Lesson 5

Characteristics of an Authentic Evangelist

With the massive influence of the digital world of today, each Christian has to face a great
challenge of propagating if not living our faith. With this, the question at hand is how can we
become effective evangelizers to others?

It is said that “the painter paints, the writer writes, the dancer dances.” Following this
logic, we could say that the evangelist evangelizes. But, is this true? Is it really true that the person
who evangelizes is an evangelist? In order to take Christ to others, it is necessary to experience
Him first, since no one can give what he/she doesn’t have, nor love what he/she doesn’t know.
Being an authentic evangelist doesn’t come out of the blue; it is the result of a gradual process that
takes some time. It is a constant learning from the teacher on the part of the disciple. It’s the fruit
of a close relationship, of a friendship.

That relationship according to Henriquez, (Seven characteristics of an authentic evangelist

He enumerated seven characteristics to make us an authentic evangelist:

1. A Solid Faith

This is essential, without faith, we cannot evangelize. We are not talking only of having
faith in Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, but also having faith in the Church and her
Teachings. He claims that he heard some people say: “I evangelize, I take Christ to others...
but I don’t really agree with the pope...” How come you don’t agree with the pope? Are
you Catholic or not? We must not only believe what benefits us or what we like; we must
believe what God has revealed and disposes for our salvation. Our faith is complete, it
cannot be a “cafeteria” faith, where we take only what we like, and leave the rest. This is
why the authentic evangelist must say to the Lord: “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk.
9:24), and renew daily his or her commitment to Christ, to knowing and loving Him more.

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith we must understand that the
universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being
through the invisible...while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter
of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before Him He endured the cross, despising its
shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God” (Heb. 11:1-3, 12, 2).

Peter Kreeft has beautifully and theologically describe faith in relation to other
theological virtues; hope and love with these words

“Faith first, because it is the first. It is the root, hope is the stem, and love (charity)
is the flower. The flower is the fairest, the stem does the growing, but the root must
come first.”

Focusing on faith, he said, “we can speak of faith (1) in a very wide, general sense,
as the world speaks of it; or (2) in a biblical sense, as saving faith, or the condition for
salvation; or, finally, (3) in its most technical theological sense as one of the three
theological virtues.
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 a. Faith in the most general sense is simply a feeling of trust in or reliance on someone
(or even sometimes on no one, as in the poster where a tiny knight with a tiny sword
tremblingly confronts an enormous dragon, and the caption says, in Gothic letters,
“Have faith”). This is indeed naiveté. “Have faith in me,” says the used-car salesman
or the presidential candidate or the incompetent doctor with the divinity complex.

b. Faith in the biblical sense of saving faith is the act by which we receive God’s own
eternal life (or “sanctifying grace,” in technical theological terms). It is our
fundamental option of saying Yes instead of No to God with our heart, our will, our
personal center. To believe in this sense is to receive (Jn. 1:12 parallels the two terms)
to receive God Himself.

St Paul argues in Romans that faith (in this sense) was even in Old Testament times
the condition for salvation, for our justification of God. Abraham was justified by his
faith. Go back even farther: the fall was first of all a fall of faith. Only because Eve
fist believe the serpent when he told her she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit,
rather than believing God when he told her that she would – only because of Eve’s
faithfulness within – did she practice the faithfulness without that was the actual act of
disobedience; the lack of faith is the root of disobedience. If we totally believed that
obedience always worked to our blessedness, we would not disobey. Only because we
must pray “Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief” do we sin.

St. Paul contrasts faith with sin when he says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” We
usually think of sin as the opposite of virtue, and faith is the opposite of doubt. But
virtue is a moral term, and doubt is an intellectual term. The opposite of moral virtue
is moral vice, and the opposite of intellectual doubt is intellectual belief. Faith is deeper
than either moral virtue or intellectual belief. Sin is deeper than either moral vice or
intellectual doubt. faith is a fundamental Yes to God with the center of our being, and
sin – the state of sin as distinct from particular acts of sin – is the fundamental No to
God with the center of our being. Faith is the opposite of sin. Faith is to sin what light
is to darkness.

