32. Called to evangelize the poor
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always—yes, to the end of time.
Matthew 28:19-20
The Congregation of the Mission, from the time of its founder, and under his inspiration, recognizes that it is called by God to carry out the work of evangelizing the poor.
Constitutions, 10
The birth of the Congregation happened like this: God created the work and Saint Vincent de Paul followed God’s inspirations calling him to preach the Gospel to the poor. As a result of God’s call, all the members of the Company fulfill this mission when they participate in the work of evangelizing the poor. This mission consists in bearing witness to Jesus’ Resurrection, to his saving presence and to his message of liberation. In this way all nations are made disciples of the Lord.
1. We Are Called
Saint Vincent was very clear when he explained the purpose of the Congregation: like Jesus, we have all been called by God to preach Good News to the poor.
We are called. Yes, Our Lord invites us to preach the Gospel to the poor; that is what he did, and that is what he desires us to do. Let us humble ourselves and give thanks to the Eternal Father who has called us to work in the same Mission as his Son: preaching Good News to the poor. Jesus’ preaching was a sign that he was the Son of God and that the long-awaited Messiah had come. Let us rejoice and be glad, as we become intimately identified with Jesus in this mission of proclaiming Good News. Let us rejoice and be glad because God has chosen us from among so many, many others who seem more worthy of this honor and more capable of succeeding in it1.
2. Evangelization Means Bearing Witness to God, Revealed in Jesus Christ
Paragraph 10 of our Constitutions, which is the object of this reflection, focuses on that work which is proper to the Congregation—evangelizing the poor. It is important, therefore, to know all the elements implied in the term “evangelize,” keeping in mind that:
Preaching the Good News has an essential content, the living substance of the message which the Church proclaims. This content cannot be modified or ignored without seriously diluting the nature of evangelization itself. We should remember these significant points: to evangelize first of all means bearing witness, in a simple and direct way, to the God revealed in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit; bearing witness to the fact that God has loved the world in his Son and that in the Incarnate Word, the Father has given life to all things, and has called everyone to eternal life. Perhaps this will be an announcement of a God who, for many people, is an unknown God, a God whom they adore without knowing his name, a God whom they seek when the experience of the emptiness of their idols makes their hearts cry out. We evangelize when we manifest the truth that, for the human person, the Creator is not some anonymous or remote power: instead, he is Father: ‘… that we should be called children of God; and so we are’ (1 John 3:1). Therefore, we are one another’s brothers and sisters in God2.
3. In Jesus Christ All Have Been Offered Salvation
The above cited Apostolic Exhortation of Paul VI continues developing a central point on evangelization which is most necessary for missionaries:
Evangelization will also always contain—as the foundation, center, and, at the same time, summit of its dynamism—a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy. And the gift is not an immanent salvation, meeting material or even spiritual needs, nor restricted to the framework of temporal existence and completely identified with temporal desires, hopes, and struggles; rather, it is a salvation which exceeds all these limits in order to reach fulfillment in communion with the one and only divine Absolute: a transcendent and ultimate salvation, which indeed has its beginning in this life but which is fulfilled in eternity3.
- Do I respond promptly to every invitation to evangelize the poor, regardless of their material or spiritual circumstances?
- Do I work hard at proclaiming the Good News in a simple and direct way?
- Do I try to make my work a proclamation of the Good News?
Prayer:
O God, you have called the Congregation of the Mission to evangelize the poor. Make all of us faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ, whose only mission in this world was to save all people. Help those whom you have called to make all nations disciples of your Son. We pray in the name of Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.