If you want to be a saint, you have to be an evangelist
If you want to be an evangelist, you have to be a saint.
Holiness and mission are inseparable.
Holiness makes our evangelization credible, believable, and attractive. Evangelization makes our holiness grow as we take on the mission of Christ who was sent to save the world. The two are really parts of one whole life of a disciple.
These elements are an integral part of a lifestyle that a disciple is meant to live.
EVANGELIZATION WITHOUT HOLINESS
I got the evangelization bug as a young adult. Right after my initial conversion, I thought I was going to go out, tell people about Jesus, and then everyone I knew was going to follow him out of sheer momentum. It didn’t happen. They knew me as a partier. They thought it wouldn’t last. My lifestyle was still compartmentalized. I still sinned. Big time. I had issues. I needed to learn more. I wasn’t living out what I professed, at least not very well.
But, I never lost the desire to evangelize. Even though I wasn’t very good at it. Sure, I had courage enough to talk about my faith, which by itself made me an outlier. But, I was still struggling with some serious sin and a lot of things that needed healing and change, because I spent most of my life up to that point far from God. I realized through study and prayer, that I needed to grow in holiness if I were to become an effective evangelist. That still holds true today and is still my goal.
Pope Paul VI said the same thing, but in a different way.
“Our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life… Without this mark of holiness, our word will have difficulty in touching the heart of modern man. It risks being vain and sterile.” -Paul VI, EN, 76
Jesus tells us to “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” (Matt 5:48) Perfection is a goal that is unattainable for us, because Jesus is not a liar. This is what we are created for – greatness. But, not greatness as the world defines it (power, money, fame, etc). Rather, greatness in love, faith, and hope.
St. Paul and St. Peter echo the call to holiness:
“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.” -2 Cor 7:1
“God did not call us to impurity but to holiness” -1 Thes 4:7
“He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began.” -2 Tim 1:9
“Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, “Be holy because I am holy.’” -2 Peter 1: 14-16
Throughout the history of the Church, the Saints and other Church leaders have repeated this call to holiness throughout the ages. In the documents of Vatican II the Church once again issued the clarion call – we are to be holy. In Lumen Gentium, the Sacred Constitution on the Church, we see the call to holiness once again come front and center.
“All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.” -Vatican II – LG, 40
The evidence is clear. The call to holiness must be answered in each of us if we are to be effective evangelists who radiate God to others, by our witness of life.
“Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization.” (Paul VI, EN, 21)
HOLINESS WITHOUT EXPLICIT EVANGELIZATION
Trying to be holy without explicitly being on mission doesn’t work. How do I know this? Because this is the default position of the modern Catholic in the USA. The results are in and they don’t look good. It makes us look like hypocrites, afraid to share publicly what we say is most important privately. To the world we become aloof and uncaring. To God we become disobedient. We plateau spiritually or even backslide, because we allow doubt or fear to rule us.
Think of what makes a “good Catholic” by our modern standards? Go to Church. Say your prayers. Donate some. Get your Sacraments. Don’t sin too much. Get “involved” or “be active” in your parish. Etc. None of these are bad (in fact they are good), but they miss something integral to discipleship.
Where is the Biblical, apostolic, and magisterial mandate to evangelize?
Nowhere.
Our modern Catholic culture has de-emphasized evangelization to the point that most believe it is possible to not only be a “good Catholic” but also to become holy without evangelizing.
It simply isn’t true.
Even those that feel the call to evangelize do so mostly in safe places only. Recently a Catholic woman told me that she has been teaching R.E. for 20-something years and that is how she evangelized, even though she never talked about faith outside the classroom at her parish. This is the definition of safe evangelization. Inside the walls of our churches and homes, but never to others.
If we don’t talk about God outside the walls of our parish (or our own safe Catholic / family bubble), we simply aren’t living out the mandate to evangelize! How can we makes disciples of all nations, if we never go to them or never engage them in meaningful conversations? How do we expect to become saints when we aren’t even doing the most basic part of what Jesus commanded us to do?
“Above all, you can be evangelizers, and no one can take your place, where уоu study, and in your work and your free time. So many of those of your own age do not know Christ, or do not know Him well enough. So you cannot remain silent and indifferent! You must have the courage to speak about Christ, to bear witness to your faith through a life-style inspired by the Gospel. St Paul wrote: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1Cor 9:16). The harvest is great indeed for evangelization and so many workers are needed. Christ trusts you and counts on your collaboration.”
-Saint Pope John Paul II
A lack of mission stunts our growth in holiness. It may prevent us from becoming saints. It is a sin of omission. We need to repent, cast of the lies of the enemy and start to share Jesus with the world!
I myself needed to grow as an evangelist, so I could become holier. This realization jarred me out of my comfort zone and rattled me for a while. But ultimately, it has helped me grow in holiness, as I grow as an evangelist.
Our work as evangelists will look very different. Some will be humble service to the marginalized. Some will be more vocal. All will share faith explicitly. But tweeting about Jesus while never inviting your (literal) neighbor to dinner isn’t going to cut it and we need to admit it.
TWO IN ONE
Holiness is not achievable by our own merits or hard work, but only by cooperating with the grace that God provides to us through the sacramental life. Therefore, holiness is not so much what we are doing, but what we allow God to do through us. The same is true with evangelization. As in all things in the spiritual life, we must start with the proper recognition of God and ourselves. In doing so, we see we must become more humble and loving. Humility and charity are the two most foundational virtues and the ones that are the beginning of all the other virtues. We don’t convert anyone, it is all God’s doing.
As Padre Pio said –
“[Humility and charity] are the mothers of the virtues; the other virtues follow them like chicks follow their mother.”
To truly be an effective witness for Christ we must do as Christ taught us. He healed, he preached, he resisted the powerful, he ate with sinners, he went to the margins, he served others, he loved the world, and so much more.
Still, this isn’t the heart of his witness. His acts were a reflection of a perfect interior life. A perfect holiness. This is what we are called to do as well. Live in union with God and then reflect his grace to the world that needs it.
Christ loved sacrificially and calls us to do the same. To witness to our family, our friends, our co-workers, and everyone else, we must be willing to die to our own will sometimes. Even though most of us in our society today are not called to a bloody martyrdom, we are still all called to die to our selfish and sinful desires. If we are truly to follow Christ’s examples, then we must live a life of sacrifice.
“Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness.” -Paul VI, EN, 21
The witness of the Christian is done by conforming our human will to the divine will of Jesus. In living out our faith daily, we point to the one that gives us the strength, joy, and love that draws people to seek what it is that makes the Christian “tick.” This cannot be done without growth in holiness, prayer, conversion, and continually choosing to say “yes” to God’s grace that is given in order to make us holy saints, who evangelize the world.
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