Newly initiated
Acts 2:14, 22-33; Ps 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11; 1 Pt 1:17-21; Lk 24:13-35
I’m no songwriter. But if I were, I would write a tune called: “Where Will You Be When the Water Dries?” It would be about all the men, women and children who come into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, dripping wet as they emerge from the baptismal waters, and then what happens to their faith journeys during the days, weeks, months and years after that glorious night.
We certainly know that the churches will be far less packed and crowded than they were at the Easter Masses. Unfortunately, that phenomenon is sometimes also reflected by a decline of engagement with their faith among the newly baptized and confirmed Catholics.
Every pastor the world over wishes he had the magic solution for how to ensure that the newly initiated keep growing in their relationship with Jesus Christ and his church.
This raises broader questions about evangelization. How do we best share the good news of Jesus Christ with others so that they might foster and deepen a true relationship with the Trinity and the saints?
Our Gospel passage today provides a unique perspective on evangelization from the very first hours of the post-resurrection church. The disciples on the road to Emmaus undergo an amazing transformation from a nearly complete loss of faith to possessing hearts on fire with the love of Christ, anxious to share the news of his resurrection with everyone. Any budding evangelist would do well to give a close reading to Jesus’ encounter with these travelers.
Notice first that Jesus speaks to the current affective state of the men. They are dejected. Their great hope that Jesus would be the eagerly awaited messiah has been dashed.
They are without a leader and have left their community in Jerusalem, perhaps feeling alone and vulnerable. Rather than avoiding their fear and anxiety, Jesus speaks directly to it when he asks them what they were discussing as they walked along.
Modern evangelizers need to employ the same tactic. There is no point in inviting someone to encounter a savior unless they can actually admit that they need to be saved, that they are suffering from an unhealed vulnerability or shameful feeling.
While we might be able to identify another’s need for salvation, they will not be open to receiving it unless and until they can name it for themself.
Next, Jesus is careful to win the trust of his new companions. By expressing a genuine interest in what they are discussing, he shows that he cares about them and their concerns.
Furthermore, he patiently listens as they chide him for being ignorant of what had transpired in Jerusalem. Only then does he offer a challenging rebuttal to their words: “Oh how foolish you are!”
While his challenge might have a sting (sometimes necessary to broaden the perspective of someone who is trapped in an overly myopic viewpoint or in the grip of self-pity), Jesus does not intend it to belittle or humiliate.
Rather, he employs it as an opening to begin a careful reconsideration of what the disciples thought they already knew: their own Scriptures.
This too is an effective evangelizing tool. Meet others where they are in their own belief system and use their own knowledge and experiences as a transition point into where and how the Holy Spirit may be inviting them to deeper relationship.
Our theology tells us that the Spirit is always laboring to love us. Thus we ought to be able to find opportunities in our lives, and in the lives of others, to recognize where that love is more clearly manifested and able to be embraced.
Finally, Jesus introduces a sacramental/liturgical move in sharing a meal with the disciples and ritualistically breaking bread with them. Modern evangelizers would do well to invite others to experience the sacraments. Invite them to join you at Mass and help the grace of God to become operative in their own hearts.
There have been reports of record numbers of people joining the Catholic Church this year, so it would seem that evangelization is alive and well, praise God. But we all bear responsibility for helping our newest members continue to grow after the water dries.