The Religious as Evangelizer Today

Our Holy Father Pope Francis has given a new emphasis to the Church’s ministry of evangelization. Right after his inauguration he said to evangelize these days is to go the fringes of society, the peripheries, he calls it. These are the areas where the poorest of the poor live in misery; these are places of abandoned, the sick and the oppressed; the place also of the unbeliever, the atheist.  Their situation is one of violence, not just physical but also social.

Our social analysis helps us know who these poor are, where they can be found, and why are they poor and unacceptable. But how does the religious man or woman evangelize in this situation?

If we understand Pope Francis, he expects the consecrated religious not just to be with the poor but also to be poor herself/himself. This style of life has been, is being, carried out by certain missionaries and catechists, religious and lay, in certain mission areas including here in Mindanao. They evangelize by their good example, simple, humble, compassionate, kind, courageous, long-suffering, and even death.

They edify, touch, impress, and even evangelize us, we who are just watching and observing. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide and strengthen them, and make their life evangelically fruitful.

This has implication for formation in seminaries and houses of formation for religious. The Pope has already made comments on lifestyle of seminarians, priests, religious and bishops. I still need to read the CBCP Pastoral Exhortation “Glad Tidings to the Poor” which was issued Jan. 27.