January 23, 2004
Make disciples of all men
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
- - Matthew 28:19-20
This is the great commission of Christ to his apostles, who are now the bishops of the Catholic Church. The question is: what is the responsibility of a normal Christian (a lay person) in this respect? Our charity and concern for others leads us to want to help save the souls of others and correct them from error, which is basically the point of this site.
There are three possible ways to work towards another person’s salvation:
- Prayer. Clearly this is the most important way to help another. Only by the gift of the Holy Spirit can anyone be lead to truth (it is a moral issue, not an intellectual one).
- Example. We must be the example of Christ to others. In essence, we become salt so that others may be thirsty (Matt 5:13).
- Action. If someone says something incorrect, we can correct them. We can even reach out to those who do not realize they are doing something contrary to Christ’s teachings.
The debate has always centered on the last issue: do we have an obligation to help those who are in error in a direct way? I think we do. If we truly love others, then we will want to reach out to them. As we do to the least of God’s creatures, we do to Him. God has sent us into the world and occasionally He sends someone into our path. To pray for that person is noble and right, but to openly offer them the truth is more courageous. It involves standing up for your beliefs and being able to defend them.
From a personal standpoint, this is an important issue to me. I was a protestant actively seeking Truth. I wanted to know and do what was right. If others had not shown me the truth, I may have never known (Acts 8:30-31). If those around me had simply prayed for me (this is faith without works), I may never have found out. Can we honestly say to God, “I prayed that you would help that person, but I said nothing – my prayer was enough?” God may reply, “I did help them, I sent you to tell them the Truth.”
Just something to consider in our daily lives as we come into contact with so many who need our help. The Navarre Bible reading on today’s Gospel brought this post out, and I think the notes have an excellent point:
Life in union with Christ and apostolic zeal must be very closely linked together; in other words, effectiveness in apostolate always depends on union with our Lord, on continuous prayer and on sacramental life: "Apostolic zeal is a divine craziness I want you to have. Its symptoms are: hunger to know the Master; constant concern for souls; perseverance that nothing can shake" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 934).
May we all have hunger to know the Master, constant concern for souls, and perseverance that nothing can shake.
God bless,
Jay
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Acts 3:16, gold and silver i have not, but i can share Jesus Christ with you, get up and walk. the man in this story was not allowed into the temple because of his condition, nevertheless he showed up everyday not for the money but for the healing. charity is not the cure, Jesus is. that's what the man was looking for. John and Peter (outside of the church) with the power of the Holy Spirit gave the beggar all that he ever needed. life through Jesus. that's a perfect example of how to make disciples.
Posted by: Paul Baccus at January 29, 2004 06:26 PM
