We’ve all heard the adage, and perhaps used it ourselves: Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words. Erroneously attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, this line has helped many of us comfort ourselves when we feel uncomfortable talking directly to someone else about Jesus Christ. It wasn’t actually necessary just then, right? My actions probably said it better anyway. In full disclosure, I also lean more heavily on my actions than my words.
While there is something to simply living the Christian life in public and letting it spark curiosity in others, there comes a time for words. As St. Peter reminds us, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Peter 3:15). Now, if we let ourselves off the hook so that we don’t have to speak directly, we should also admit that others are most likely to ask us for a reason for our hope without using those exact words, or indeed any words. So what exactly is our explanation?
The answer to this question is the Gospel, the good news that is the reason for our hope. Sharing this good news is the most basic aspect of evangelization. Pope St. Paul VI reminded the modern world that, “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed.” (On Evangelization in the Modern World, no. 22). Jesus Christ is the core of the message, and the message is all about a relationship with him.
We don’t necessarily need to recount all of his miracles and retell each of his parables when a neighbor more or less asks us why our family lives so differently than others. But we ought to have a simple, core message prepared (again, see 1 Peter 3:15), especially if we think we’re preaching the Gospel all the time without words by the way we live our lives. We should expect to have to provide the explanation. The Gospel, also called the kerygma, has four essential components that we want to find a way to express in our own words.
Each one of us was created for relationship. We exist to know and to be known. It is our deepest ache and our most intense longing. We sometimes do silly or self-destructive things in our pursuit of relationships. This is our deepest longing because we are made in the image of a God who is eternal relationship: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He made us to be in relationship, first with himself and second with each other. This desire is at the core of our hesitation to share the Gospel with others; we don’t want to be rejected or to make an existing relationship awkward.
God wants each one of us to be with him forever. God isn’t looking for an excuse to punish us. He invites us to trust him as our Creator and Father who knows what will make us happy and what will not. He wants us to choose to be with him, just like each of us wants to be chosen by others. God doesn’t just want to spend some time with us on Friday night or go on vacation together. He wants to be with us, each one of us, forever.
Jesus Christ provides the only way to be in right relationship with God. Jesus is God who became man in order to die on the Cross to take away our sins. He paid an eternal debt that no solely human person could pay. And he taught us about how we were meant to live, to treat others, and to prioritize God in our lives. As God-made-man, he is fundamentally different from every sage, seer, and guru.
Jesus founded the Church to help us encounter him and live differently. The Church exists to tell others about Jesus and to provide a community of his followers where people can encounter him, especially through the sacraments that he established. The Church also continually echoes Jesus’ teachings about how to live and how to find true and lasting happiness. Jesus wants to live with us, to live inside of us, and so he provides the sacraments through his Church.
Why do you go to church every Sunday morning? Why does your family have dinner together every night? Why aren’t your kids allowed to watch certain shows and movies that other kids watch? Why don’t you say “Oh my God” like everyone else? Why are you such a stickler about telling the truth? Why don’t you use artificial contraception? It’s because you are striving to live the life that Jesus promised would lead to your ultimate happiness in this life and in the next.
