Today's gospel speaks of Jesus summoning the twelve disciples, who we will also later refer to as the Apostles, and: "... (he) gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness." (Mtt 10: 1) There is a danger in the Church today that we identify this sending out to proclaim the Good News solely with what used to be called the apostolate of the hierarchy. Many Catholics are very shy about witnessing to their faith or sharing it explicitly with others. It is true that the ordained have a special obligation to witness to the Gospel as well as providing the sacraments to the faithful. Nevertheless, in the first reading we also hear that the collective of the Israelites "... shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation."(Ex `9: 6) Pope Francis reminds us: "In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love." (Evangelii Gaudium, 120) This is indeed the challenge for us today in New Zealand as the traditional ways of handing on faith struggle. I warmly exhort all parishioners to be alert to how they can live out their faith as missionary disciples and to do whatever they can to personally witness to God's love for each one of us.
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