who leads us on by the power of his Spirit. #12

For companions of Jesus, it is impossible not to speak.

Stop, think and pray:

Let’s focus today on renewing our fellowship with Jesus; as Pope Francis counseled us, let us “pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts.” Let’s confess any sins that would hinder our nearness to God, and let’s go to Confession as soon as we possibly can. Let’s get to Mass as soon as possible to experience the grace of communion through the Holy Eucharist.

Let’s pray: Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful,
and enkindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Amen.