EXISTING TO EVANGELIZE
“I made myself the slave of all so as to win over as many as possible.” —1 Corinthians 9:19
How much do you want people to give their lives to Christ? Would you be “the slave of all so as to win over as many as possible”? Would you make yourself “all things to all men in order to save at least some of them”? (1 Cor 9:22) Are you running the race and fighting the fight? (1 Cor 9:26; 2 Tm 4:7) Would you discipline and master your body (1 Cor 9:27) to make it an instrument of justice (Rm 6:13) in leading people to Christ?
The Lord will give us such a strong desire to lead people to Him that we will realize we exist to evangelize (On Evangelization, 14, Pope St. Paul VI). Like the Apostle Paul, we will be “under compulsion” to preach the Gospel and ruined if we don’t (1 Cor 9:16). Like Jesus, we “have come to light a fire on the earth” (Lk 12:49). How we “wish the blaze were ignited!” (Lk 12:49)
Ask the Holy Spirit to come to you. Ask for a new Pentecost. Ask for the desires of God’s heart to be fulfilled as His desires become the desires of your heart. Exist to evangelize.
Prayer: Jesus, may I live and die to be Your witness (see Acts 1:8).
Promise: “Remove the plank from your own eye first; then you will see clearly.” —Lk 6:42
Praise: St. Peter Claver heard as many as five thousand confessions a year for forty years.
