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Evangelization seeks to help people understand the presence of God already at work in a hidden way in the process of our birth and dying, in our work and our resting, in our friendships and our loneliness, in every aspect of our daily life.

My Brothers and Sisters in the Lord:

This month of April, I continue my reflections on the gift and challenge of evangelization in the Church today. Inasmuch as we are celebrating the paschal mystery of the Lord and our share in it through the Sacraments of Initiation, I would like to reflect on the sacraments themselves as a means of evangelization.

I would like to begin by quoting the last line of the New Testament Epistle read on Holy Thursday evening, "As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes" (I Corinthians 11:26). To paraphrase St. Paul's words, every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we are indeed evangelizing, proclaiming the Good News of the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death. At the very heart of the message of evangelization is our acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and a confession of our need for the salvation only He can give us. In many ways, the Good News is truly summarized in the simple acclamation of faith we declare right after the consecration of the bread and the wine: "Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!"

The vital connection of the Word and sacrament

At times, in trying to explain the somewhat foreign word "evangelization," people have made a sharp contrast between the work of evangelization and the liturgical life of the Church. They have suggested that evangelization is primarily the preaching of the Gospel, bringing people to the threshold of faith and membership in the Church. In this perspective, evangelization happens first and then when one is ready, the sacraments follow. But as the late Pope Paul VI explained in his groundbreaking 1975 "Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization": "Evangelization exercises its full capacity when it achieves … a permanent and unbroken intercommunication between the Word and the Sacraments. In a certain sense, it is a mistake to make a contrast between evangelization and sacramentalization, as is sometimes done. ….

To say this all more simply, one of the primary ways people come to know and encounter the Lord Jesus is precisely in and through the celebration of the liturgy of the Church — the Holy Eucharist and the other sacraments, as well as the ongoing prayer life of the community of faith. When the sacraments are celebrated well, they help us hear and understand the full force and meaning of God's Word and the story of Jesus Christ comes alive for us in a new way.

The Council Fathers of Vatican II saw this intimate and necessary connection between the Eucharistic life of the community and the ministry of evangelization. Listen to this paragraph from the "Decree on Priestly Ministry and Life": "The Eucharist shows itself to be the source and apex of the whole work of preaching the Gospel. Those under instruction are introduced by stages to a sharing in the Eucharist. The faithful, already marked with the sacred seal of baptism and confirmation, are through the reception of the Eucharist full joined to the Body of Christ. Thus the Eucharistic action is the very heartbeat of the congregation of the faithful over which the priest presides" (Article 5).

The sacraments of initiation celebrate the work of evangelization

At the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday, thousands of people join the Church either through the waters of baptism or (if they have already been baptized in another Christian faith) by a profession of faith. In so doing, they proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and bring to fulfillment the process of evangelization and catechetical formation they experienced through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Their confirmation celebrates, seals, and completes their immersion into the Church and then they share in the mystery of Christ's death-resurrection, at the Eucharistic table, the "source and summit" of the whole Christian life.

Evangelization prepares us for the sacraments and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the other sacraments literally give "flesh and blood" to the mystery of the Word. A prayerful celebration of the sacraments truly unleashes and manifests the living Word of God, the presence of Jesus Christ.

In the tradition of the Church, the sacraments have always been a powerful learning experience and opportunity. Even though we celebrate them many times, we never cease learning the full implications and depth of meaning contained within them. A special word in the Church's tradition speaks to this understanding of sacraments: mystagogia, which means a study of the mysteries. Technically speaking, according to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the newly-baptized spend the 50 days of the Easter season experiencing a deeper understanding of the sacraments in the process called mystagogia. We could also say that every Christian spends an entire lifetime coming to a deeper appreciation of the mysteries we daily celebrate.

All the other sacraments

Besides the sacraments of Initiation, all the other sacraments are also sources and means of evangelization — in particular, the sacraments of special service, marriage, and holy orders. As people live these sacraments, they are truly "living signs" of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ for others. It is also true to say the sacraments of healing (anointing of the sick and penance) can be sources of evangelization; when they are celebrated well, they put people in touch with the intense healing and renewing power of the Lord Jesus — both those who are experiencing and receiving the mercy of God and those who are ministering it. The whole community is built up and renewed by the sacraments and thus become an energy for proclaiming the Gospel.

