BY FR. ROY CIMAGALA
LIKE Christ, we should be very eager to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. As the gospel narrates, Christ went from one town to another village to preach. And with him were his apostles and some women, somehow reminding us all that this duty of proclaiming the Gospel is incumbent on everyone of us. (cfr. Lk 8, 1-3)
We should deeply feel this urge to carry out this Christian duty. We should follow what St. Paul said once, “preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Tim 4, 2)
We just have to learn how to master the gospel in the sense of truly imbibing its spirit. This will, of course, involve a lot of study and the lifelong effort to incarnate the living word of God in us. And we also have to study how to present this living word of God with the gift of tongue, such that we can effectively connect with all kinds and classes of people — the young and the old, the intellectual and manual workers, men and women, etc.
While there is always a need to come out with some serious and deep presentation of the Word of God, properly supported by the auxiliary sciences of philosophy, theology, etc., we should also know how to present the Word in the common language of the people today, especially the young ones.
Like Christ who used parables and other literary devices to convey the sublime doctrine of our faith, we should also know how to use certain devices — memes, the so-called “hugot” lines, stories — that are appropriate.
And nowadays, let us make use of the many powerful technologies that can be used as the pulpit for the whole world. We should be active in the cyberworld which is practically the new Areopagus today.
And just as we spend a lot of time studying and meditating on the gospel or the catechism, for example, we should also spend some ample time with the people in general to know how they are, what their concerns are, how they are thinking, etc. Only then would we know how to proclaim the Gospel in an effective way. As St. Paul told us, we should try our best to be “all things to all men.” (cfr. 1 Cor 9, 22)
Definitely, a lot of experimentation and trial-and-error would be involved here. And so, we should just be game enough to handle this unavoidable condition. As long as we pray, as long as our spiritual life is strong, we would not get lost even if we commit some mistakes along the way.
Everyday, we should determine a specific doctrine of our faith, drawn from the living word of God, that we can present to our friends and to people in general. In fact, we should make a daily plan of how to carry out this duty of proclaiming the Good News effectively.
For this, we need to look for the appropriate time and place. We have to be wary of our tendency to be dominated by a lifestyle of activism and pragmatism that would blunt our need for recollection and immersion in the life of Christ.
The drama of Christ’s life here on earth has to continue in our own life. Thus, we need to continually conform our mind and heart to the Gospel, an affair that demands everything from us. Only then can we proclaim the Good News effectively./PN
