Fr. Richard OMOLADE

Throughout the Easter season, we have encountered the apostles and disciples as they went about bearing witness to the Risen Christ. For them, bearing witness to the Risen Lord was a delightful task, hence they spared no resources, time and energy to ensure that they shared the news of Christ resurrection with the rest of the world. Just like that, following the appearance of the Risen Lord to them, the apostles became fearless men, spoke of Christ boldly, preferring to die rather than betray their Lord once more. Now that they have encountered the Risen Lord, their life changed in remarkable ways.  Death is not to be feared, life is lived in love and service and those who have not heard the good news must hear it and only witnesses can become effective messengers.

Evangelization is still the task of the Church if he takes the salvation of souls seriously. Effective evangelization is not just preaching, it is about sharing life, sharing one’s life with others as authentically as Christ himself would have done. Personal witnessing is thus the process of living simply like Christ that words are no longer necessary. The Christian life is so much like Christ that the Christian becomes the living sermon that the people hear and see and are moved to encounter the one who has brought such remarkable transformation into the life the Christian. With the current state of the world, a new evangelization is much in need. Wars abound in many places; hatred persists and poverty reigns supreme. These are not recipe for peace or true human development, no wonder many people are in distress and gloom hangs over nation. Jesus is the good news to be spread, the joy to share, the hope to sow and only Christian witnesses can bring this about in the world.

Christian witnessing is about personal witnessing, that is, the way individuals live their life as true Christians. Yes, talk is cheap and common. People can quote Bible passages and be far away from Jesus. The real task of Christian witnessing is to live in such fashion that we mirror the very life of Jesus to the people around us and this has become a herculean task. Thus, if we hope to convert the world, if we want to win the world for God, we must win one soul at a time by showing them the face of Jesus in our interactions with them.

At a time when many question whether God still exists or cares about them, it behooves on Christians to answer yes, by living appropriately. Hence, St. Francis of Assisi said a long time ago “Preach the Good news, if necessary, use words.” In other words, the preaching of the good news must take place constantly in the course of our daily life, hence the form of preaching being referred to here is the beauty of daily life grounded in God. If we live authentically for God, living a life of love, love of God and love of neighbour, it should not be difficult to win them for God. Preaching with words will thus not be necessary and all the challenges associated with this form of preaching would have been eliminated.

In a world where content creator shape behaviours, attitude and spending patterns, we need image makers more than ever before.  We need more of Martin Luther king Jr, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Carlo Acutis, Maria Goretti, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and many other inspirational persons as models for the people of our time. Models available to people should not just be musicians, political revolutionaries, but also moral models, servant leaders whose life speaks volume about the quality of their character and the heroic nature of the struggles they weathered to achieve their inspirational life.

The early disciples of Jesus were called Christians because of the testimony of their life – they lived in accordance with what they professed. Their life was a good reflection of their faith. In them, the society saw Jesus and marveled at the coherence.  Christians must discover this approach to life again.  Jesus is often referred to as a charismatic leader, but it is his compassion for people, his love for the poor, the fortitude that shaped this decision and the consistency of all these has endeared him to people of all ages.

While we are not Jesus nor have the grace of his life, but his exemplary life is a motivation to urge us to be like him. To achieve this goal, pastors and preachers must put before the people the example of Jesus. Pastors must speak about values our society needs today much more than the prosperity gospel we are constantly inundated with. Our evangelization today needs to change, and that change must begin with each individual, to live like Christ and let our life be the force of attraction that will lead people to God.  This is witnessing at its best and we can all do it. A better world is possible especially when it begins with us transforming ourselves into our better selves.