Sacramental encounters

Consider the way Jesus Himself evangelized or preached the Good News. Certainly, He told stories or parables, but He also worked many signs and wonders — the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, healing the sick and the suffering, even raising the dead to life. Above all, His greatest preaching was actually the way He silently and obediently died on the cross. He taught not only by words but by the witness of His whole life and death.

At one and the same time, the person of Jesus consoled yet challenged people. His message was not so much a set of teachings or doctrines about theoretical questions, but rather, an invitation to see the full potential and implications of what it means to be a child of God. He helped the disciples to understand the Kingdom of God was already happening in and through the signs He was performing. He wanted them to understand that the glory or presence of God shines through normal human experiences of joy or sorrow when they are embraced with loving and trusting hearts.

As the Council Fathers of Vatican II reflected on the mission of the Church, they spoke of it as a "sacrament," a living sign of the presence of Jesus Christ, an outward sign of inward grace. Just as Jesus manifested the Gospel through signs and words, so, too, the Church proclaims the death-resurrection of Jesus Christ in the celebration of the sacraments and in deeds of Christian service, as well as through the explicit preaching of the Gospel.

In some ways, we could say evangelization has to do with an ongoing explanation and understanding to the mystery already contained within the sacramental life of the Church. Evangelization seeks to help people understand the presence of God already at work in a hidden way in the process of our birth and dying, in our work and our resting, in our friendships and our loneliness, in every aspect of our daily life.

The Community of Faith: A setting for experiencing the evangelizing energy of the Spirit

Evangelization seeks to help us know and love the person of Jesus Christ; or better put, to let ourselves be drawn into the family of Jesus Christ. Evangelization is not so much about a private decision between the believer and the Lord but necessarily includes a willingness to be immersed into the life of a community of faith — with all of its weakness, brokenness and imperfection. In short, evangelization happens best when the Church is fully alive as a community of faith. Or, conversely, the family or parish that is fully aware of the Lord's presence within and among them is truly a center of evangelizing energy and life.

The sacraments, and especially the Holy Eucharist, celebrate our call to communion with the Lord in, with, and through our relationship with one another. Both the sacraments and the ministry of evangelization involve a call to communion and the formation of a community of faith, hope, and love, a people committed to service.

Pope Benedict XVI makes this point in a slightly different way as he reflects on the mystery of God's love in his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" ("God is Love"): "Here we need to consider yet another aspect: this sacramental 'mysticism' is social in character, for in sacramental communion I become one with the Lord, like all the other communicants. … Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom He gives Himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to Him only in union with all those who have become, or will become, His own. Communion draws me out of myself toward Him, and thus, also toward unity with all Christians. We become 'one body' completely joined in a single existence. … Faith, worship, and ethos are interwoven as a single reality which takes shape in our encounter with God's agape" (Article 14).

Elsewhere in his encyclical, the Holy Father points out the three-fold nature of the Church — proclaiming God's Word, celebrating the sacraments, and exercising the ministry of charity or diakonia. He notes these three duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. In other words, evangelization and the liturgical life of the Church go hand in hand and must be completed by a life that is directed outward in service for all in need, working for that justice and peace which will usher in the Lord's Kingdom.

Our Easter joy
This month of April, as we welcome new members into our family of faith, let us rejoice in the gift of sacraments and pledge we will do our very best to celebrate them in a prayerful and meaningful fashion. May we truly come to know and understand the intimate connection of Word and sacrament!

Sincerely in the Lord,
†Adam Cardinal Maida
Archbishop of Detroit

Heavenly Father, as we celebrate with joy and gratitude the Death-Resurrection of Christ your Son, renew within us the gift of our sacramental communion with you and our fellow believers. By faithfully and reverently celebrating the mystery of His Death and Resurrection, may we ourselves be nourished and renewed, that we, in turn, might bring to all the world the Word of life and the Bread of life, Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

Sr. Sharon Havelak OSF/ Sylvania designed the stained glass Sacramental Windows at St. Raphael Church, Garden City