Evangelization, Old and New

Lately, it seems that everywhere I look I'm reminded that being a Christian is a calling that's very simple, and very difficult. Simple, because the commands that the Lord Jesus gave us, and expects us to follow, can be understood by anyone of almost any intelligence level; difficult, because it generally costs something to follow those commands.

I recently watched the movie, 'Paul, Apostle of Christ'. It gave a sometimes rather graphic depiction of the horrible persecution that the first Christians in Rome endured under Emperor Nero. Look up the historical origin of the term 'Roman candles' sometime. Yeah, that's what they were up against. And there were many other, equally appalling, things done to them.

Yet these believers never wavered or backed down from spreading the story of salvation through Jesus. Despite the terror they lived with daily, they were so fully convinced of the truth of the resurrection, and the eternal reward that awaited them, and the rightness of this new way of life, that they willingly faced these trials. 

The first-century Christians weren't the only ones to undergo this kind of persecution, either; the hellish war on Christian believers has continued down through the centuries to our own time. In our world, the hatred of Christianity and its adherents has ramped up to levels not seen in many decades. My heart breaks when I hear what's being done to our brothers and sisters in the middle-East, especially in places like Iraq. For them, it's the first century all over again. And like those first believers, they still hold fast to the faith.

All of this brings to my mind the fact that I've never in my life known what it means to be hungry or homeless or hated - or even uncomfortable. Not once. And that brings to mind the notion of evangelization. Simple, but difficult. The Roman Christians of old and the Iraqi Christians of today continue to evangelize, just by the way they live their lives. But, so often, opportunities to share the faith with others go by the board because of fear - not fear of torture and death - that's not going to happen in this country, in this time - but just fear of being slightly uncomfortable. 

I once had the privilege of hearing Cardinal Sean O'Malley give a homily in which he pointed out that Peter, the Rock, who swore to Jesus that he'd never betray Him, crumpled like a piece of paper when confronted by a waitress with an attitude. I can relate.....but we're called to be the front line of foot-soldiers in a New Evangelization. As far as I can tell, none of us who call ourselves Christian are exempt from this call.

The New Evangelization, to my mind, isn't any different from the Old Evangelization - we who hold this precious treasure of the Christian faith are called to go out daily and lay it on the line, despite whatever it costs us, to proclaim to everyone we encounter the message of those first Christians: 'Jesus, the Christ, is risen!' Simple - and difficult.