In
the Philippines, the task of evangelization is often expected only from the members of the clergy, of the religious
institutions and from trained catechists. Priests, religious brothers and
sisters, with their catechists are perceived as those who solely has the
responsibility of carrying-out the transmission of the faith. However, the Synod of Bishops speaks of the transmission as a
responsibility that have to be attended by the whole Church.[1]
It is not an obligation given only to a few. It is a vocation to which
all members of the Church are called to respond. Thus, the laity, the more
numerous members of the Church, are called to the same vocation, are given the
task of evangelization too. This call to proclaim Christ’s message springs
forth from the fact that all baptized share to the teaching office of Christ.
Thus a public school teacher can spread the Word of God in her classroom, in an
appropriate and acceptable way. A farmer in a far-flung barrio can glorify the
Lord as he ploughs the fields. They are called to bring Jesus Christ in their
workplace so that more and more the world can be configured in the image of
Jesus Christ. The task of evangelization is very much related with the vocation
and life of the laity. It is not an accessory that is added
to their identity but rather an essential component of their esse, being part of the mystical body of Christ, the
Church.
How
can the laity evangelized? How can they bring Jesus Christ in their offices,
and workplace? Let me share my experience of lay evangelization.
My
ima (Kampampangan for mother) is a cook with some sophistications and taste.
She can prepare any Kapampangan food
with distinct Tarlaqueño twist. And
through the food she prepares, she finds a way to evangelize.
One
summer morning, while I was in a home vacation, I had a chance to help my ima in preparing our lunch. She thought
of cooking one of my favourite dishes; tid-tad
(Fil: dinuguan, Eng: pork blood stew
or blood pudding stew). While she was boiling the pork intestines, I was
mincing carefully the garlics, onions and gingers. She told some notable
stories from the school where she teaches; perennially problematic students, low
grades for some, exceptional performance for others.
As
she sauté the garlic, onion, and ginger she remember an experience she had with
her co-teacher who happened to be a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC). She was Ms. Jo. Once my ima brought tid-tad in her school as her lunch. She intended to share it to her
co-teachers including to Ms. Jo. When the dish of tid-tad was pass to Ms. Jo, she did not dare to even touch the dish
saying it is forbidden by the INC that their members eat tid-tad, to take and eat blood. Bombarding my ima with INC’s set of biblical quotations, Ms. Jo defended their
stand going beyond tid-tad, going as
far as the issue of Christ’s divinity.
While
the pork intestines simmered in the pork blood, my ima asked me how my studies can defend our Catholic faith from
INC’s false teachings. How does my theological and philosophical formation
explain to Ms. Jo about the truth of Christ’s divinity? I tried my best to
explain to ima about the Trinitarian
doctrine of our Catholic faith, of the three divine persons in one divine
nature. I found myself looking for appropriate words to describe and simplify
this doctrine. However, I thought ima
grew bored about my explanation.
As
she served the hot tid-tad to me, she
told how she had explain the divinity of Christ to Ms. Jo. She only asked Ms.
Jo one question. “Anong itsura ng Diyos
ninyo kapag nagdarasal kayo?” For a moment, I was quiet. I was silence by
the succinct explanation my ima
thought. The mind always demands for a “visible” image
of anything and anyone we think about. Is not incarnation about God becoming
visible, for us to know Him, for us to be able to pray to Him, for us to be
able to love Him, for us to be restored in His image and likeness? I
said to ima, “That is the best practical
answer.” But I quietly told myself “That is the best answer I heard.”
The
lay people has a lot of things to share in the task of evangelization. They
have a lot of stories to tell in their experience of Jesus Christ in the
ordinariness of their lives. Simple and banal stories we badly need to
communicate the great message of love of God to the common man, to the hoi
polio. The transmission of faith today need not be of theological jargons and
verbiages that only few could understand. The order of the day is to present an
experienced faith, the experienced Jesus, the Jesus encountered in concrete
human experiences. Such can evangelization be today. The laity has an
overabundance of encounter with Jesus. They too have to take the task of
evangelization. They too have to transmit the faith they have received, one
that had fructify through their mundane experiences. They too have to be
evangelizers, after all they too have been evangelized, one way or
another.
[1] XIII
Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, The New Evangelization for the Transmission of Christian Faith
Instrumentum Laboris (Vatican City: 2012) 105.
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