God’s Unceasing Call to Evangelization

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 9/22/05)

This homily was given by Bishop Loverde for the 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Saturday evening, Sept. 17, at St. James Church in Falls Church.

As we listened to the proclamation of the gospel moments ago, we heard Jesus once again teaching us by using a parable. The parable’s central point is that God’s love for us is so overwhelmingly generous and free that it simply cannot be understood or measured by human standards. God desires that all people be saved and so He sent His Only-begotten Son to redeem us from sin and eternal death. Salvation can never be earned; it remains always God’s free gift to each one of us. Obviously, He will not force us to accept His love; He awaits our free consent. But He never stops inviting us to come to Him, to enter His Kingdom and to receive the gift of salvation. In a word, until our earthly life ends with death, it is never too late to respond to His call. How clear this point is in today’s parable: the landowner went all day long, at dawn, about nine o’clock, around noon and around three o’clock and finally, about five o’clock. How unlike us is our God, for He gives His gift of salvation freely to everyone who accepts, even at the last hour.

Today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah echoes the fact that it is never too late to respond to God’s invitation: "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call Him while He is near." The Psalm Refrain likewise affirms this: "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him."

What we are hearing, not only today, but whenever God’s Living Word is being proclaimed, is the Good News of salvation. Jesus is Lord and He reveals to us God’s faithful and abiding love. He came to open the way for us to return to our Father’s house, where there is fullness of life and unconditional love forever.

This good news of God’s love and of our being redeemed by Jesus Christ must be proclaimed unceasingly in every generation. Is this not what evangelization means? Indeed, as Pope Paul VI so clearly taught in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, "Evangelization means bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself." (18). The Lord Jesus instituted the Church as the instrument of evangelization. Again, to quote Pope John Paul VI," Evangelization is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists to evangelize." (14).

Since you and I are members of the Church, we are missioned by Christ to evangelize others as well as to be evangelized ourselves. In a document written by the Bishops of the United States and entitled Go and Make Disciples, we (bishops) pointed to the first focus of evangelization in these words: "To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm in their faith, that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others…Priority must be given to continued and renewed formation in the faith as the basis of our deepening personal relationship with Jesus (47).

Where does this first focus of evangelization take place? In the parish! It is within this local and tangible expression of the Church that we grow in our personal relationship with Jesus, in love for His Church and for the precious gift of our Catholic Faith, and in service to others, both within the household of faith and beyond it. Daily prayer and the celebration of the sacraments, especially Penance and Holy Eucharist; formation in faith at all levels; and charitable outreach to those in need: in these fundamental ways, we are ourselves evangelized and evangelize others.

Among the internal structures of the parish, the one which serves as a particularly apt instrument of evangelization is the Catholic schools. Some years ago, our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II explicitly referred to the evangelizing purpose of the Catholic schools. "… Catholic educational institutions need to reaffirm the responsibility to evangelize and catechize, fully meeting the demanding task of presenting the Word of God in all its strength"(Address to Canadian Bishops). And if the Catholic institution of higher learning is an important and necessary instrument of genuine evangelization, the same can be said of Catholic schools on the elementary and high school levels.

This parish’s Catholic school, the largest parish school in our diocese, is marking one hundred years of providing Catholic education to the children of Falls Church and the neighboring areas. The Centennial Committee has planned a series of events to celebrate this milestone in the school’s history. I am truly privileged to be with you this evening as we give thanks to God for the enduring blessing which St. James School has been – and with God’s graces, will continue to be. How grateful we all are to the clergy, who have ministered faithfully to God’s People in this community since 1873, when this parish was established as a mission of St. Mary’s Parish in Alexandria, and later, in 1892, as an independent parish. How grateful we are as well to the religious and laity, who have administered and taught in our parish school throughout these one hundred years. We especially give thanks to Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who taught here until 1923, and to the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who have been here ever since.

Yes, for 100 years, forming young people in the Catholic faith and enabling them to become faith-filled disciples of Jesus and articulate members of His Church has been the purpose of this parish school. Earlier generations may not have used the word "evangelization", but the reality of evangelization has been happening here ever since the beginning.

Our God keeps inviting people to come to Him. His call to grace and to salvation never ceases. He is inviting us now to deepen our response to His call, freely given in love – to be evangelized. He is commissioning us now as laborers in the vineyard to invite others to come to Jesus, who is their Lord and Savior – to evangelize. May we respond with generous hearts, so that He may use us as instruments of His evangelizing mission.

Moreover, may this parish school continue to be for generations yet to come, a concrete and tangible instrument for evangelization. In God’s providence, through all that takes place in our parish school, may young people become so deepened with the love of God that they and their families will live their faith fully and draw others to come to Jesus, who is Lord now and forever. Amen!

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