In the closing lines of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gave the mandate to his Church, as represented by the Twelve Apostles, to go and evangelise the whole world. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matt 28, 18-20).
Through the successors of Saint Peter, the Popes, Jesus is still recommissioning his Church to carry out this vital task. A case in point would be the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI regarding evangelisation, better known as Evangelii Nuntiandi. In Paul VI’s words, “evangelising is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelise, 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” (§14). In a later paragraph Evangelii Nuntiandi stresses the paramount duty of believers to spread the Gospel wherever they are and will be. “Thus it is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelise, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole. (§15).
One of the most powerful means through which the Gospel can reach millions of people is surely the internet. The latter offers a magnificent opportunity to share one’s experiences and be enriched in return by those of others. This cross-cultural and multi-faith exchange can be a big blessing for the unstable world we are living in. It brings the global community into a spiritual climate of understanding, sharing and learning each other’s different and valid ways of seeing and doing things.
The internet presents for us Christians an amazing possibility for sharing the Gospel from today’s roof tops. In this year’s message for the 43rd World Day of Communications, entitled New Technologies, New Relationships. Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship, Pope Benedict XVI urged internet users, especially the young people, to evangelise the ‘digital continent’ through the internet. The Pope said to all of us, especially to you, dear young people: “I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives... Today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately. It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelisation of this ‘digital continent’.
Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the ‘Good News’ of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people. Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and his blessing.”
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Reap the abundant fruits of Internet by using it as an instrument to spread “the Word of life” (1 Jn 1, 1). Disseminate the Gospel from one of the highest roof tops of today’s information technology; the internet.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann