Why do we evangelize? The Scriptures and the Church give us a bunch of reasons for it, so I want to give you some of them, okay? Number one. Pope Paul VI reminded us, he said, “The Church exists to evangelize; it’s Her deepest identity.” What does he mean? When we evangelize, we’re living according to our new nature in Christ that is the nature of the Church. And where does the Church come from? The Church is born of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in the Son “on mission.” The Holy Spirit is the first agent of the Church’s mission, and guess where he lives? He lives in your heart. So that’s fundamentally the number one reason: we just live according to our nature and our identity. Number two is the great commandment. Jesus said, “Go make disciples of all nations.” So we’re motivated out of love for Christ in obedience — right? — to Him, to express that love, to fulfill the Great Commission. Number three — and here’s one that we don’t often hear much about — this is from 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11. The fear of the Lord motivates us. Paul says, “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.” Now, he knows the fear of the Lord which gives him wisdom, that is, what? That ultimately, Judgement Day is coming for the whole human race and Jesus Christ is the judge of the living and the dead, right? So fear of the Lord is not a bad thing. Fear of the Lord is a really, really good thing because it gives us wisdom to understand what’s at stake, which I will mention a little bit more as we go along here. So, fear of the Lord is a motive. Another one is 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 13: “We believe and so we speak.” What’s the motive? We believe it. We believe the message. We believe the Good News. I’m a Believer and I want to speak and communicate what I’ve been given. And it’s my faith that moves me to do that. Another motive: “The love of Christ compels us,” St. Paul states. So where does that love come from? Paul tells us in Romans that the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts, the Holy Spirit, which is the love of God. And it gives us the Heart of Jesus to seek and save the lost…to be united to the Heart of Jesus who, to this day, is seeking and saving the lost all over the globe, right?
Okay, the big one — that it’s important to get clear — is we understand what’s really at stake. Evangelization is about seeking and saving the lost. What does that mean? It means bringing people to salvation. What’s salvation? Saving people from Hell, for Heaven. That’s the bottom line. That’s what’s at stake. That’s the biggest thing that’s happening on the planet right now. What’s the destiny of every eternal soul? And this is the battle that’s going on on the earth, that lots of people just don’t see. The two kingdoms are contesting for the eternal destiny of every single person. Everything else in this world is going to pass away. What’s not going to pass away are those who bear the image of God, and they’re going to end up either in eternal separation and suffering which we call Hell, separation from God. Or they’re going to live with God forever in absolute glory, sharing the glory that belongs to Jesus. Another motive Paul gives at a certain point is to win the crown. He says, he knows that in running the race and fulfilling this mission, that there was a crown waiting for him and having that is a good motive. That’s a good one. It’s not the only motive. There’s lots of motives for it and the Scriptures are very clear and the Church is very clear, so as we mature as Catholic disciples, as we mature in Christ, all these motives should be active. And the Holy Spirit wants to help them be active in us, so that we can step into this mission consistently and with great conviction.