Belief is an intellectual matter. I believe the sun will shine tomorrow: I believe I
am in good health, I believe my textbooks. This is mere opinion. Faith is not a mere
opinion. Opinions do not save us. Trust is an emotional matter. I trust my surgeon or
my psychiatrist or my children. This is a precious feeling, but it is a feeling. Faith is
not feeling. Feelings do not save us. Faith, however, results in or expresses itself in
both belief and trust, for the prefunctional root that is the very essence of the self
expresses itself in the two branches or functions of the intellectual (belief) and the
emotional (trust). But faith is deeper. That is why even some people who seem on an
intellectual level to be unbelievers may on this deeper level be believers, and we may
be surprised to see some famous so-called atheists in heaven. And it is why some
people who seem to have very little emotional faith – little trust, serenity, consolation
– may nevertheless be people of great, even heroic, faith. Only God sees hearts.

c. The third and most specific, most technical sense of faith is the sense we learned from
the catechism. Faith is the act of the intellect, prompted by the will, by which we believe
the truth of all that God has revealed on the basis of the authority of the one who has
revealed it. This is essentially the definition used by St. Thomas Aquinas and medieval
scholastic theology.
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 At the time of the Protestant Reformation, each side used a different language
system, and the most important and tragic split in the Church’s history resulted.
Protestant reformers, using faith in the biblical sense, as saving faith, insisted that the
Bible clearly taught that faith alone was sufficient for salvation. They formulated their
slogan sola fides (faith alone), on the basis of Romans and Galatians. They thought
that the Catholic Church’s insistence that good works were also necessary for salvation
was a pagan doctrine, a compromise of the very essence of the gospel. Most
evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants to this day justify their disagreement with
the Catholic Church more fundamentally on this basis than on any other. They
sincerely believe that Catholicism is another gospel, as Paul called Galatian legalism,
and many wonder whether Catholics are even Christians.

But James clearly says in his epistle that faith without works is dead and that we
are justified by works (good works, the works of love) as well as faith, working together
with faith. James and the Catholic scholastic theologians were using faith in its third,
narrowest sense: as just one of the three theological virtues. In this sense, hope and
charity must be added to faith for salvation. Paul and the Protestants were using faith
in its second, broader sense: as the root or center of all three theological virtues, not as
an act of the intellect (as in Baltimore Catechism definition) but as an act of the heart
(in the biblical sense) or spirit or personal center. Both sides were (and are) right, as
Pope John Paul II made quite clear to the Lutheran bishops of Germany on his visit
there in 1983.1

2. Coherence of Life

St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina used to say: “Do good everywhere, so that everyone can
say: ‘this is a son of Christ.’ Ask yourself: do my deeds reflect Jesus? Can those who see
me say that I am an authentic Christian? (Think about it..) Do not think that coherence of
life is a heavy burden, something unbearable. On the contrary, it’s what gives us happiness
and encourages us to continue walking on the right path. Humility is the key. By
recognizing that we are in constant need of God, and that He wants to need us. We cannot
evangelize, we are not the true light; but let our mission be the reflection of the Light of
God. It is Christ who lives and evangelizes in us. We must ask God for humility, this is
the only way we will be a living testimony of Jesus.

“A man named John was sent from God. He came for a testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light”
(Jn. 1:6-8).

3. Much Humility

What does it mean to be humble? “Humility is truth,” said St. Teresa of Avila. And
this is very true. We cannot be what we are not. Humility means to be a true child of God.
Humility means to recognize that we are sinners. Humility means to know that without
God there is nothing we can do! Humility means not to believe that we are superior than
others, believing that we are better. Humility has a practical effect in every Christian’s
life. One is humble by being humble, and this takes some effort, too. In order to be always
humble, it’s necessary to practice humility. This is a very important element of
evangelization. I am humble when we know that the work is not mine, but God’s. When
we don’t take credit for something we haven’t done. Whose is the Kingdom of God?

1
Kreeft, Peter. Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Apologetics. Ignatius Press, San Francisco,U.S.A
1988.pp. 170-172.

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 Whose is the Church? Everything belongs to God, we merely collaborate, and we only
contribute. Humility always, that’s the Christian attitude.

“Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as
more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but (also)
everyone for those of others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours
in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3-5).

4. Faithfulness in the Little Things

St. Josemaria Escriva said: “Rest assured that you will usually find few opportunities
for dazzling deeds, on reason being that they seldom occur. On the other hand, you will
not lack opportunities, in the small and ordinary things around you, of showing your love
for Christ” (Friends of God, 8).

He couldn’t have said it better. The ordinary, what is small in our eyes, is a great
opportunity to be faithful in our love for the Lord. For example, when we are on a bus, we
can offer our seat to someone else; when we’re standing in the bank line, we can cede our
place to an elderly or disabled person... all these are the “small things of life” which, with
love, become great things!

“The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy is great ones;
and the person who is dishonest is very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If,
therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true
wealth?” (Lk. 16:10-11).

5. A Solid Interior Life

Interior life? This simply refers to the intimate union with Christ. A real, natural, personal,
and constant union. Union with Christ? Yes, spiritually speaking, being united with Christ
means that He is always present in our life. He really is, but we can increase that union through
constant dialogue and conversations with Him (prayer), through the theological virtues (faith,
hope, and love), and by actively partaking of the Sacraments. In short, by making God a central
part of our life, and doing everything in our hands to strengthen this relationship everyday.
Careful! Interior life can be easily lost! Yes, when we prefer other things, when we stop going
to Mass simply because we are in our comfort zone, when we stop praying. The interior life
doesn’t guarantee that everything will be alright all the time; indeed, sometimes the opposite
happens, and we’re given more occasions to grow in that love of God through tribulations and
sorrows. The important thing is to walk always hand in hand with God, united with Him.

“Love the LORD, your God, follow Him in all His ways, keep His commandments, hold
fast to Him, and serve Him with your whole heart and your whole self” (Josh. 22:5).

6. Lots of Joy! (“A sad Saint would be a sorry Saint.”)

Joy is one of those things that is easily transmitted. Sometimes when we’re sad, it only
takes a smile from someone to cheep us up. Joy goes beyond the moment. St. Francis of Assisi
said: “Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to His friends,
is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering,
injury, discomfort and contempt,” this is where real joy is. We are not happy when we don’t
have any problems or sorrows, but when we’re capable of seeing God with us, that carries our
cross and encourages us to continue. Joy is, in synthesis, to know that God, our Merciful
Father, loves us. Can anyone aspire to something better than this? No, God’s love is the
greatest thing that is why we’re joyful.

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 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known
to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving; make your requests known to God” (Phil. 4:4-6).

7. Continual Formation (Read a Lot, Write...)

School, colleges, institutes, etc. are institutions that help us to learn. The church as Mother
and teacher also provides us with this space of formation in the Christian field, which we call
catechesis. Every catholic has gone through at least 3 years of catechesis. 3 years! And, what
have we learned? Sometimes we don’t know how to respond to the questions of our non-
Catholic friends. The problem is that we don’t thoroughly know our faith. This is why there
exists continuous formation. It’s not enough to know “something” about our faith, we must
go deeper. Knowing the Bible, mainly, the Sacraments, grace, forgiveness, love, etc. To read,
write, share the faith, talk about it with others, and create study groups are all good ideas to set
ourselves up to always be learning more about Christ and His teachings. “Thus says the LORD:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength, nor the rich
man glory in his riches; but rather, let him who glories, glory in this, that in his prudence he
knows me, knows that I, the Lord, bring about kindness, justice and uprightness on the earth;
for with such am I pleased, says the LORD” (Jer. 9:22-23).

https://catholic-link.org/7-characteristics-authentic-evangelist/

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Name: ____________________________________ Course & Yr: _______________

Subject: __________________ Class Schedule: _______________

Date: _____________ Score: ___________

Activity 6
Question:
1. How do you describe your faith? After describing, do you personally claim that
you have a solid faith? Why? In 5-10 sentences
2. How do you manage your life? Do you think, you are living the Christian ideals? If
there are inconsistencies, how do you correct them?
3. Do you believe that you are a humble person? Why? Or why not?
4. How do you access yourself in relation to Jesus?

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