The New Evangelization

Homily for April 17, 2016 (4th Sunday of Easter; World Day of Prayer for Vocations)
Acts 13:14, 43-52; Psalm 100; Revelation 7, 14b-17; John 10:27-30

Shepherds have been living and working in Mali, West Africa for centuries.  Over a quarter of the nation’s land is used for pasture, and there is a constant search for suitable grazing land.  This search is especially acute because Mali, which is nearly twice the size of Texas, has large portions of desert and semi-arid land.  Today, however, the shepherds in Mali have an extra hand:  GPS.  Global positioning satellites are helping shepherds in Mali who care for sheep and goats as well as those farmers who have other cattle to find the optimum grazing areas for their animals throughout the year.

In biblical times there was no GPS as we know it.  But there was another kind:  God’s Perfect Son.  Unlike the GPS of today the Good Shepherd was not only able to locate the sheep entrusted to him but to testify:  “I know them, and they follow me….No one can take them out of my hand…and no one can take them out of my Father’s hand.”

That’s something that we need to remember and rely upon, especially when following Jesus tests us.  In our reading from Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas proclaimed God’s word in the synagogue in Antioch, where they “urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God.”  The two initially had great success.  But very quickly they faced strong, even violent, opposition from some in the community; and when they broadened their mission to the gentiles, that opposition became even more virulent and they were kicked out of the territory.  All they could do was to shake the dust from their sandals and continue on their mission.

In the New Evangelization all of us—clergy, religious and lay, men and women, married and single, young and old—share in the mission to proclaim the gospel in some way.  Paul and Barnabas gave us a good model to follow:  share the Good News; affirm the grace of God where it is present (and it’s often present more than we think); expect that some will accept the message (or the messenger) and some will not; and move on.

This pattern has been repeated throughout the centuries, and it has built up a global community of faith—well over 1 billion Catholics worldwide.  Yet today as in the past, some of our brothers and sisters face opposition, discrimination and persecution.  In some countries, particularly those where Christians are in the minority, that persecution can be deadly.

On Easter Sunday, over 70 people (most of them women and children) were killed and over 300 injured in a park in Lahore, Pakistan when a man in a suicide vest blew himself up.  A faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, admitting that they targeted Christians.  Ironically, most of those killed were Muslims.

Those who have been martyred are now “great multitude” in heaven, people “from every nation, race, people and tongue” as John envisioned in the Book of Revelation.  We remember them in our prayers and work to promote respect for religious freedom throughout the world.  On this, our World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we also recall that such a precious freedom is of little value if we fail to live our faith and the calling that we have to be like Paul and Barnabas:  proclaimers of the Good News, each according to the gifts that God has given us. +