Gargantuan Task

While reading the catecheses of His Holiness Pope Francis, I wonder how could these beautiful and potent words ever reach the hearts of the people from all walks of life. How can we transmit the messages from the apostolic exhortations or the teachings of an encyclical? Though published in different languages and are available online, there are still more people who are thirsty for the Word of God: a simple farmer from the countryside, a night shift call center agent from the city, a person from a wounded family and the list goes on. We are already doing great things in the Church but still the task of catechesis is gargantuan. Catechesis is a life-long process of initial conversion, formation, education, and ongoing conversion.

This ministry of teaching and forming has traditionally been referred to as catechesis, which "was given to the whole of the efforts within the Church to make disciples, to help people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God... and to educate and instruct them in this life and thus, build up the Body of Christ" (Catechesi Tradendae, no.1). Our Lord Jesus Christ empowered the Church to continue His mission when He said: "Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth; Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of time" (Mt 28:18-20). This great commission has been handed to us, men and women of faith, whom God has called to proclaim the Good News. "Catechesis is nothing other than the process of transmitting the Gospel, as the Christian community has received it, understands it, celebrates it, lives it and communicates it in many ways" (General Directory for Catechesis, no. 105).

The Pope said that catechesis is not a job or a task that is external to the [faithful], but a mission around which the life of the person who deals with this activity revolves. In fact, it is a vocation of service to the Church; what was received as gift from the Lord should be transmitted in one's turn (cf. Message to the First International Catechetical Symposium, Argentina, July 2017). In our own little way, we can be first a catechist in our family, our workplace, our community. To be a catechist is a vocation of service in the Church, a gift of the Lord that changes lives. The catechist walks by Christ and with Christ. We can start from where we are. We can start with ourselves, to be the change so that others could be transformed as well. 

At the heart of everything, the Kerygma, the preaching of the Gospel, must resonate again and again on those called to announce and teach the faith. The word catechesis comes from the Greek meaning "to echo the teaching". May we be instrumental in the interactive process in which the Word of God resounds between and among the proclaimer, the one receiving the message, and the Holy Spirit! Vade praedica!