We need to learn to talk about our faith.
In the Gospel, Jesus predicts his own death, after he is transfigured on mountain Tabor. The father’s voice came from heaven affirming Jesus as his son, just as he did when Jesus was baptized. “Here is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
All of us are called to talk about what God has done for us. Fr. Steve reads a passage from Pope Paul the Sixth's 1975 encyclical, Evangelii Nuntiandi. The command to the twelve to go out and spread the good news is a word for us also. Fr. Steve tells of his own experience of being Catholic, but without knowing Jesus. Knowing the love of God is the goal of the gospel.
Billy Graham died a few days ago. As Fr. Steve commends him, even though he was not a Catholic, because he was aware of the core of the gospel in a way that many Catholics aren’t.
The task of evangelizing the world is the essential to the mission of the Church. And if we are not evangelizing we are not the Church. We cannot afford not to preach the good news, because we will be judged on whether we have helped people to come into a relationship with God. We all need to have that life-transforming encounter with the Lord Jesus. Some of us may think we don’t know enough to talk about our faith. We can learn.
Some faithful Catholics who go to mass regularly will still end up in hell. Better to leave the Catholic Church and know the one who comes to save you than to stay in the Church and go to hell. Billy Graham couldn’t stop talking about the Lord. We should take a leaf out of his book and begin to talk about our faith.
Many people will not turn to the Lord unless WE tell them the good news. And if we have not yet experienced God in a profound way, we should pray and ask the Lord to fill us so that we can share that experience with others. If we spread this message we will hear God’s words to us at the end of our lives: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master."
