Unafraid to proclaim the Good News

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

AFTER the resurrection of Christ, the guards of the tomb went to the chief priests to report what had happened. But they were told, obviously to deny again the divinity of Christ, that his body was stolen and to spread that lie to explain why Christ’s body could not be found anymore.

It is important that we proclaim with conviction the resurrection of Christ, because even if there are many elements that can show Christ’s divinity and his claim to be our savior, his resurrection constitutes the most convincing proof of this truth about him.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms, “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross.” (638)

And it adds: “The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness.” (639)

We should have no doubt about Christ’s resurrection so that we can have it as a driving force to our efforts to spread the Good News about everything that Christ has taught us about ourselves and about everything else.

Especially nowadays when a good part of the world is distancing itself from God, from faith and religion, due to its apparent growth of power due to the advances in the sciences and technologies, there is a great need to bring Christ at the center of all our human affairs.

Thus, we need to constantly and forcefully proclaim the gospel where the truth about Christ and ourselves can be found. After all, proclaiming the gospel is one central duty of every follower of Christ. In fact, our Lord told his disciples just before ascending into heaven: “Go into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16,15)

Though addressed directly to his disciples, we have to understand that these words are meant also, in varying degrees and ways, to all of us, members of Christ’s mystical body, his Church.

We just have to feel the unfading urgency of this command, and overcome whatever prejudice or obstacle that may still keep us from undertaking this important work.

We should echo St. Paul’s sentiments: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Cor 9,16) Like St. Paul, we need to relish the full weight with which Christ commissioned him to fulfill this task.

We just have to understand also that proclaiming the gospel is not just an intellectual affair. It involves our whole being, and it requires nothing less than our conversion, and not just our attaining knowledge and familiarization of Christ’s words.

In other words, proclaiming the gospel requires our living it, that is, living the very life of Christ who said: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” (Jn 3,16)

Proclaiming the gospel requires assimilating it, identifying ourselves with it, making it the flesh of our flesh. It should not just be a possession, a property that we can have and then dispose. It has to be our very own life.