As the wonder of Christmas fast approaches, the Fourth Sunday of Advent presents us with the Gospel scene of the Visitation — Mary immediately making haste to share the joyful news of the Incarnation of God in her womb with her beloved cousin Elizabeth who herself is pregnant with John the Baptist.
These two expectant mothers, one a virgin and the other too old for childbearing, hold the great secret of the world’s salvation in Christ and rejoice in the gracious mercy of God.
This Scriptural vignette beautifully illustrates the nature and look of evangelization.
In this season of Advent, we have encouraged everyone in the diocese to embrace Walk with One, the current initiative from the national Eucharistic Revival, to engage, accompany, and invite one person in your life to draw closer to Christ, the Church, and the Sacraments.
Since we launched Go Make Disciples, my hope has been that every single Catholic who is practicing the faith would bring one other person to the Lord and the Church every five years.
Such a wonderful hope can only find fulfillment if we all walk with one other person towards Jesus.
Reaching out
The third movement of Walk with One is to reach out to the person you have been praying for and seeking to engage and invite them for a meal, a cup of coffee, or a walk, in order to simply deepen your relationship.
Evangelization is really about growing friendships in Christ and loving others in the Lord as brothers and sisters.
The greatest act of love we can offer another person is to share the Good News of eternal life with them, to bring them to the Lord, to encounter the grace of the Church and her Sacraments.
Rarely do such spiritual results flow from one conversation or one invitation.
The authenticity of friendship demands an acceptance and concern for the other, a patient unconditional love, and an attitude of absolute regard for their flourishing and happiness.
This process of cultivating a spiritual relationship with another is a long and ongoing one.
Continuing the walk
The fourth movement is the enduring gift of accompaniment, walking with the other in the joys and sorrows of life, continuing to pray for our friends, and also beginning to invite them to things — a social at the parish, Eucharistic Adoration, confession, or a Bible study.
Inviting someone to Mass may be the right approach for one person, but it may be overwhelming to another.
We need to discern the right approach and the proper invitation.
If our friends are open to even one initial event or activity, and it turns out to be a positive experience for them, you can increasingly become a gentle spiritual guide, leading them to the Lord and the embrace of the Catholic faith.
No one needed to tell the Blessed Virgin Mary to go immediately to visit Elizabeth after the Annunciation.
Bearing the Lord within her, filled with overwhelming joy and peace, she instinctively needed to share this glorious Good News with the person who would understand the best and rejoice with her.
In the luminous moment of the Visitation, Mary and Elizabeth evangelize each other, praising God, glorying in His action within them, and supporting the other in this remarkable moment of grace, all the while they are in the presence of Christ Himself and His forerunner.
The wonder of the Incarnation
Like these holy women, the Church has never gotten over the wonder of the Incarnation, the Word made flesh, the descent of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity into this world and our humanity, in order to rescue us from the grasp of sin and death.
In Christmas, we see the dramatic opening act of our redemption, as the Lord steps into history in order to take on Satan and his evil reign.
If we are faithful to the Lord, the practice of prayer, the worthy reception of the Sacraments, and a purposeful life of Christian virtue, the Lord will come to spiritually dwell within us through the gift of sanctifying grace, as assuredly as He dwelt within His virgin Mother.
Filled with the Lord, we too can go confidently and joyously to those in our lives who still need to hear the stirring words of the Gospel, to encounter the living Christ, and to give their hearts over to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
In this way, we live out in our discipleship the mysteries of the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Nativity, as Christ is born in us and we share Him with others in all of the wonder and praise which the nearness of the invisible God generates within us.
The gifts under the tree, the holiday meal on the table, and the mirth of family and friends gathered together are all signs and portents of the mercy, love, and peace that Jesus wants to share with all of us in these sacred days, until we are gathered together forever in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb!