It’s time to get real. Us Catholics can easily become far too reserved and complacent when it comes to dealing with this world, attempting to catechise and bring all that is secular in line with the values of Christianity. We can fail to be advocates for what is right, and in doing so allow that which is wrong to fester and continue to spread like a disease throughout society.

I get it – sometimes it can be incredibly daunting to go out into the world and evangelize it. When the weight of the world is crashing against you, it can feel incredibly overwhelming. Every attempt to make a change can feel like a huge task, an uphill battle that you’re not sure you can even come close to winning.

But that’s just it. It’s not about winning. It’s not about being hugely successful. It’s not even about changing the entire world.

It’s about bringing about change one small step at a time. It’s about having a series of little wins, small successes, along the way, that can all accumulate into creating a greater change down the track.

Just look at Jesus. When Christ was on Earth, He did not change the world overnight with His teachings. Some people understood what He was saying, and yet many did not. The Bread of Life discourse in John 6 is a good example of how even those who had been following Him deserted Him, struggling with what He was teaching them.

While Jesus did change the world through the great sacrificial offering He made of Himself on the Cross, there were still many – especially those who had pushed for His crucifixion – who did not believe in Him or His teachings.

I mean, just consider this – even after Jesus rose from the dead in His glorified Body, there were still many who did not believe. 

The world is never going to listen completely. But we can bring about change and help to improve the morality of this world over time, even if it is going to present challenges and challenge us.

When Jesus began His public ministry He called Twelve individuals, Twelve ordinary men who would become His Twelve Apostles – Twelve of the most famous individuals in the history of the Church. These men were not just called to follow Jesus. They were also called to bear witness to the Truth, and to share what had been taught them and bestowed upon them by the Lord, their Master, Teacher, and Friend.

See, Jesus could not remain here on Earth in human form forever. His ministry is one that transcends. It is not a solo ministry. It is one that requires others – it is a shared ministry, first entrusted to the Twelve, then, through them, to us. The Lord needed to ensure this ministry that He began Himself would continue after He had ascended back to the Kingdom to take his rightful place at the right hand of God the Father. The men He chose were given a great gift and an immense responsibility all at once. And they would ultimately give their lives for the sake of carrying out that responsibility.

But they were not left to do it alone. Not only did they have each other and those who they themselves would teach and form into their successors, but the Lord sent another gift upon them following His earthly departure – the Holy Spirit. With the Spirit descending upon them, they were filled with all that they needed to carry out the mission begun by their Teacher.

We can see how, immediately following the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, the Apostles (the Eleven given Judas was no longer with them) went out and began preaching the Word of God to all who were around them. Much of this is accounted for in Acts, which details the ministry of the Apostles following the Lord’s Ascension. The Church reads through these accounts during the Easter season. We hear of the boldness of Peter and the Apostles as they preach to the people of Jerusalem, fearlessly defying the Sanhedrin. Where before they would have possibly cowered from doing such a thing, they now act as changed men – transformed, renewed and restored by the power of the Spirit.

Like the Apostles, we are called to carry on the mission of Christ in the world. It is all well and good to just be a Catholic who goes to Mass each week and prays every so often. But there is a world out there that is becoming increasingly secular, and those with the loudest voices are those who do not believe. Those who do not have the faith, and even those who are lukewarm in their faith, are incredibly vulnerable to the deceitful works, ideas, and narratives spread throughout the world by the prince of evil. They desperately need to hear the Word of God, to have the message of Christ brought to them.

We cannot just be complacent. We must rise to the occasion like the first Apostles of Christ. We must go out into the world and, each in our own way, using our own gifts given to us by the Lord, share the teachings of Christ with others. Each of us who have been baptised have been baptised priest, prophet, and king. We have each been filled with the Holy Spirit. We each possess the capacity to evangelise, to connect with others and help them to see the Truth.

There are great evils that abound in the world today. We face significant social issues and ideas that are at odds with the very nature of humanity and Creation. The world promotes ideologies that are the antithesis of life itself. It promises riches and glory that are nothing compared to the spiritual riches and eternal glory we can attain in the Kingdom of Heaven.

While we live in the world, we must not become corrupted by the evils that exist within it. Rather, we must make an effort to combat these evils – evils like abortion and euthanasia, the promotion of transgenderism, sexual sin. The promotion of many of these things are spreading faster and further in the age of social media. And given children are being introduced to technology at such a young age now, it is far easier for these evils to corrupt their minds and their souls.

It is so important for us all to be advocates of the Lord, advocates for our faith. We must harness every avenue, including social media, and turn it into a force for good. We must go out into the world like the Apostles did after receiving the Spirit and preach fearlessly in the name of Jesus Christ. We must preach the truth – that life is precious and sacred, that every human being is created lovingly and perfectly by God, that our sexuality was created for a purpose and points towards something far greater than can be imagined here on earth, that all that has been created in this world has been created for the glory of God.

But this will not always be easy. There will inevitably be times when we find it difficult to preach these truths in the face of an uncaring and morally bankrupt society. There may even be times when we are persecuted, even in small ways, for our faith and our witness to it. Yet in these moments we must not become discouraged, but take delight in suffering for Our Lord, just as the Apostles did after they were imprisoned and flogged by the members of the Sanhedrin for healing and preaching in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

It is important, to aid in our carrying out of this great mission, that we continue to devote ourselves to prayer and engage regularly with the Sacraments. If we are to be preachers of Truth, we must live that Truth. It is essential that we are regularly attending and actively participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There is great power in the Eucharist. This gift of Christ Himself is one which we are all incredibly privileged to receive. It will no doubt aid us in our mission and help us to live out the life of a disciple. But we should also ensure that we have prepared ourselves adequately to receive this wondrous and precious gift so that we may attain all the graces that come with it and flow from it into our hearts, minds, and souls. Therefore, we must not fail to regularly seek out the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation, that Sacrament, another gracious gift of Our Lord, in which we receive the great and all-loving mercy and forgiveness of God.

Without prayer and the Sacraments, we can easily fall into discouragement and despair when our efforts do not seem to be enough, when we are challenged and face trials and persecutions in bearing witness to Christ and His teachings. 

If we are to be advocates for Christ, if we are to fulfill the mission that has been bestowed upon us, to truly share in His ministry, we must remain close to Our Lord. We must allow Him to work through us and in us. For we cannot do anything without Christ. And through Him we can do all things.

And we must always remember those immortal words that Christ spoke to His disciples in sending them out to change the world:

“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Catholics, let’s go out and restore the world.