Yes, Yes, You Can!

A friend wonders, for a variety of reasons, whether he has any authority or power to witness the Gospel now that he has wisely renounced a habit of striving–a focus on “winning” rather than “wooing,” so to speak (though both have a place).

As far as I can tell, the Church’s answer is emphatically “YES.”  We all share, in various kinds and degrees, the one Apostolate of the Church–even as there are those who are called to various specific apostolates among us.  As a Decree of the Second Vatican Council has it:

One engages in the apostolate through the faith, hope, and charity which the
Holy Spirit diffuses in the hearts of all members of the Church. Indeed, by the
precept of charity, which is the Lord’s greatest commandment, all the faithful
are impelled to promote the glory of God through the coming of His kingdom and
to obtain eternal life for all men-that they may know the only true God and Him
whom He sent, Jesus Christ (cf. John 17:3). On all Christians therefore is laid
the preeminent responsibility of working to make the divine message of salvation
known and accepted by all men throughout the world.

(source: Decree on the Apostolate of Laity – Apostolicam Actuositatem [emphasis added here and throughout])

(source: Monasterio de Santa Cruz, Coímbra, Portugal–Poco a poco)

Or you can see also the encyclical of Paul VI from which the “New Evangelization” takes its name:

13. Those who sincerely accept the Good News, through the power of this acceptance and of shared faith therefore gather together in Jesus’ name in order to seek together the kingdom, build it up and live it. They make up a community which is in its turn evangelizing. The command to the Twelve to go out and proclaim the Good News is also valid for all Christians, though in a different way. It is precisely for this reason that Peter calls Christians “a people set apart to sing the praises of God,” those marvelous things that each one was able to hear in his own language.  Moreover, the Good News of the kingdom which is coming and which has begun is meant for all people of all times. Those who have received the Good News and who have been gathered by it into the community of salvation can and must communicate and spread it.

14. The Church knows this. She has a vivid awareness of the fact that the Savior’s words, “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God,” apply in all truth to herself: She willingly adds with St. Paul: “Not that I boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty that has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it.”  It is with joy and consolation that at the end of the great Assembly of 1974 we heard these illuminating words: “We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church.”  It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.

(source: Evangelii Nuntiandi)

Or how about these rousing lines from a favorite of mine, and many another, prominently including Pope St. John Paul II?

As troubles and trials circle round you, He will give you what you want at present—”a mouth, and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay.” “There is a time for silence, and a time to speak;” the time for speaking is come. What I desiderate in Catholics is the gift of bringing out what their religion is; it is one of those “better gifts,” of which the Apostle bids you be “zealous.” You must not hide your talent in a napkin, or your light under a bushel. I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity; I am not denying you are such already: but I mean to be severe, and, as some would say, exorbitant in my demands, I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory. I have no apprehension you will be the worse Catholics for familiarity with these subjects, provided you cherish a vivid sense of God above, and keep in mind that you have souls to be judged and to be saved.

(source: Newman Reader – Present Position of Catholics – Lecture 9)

I can’t think of a better way to say it.  Really, that one paragraph summarizes my own deepest desires for our formation and education quite neatly.

Perhaps the secret to witness without folly lies, after all, in bearing in mind a few scattered bits of wisdom from the Scriptures?

A prudent man conceals his knowledge,
but fools proclaim their folly.

(source: Proverbs 12 RSVCE)

Note the contrast implicit in this prophecy given to Daniel:  those whose witness is effective will, quite intuitively, have their glory manifested visibly; but precisely in view of a tendency to merely hoard knowledge (see, “Knowledge is Power”), Daniel himself is instructed to suppress some actual divine revelation!  Knowledge privately given to him in order to help him process the revelation entrusted to him, presumably, is not to be passed on will-he-nil-he.  And it’s not only Daniel who had this experience!  (see Paul, John, and others as well.)

At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

(source: Daniel 12 RSVCE)

A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold
is a wise reprover to a listening ear.

Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
is a faithful messenger to those who send him,
he refreshes the spirit of his masters.

Like clouds and wind without rain
is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.

(source: Proverbs 25 RSVCE)

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

(source: 1 Peter 3 RSVCE)

And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

(source: Luke 12 RSVCE)

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.

(source: James 3 RSVCE)

The path goes between the boundaries marked in these passages, I think.  And if you fear you are going too far “down the rabbit hole” with some point, then contemplate the Two Ways as set forth in this passage:

In like manner these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

(source: Jude)