We are called to
witness. Every baptized Catholic must share the Gospel message with others.
Yes, even those who are afraid of public speaking are called to bear witness to
the joy of living a life for Christ.
Before you
dismiss the Great Commission, before you tell yourself that the mandate to give
witness to the faith is only for those who like to stand up in public and hold
a microphone, you need to know something.
We are all
afraid of public speaking.
Some mornings, I
am a lector at daily Mass. As I step up to the ambo, I feel the fear once
again. It always comes. It has a voice. It tells me that I am going to lose my
place or trip or get a frog in my throat that won't go away or have a clothing
malfunction. I'll sit down in a few minutes and realize that the tag is
sticking out of my shirt or I forgot to zip up my pants or my shirt is tucked
in on one side and not the other or...
You get the
idea.
I am afraid.
Every time I get
up to speak, I bow before the altar, and I give it all to Jesus. My weakness. My
horrible insecurities. My mind games.
I hesitated to
admit that I have these fears, but then I changed my mind. Here's why:
If there is any
chance that you have exempted yourself from sharing the Good News because you
don't feel comfortable speaking up in a crowd or talking about the faith with
others, then you need to know that you are exactly like the ones who do it. The
only difference is that you don't do it, and they do.
The fear is
exactly the same. It doesn’t mean you have to be a lector. It does mean that you have to be a public
witness. The Church is full of wall flowers. Too many of us find a comfortable
corner, and that’s where we sit.
St. Paul was no
wall flower. His motto was: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1
Corinthians 9:16). Wait, you say. He was an apostle. That message is for the
clergy, not for regular people like me.
In the Apostolic
Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi Pope
Paul VI clearly states that it is “the whole Church that receives the mission
to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the
whole. . .” (7) He continues: “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation
proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize .
. . (14)
The Synod of
Bishops underscores the words of Pope Paul VI when they assert: “Loving one's faith implies bearing witness
to it, bringing it to others and allowing others to participate in it. The lack
of missionary zeal is a lack of zeal for the faith.” (XIII Ordinary General
Assembly, The New Evangelization for the
Transmission of the Christian Faith 10).
If you love the
faith you have received, you must bear witness to it.
So let your
knees wobble. Let your words get all jumbled up. Fumble for your glasses. Trip
on the first step. But offer all of it to the Lamb Who Was Slain. This is where grace shows up. This is where
conversion begins. It is where conversion has always begun—through the word of
one who is willing to open his mouth and proclaim the Good News to anyone who
will listen.
Do it for love
of Christ; do it for love of Mother Church. After all, Perfect love casts out
fear (I John 4:18).
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