Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
March 6, 2002
Christians change the world one heart at a time
If lived, the Gospel has the power to shake the world's foundations
Here's a simple but maybe uncomfortable Lenten thought: If the world isn't a better place — if the world doesn't know Jesus Christ — don't blame God. Instead, we should each take a good look in the mirror, because we're the ones responsible.
Carrying on the work of Jesus Christ is what we're here for. That's why God created us. That's our mission as His children. In fact, the mission statement of the Catholic faith hasn't changed in 2,000 years. We can look it up in Matthew 28: 19-20:
"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
Reflect on that passage for a moment.
First, it's not a suggestion or request. It's a command. It's a mandate. If we say we believe in Jesus Christ, we have to preach the Gospel. We have to teach the faith.
Second, Jesus isn't talking to somebody else. He's talking to you and me. "Go and make disciples of all nations" couldn't be more personal. Jesus wants you. Evangelizing is not just a job for "professionals." We're all the professionals by virtue of our baptism.
Third, if Jesus speaks to each of us personally, it's because each of us personally makes a difference. God didn't create us by accident. He made us to know Him, love Him and serve Him. That means He asks us to help Him sanctify this world, and to share His joy in the next. The biggest lie of our century is that mass culture is so big and so complicated that an individual can't make a difference. That's false. That's the Enemy's propaganda, and we should never believe it.
If Christians were powerless, the world wouldn't feel the need to turn them into martyrs. We need to remember that the Gospel has the power to shake the foundations of the world. But it can't do anything unless it is lived, preached and taught by you and me. This is why the simplest Christian is the truest and most effective revolutionary. The Christian changes the world by changing one heart at a time.
Fourth, Jesus doesn't ask the impossible. If He tells us to make disciples of all nations, it's because it can be done. Nothing is impossible with God. When St. Paul began his work, conversion of the Roman world seemed impossible. But it happened. The lesson is: Don't worry about the odds. They don't concern us. Just begin the work. If it's His work, God will do the rest.
Fifth, "Go and make disciples of all nations" means all nations — the whole world and all its peoples. Jesus is not just "an" answer for some people. Or "the" answer for Western culture. He's not just a teacher like Buddha, or a prophet like Muhammad. He's the Son of God. And what that means is this: Jesus is the answer for every person, in every time, in every nation. If anyone is saved, he is saved only through Jesus Christ, whether he knows the name of Jesus or not.
The bottom line is this: Our mission is to advance God's work of redeeming and sanctifying the world, and to bring all people to salvation in Jesus Christ. That's our mission in community as a Church; and individually as believers. We own it. We can't delegate it away. And it's the same mission today as it was a hundred years ago, 500 years ago and 1,000 years ago.
People often say the Church has a vocations crisis. And they're right. We do. But it's not a lack of priests or religious, although we certainly do need more priests and religious. It's a lack of laypersons who understand their faith and want to live it fully. Families on fire with the faith create the environment where young people can hear God's call to priesthood or religious life. If the Church needs more priests and sisters, laypersons have the answer.
I've always been a film buff, and one of my favorite movies is "The Mission." One character in "The Mission" is a cardinal who travels from Rome to Latin America to settle a colonial dispute between Catholic Spain and Catholic Portugal. In trying to protect what he sees as the interests of the Church, he betrays the native people, who are then enslaved by the colonizers.
Of course, later he's eaten up by guilt. And one of the local officials tries to console him by saying, "Don't be too hard on yourself, Eminence. We must live in the world, and the world is thus." The cardinal answers him, "No, Señor Cabezas — thus have we made the world. Thus have I made it."
The world we deal with today is the world each of us helped to make. Do we like it? Are we satisfied? Or does it need conversion?
These are vital questions, because our choices and our actions will make the world more of the same — or something different and beautiful for God.
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