Proclaim the Good News of Christ

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

CONSIDER the great and overwhelming joy Mary Magdalene and the other Mary felt when they discovered the resurrection of Christ. (cfr. Mt 28,8) They ran, very eager to spill the Good News to Christ’s disciples.

Let’s hope that we too can have the same joy and eagerness to share the Good News that covers all of the Christ’s redemptive mission. For this, let us acquire the necessary qualities and competencies that would make this proclamation of the Good News credible and easily acceptable to the people.

I imagine that among the qualities and competencies of a good and credible proclaimer of the Good News would be a life of deep spirituality that should spring from a profound connection with the divine life of God. This should bring inner peace, self-awareness and a strong unity of life.

We should aspire to reach that point when we can feel that the following words of Christ to his disciples can also be applied to us: “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who reject Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Lk 10,16)

Obviously, that would only be possible if we truly have a life of prayer, together with an increasing understanding the doctrine of Christ that should be supported by well-grounded theological training. We should see to it that our prayer would truly be an actual encounter with Christ and that we manage to listen to him and to take to heart what he is telling us.

We should also learn how to be articulate and eloquent in discussing the content of our Christian faith. Thus, we should always feel the need for continuous study of the doctrine of our faith which, while it is old, will always also be new. Our faith will always offer something new for us to learn. We can never say we have learned all of it already.

Yes, we have to develop a passion for evangelization, which is not only a matter of transmitting some doctrine but rather that of transmitting to the people the very life and spirit of Christ.

We need to be most aware of our duty to evangelize, to do apostolate, seeing to it that for it is always nourished, stoked and fanned to its most intense degree.

We know that before ascending into heaven, Christ told his apostles, and now to us: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…” (Mt 28,18-19)

We have to understand that these parting words of Christ represent his culminating and ultimate desire for our redemption. We can say that all he did in his earthly life—his preaching, doing miracles, his dying—get somehow summarized in this one great desire of God.

That’s because the divine work of human redemption continues. It cannot stop. This time though, it is done with our cooperation, since if we are incorporated into him through baptism and in the Spirit, we can’t avoid getting involved in God’s plans and actions.

The realization of this crucial aspect of our Christian life gives meaning and perspective to our whole life and everything contained in it. It puts our life in the right orbit.

We should give everything to this duty to evangelize, always trusting in God’s providence, assuming always a sporting and adventurous outlook that would greatly facilitate the carrying out of this duty.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com