Saturday 19 April
Acts 13:44-52
Paul and Barnabas are held out to us by St Luke as master evangelists. Their ministry and expertise were honed and tested in the school of suffering, hard knocks and persecution. Their pulpit was the marketplace; their message Christ crucified, Christ risen. They won over the Gentile crowds with their clear and eloquent preaching. They were bold, confident and unashamed of their message. They moved in the Spirit, taught in the Spirit and preached in the Spirit. The blessing and fruit of their ministry was rich and abundant: many saved souls, a deep interior joy and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit (v. 52).
Key to Paul and Barnabas’ preaching was the initial proclamation of the gospel, which theologians refer to as the kerygma. The kerygma is the preaching of the truth that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. It is this initial proclamation that opens up hearts and minds to receive Christ and the light of the gospel. Wherever this initial gospel is proclaimed, lives are transformed.
The gospel is a message which we cannot keep to ourselves. It has to be shared. The gospel has a power all of its own; how each person receives it is a profound mystery, personal and intimate to every individual. To be effective and productive evangelists we need two virtues: courage and clarity. Both, however, need to be underpinned by love. St Paul and St Barnabas were compelled by the love of God to share their faith. As St Teresa of Avila once said: ‘Our Lord does not care so much for the importance of our works as for the love with which they are done.’
To love others is to want them to come to know the love and mercy of God. St Thomas Aquinas, speaking across the centuries, urges us to be faithful to the holy task of teaching, witnessing and proclaiming the gospel: ‘To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer.’ We commit ourselves to this task today, confident in the hope that God has given us everything we need to witness to Christ and proclaim the gospel of life.
‘This witness of life, however, is not the sole element in the apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers…or to the faithful.’ (Pope John Paul II)
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