Last Sunday we heard in the gospel reading about the mission of the apostles sent by Jesus two by two to announce the gospel. Well, for our secularized and pragmatic mentality this kind of mission may seem completely pointless and crazy. In the end, the disciples went without any human resources: no money, no car, no appointments, no food. There were to trust completely on God’s providence. In our times we avoid any form of improvising, we want to be effective, efficient and prepared. And yet, to many’s surprise, the Twelve not only returned happy recounting what had happened, their missionary work turned out to be very fruitful and be received unexpectedly well.

As a priest I participate quite often in discussions addressing the question of evangelization in this age of secularization. In our society we can see less and less people practicing their faith. We ask ourselves, how we can reach out to them. How can the message of salvation be brought to those who seemed to be completely indifferent to any religious experience. Certainly, this is a vast and complex topic which cannot have only one and simple answer. However, some time ago I came across a formula which might be helpful to find a right direction to this compound problem. It goes this way: language, identity, community, mission.

According to this formula the language comes first, in a sense of connecting with the real and authentic problems of the person. This is a basic truth exploited by all sorts of media today. They try to convince us that the narrative they present is the right one. We, like the apostles, have been sent to announce the word of God which comes to enlighten our deep existential reality. The first challenge that we face as Christians is to connect our lives with the biblical stories that seem so remote from our contemporary experience and sensitivity. However, this word is prophetic, in a sense, that it is able to answer to our concrete existential problems in a new and surprising way.

When we begin to find that connection that leads us to discover slowly our new identity as God’s redeemed people. The more we experience the transforming power of the word of God in our lives supported by the sacraments, the more we are willing to engage with it. And little by little that leads us to discover that there are other people who have similar experience and like us have found similar answers. That spontaneously creates a relationship and a sense of being united in the community of faith.

The fruit of that saving experience is mission as our response to the gifts gratuitously received. This is exactly what happened to the apostles if we read their story in the gospels carefully. As it happened for the last two thousand years, so also today the Church takes up again the task of evangelization. Its message is always the same: the joy of encountering Jesus Christ in our lives.