Does every saint evangelize?

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Pondering two recent threads on Evangelization in another Forum led me to post this new thread. The question in the title is merely rhetorical. I believe every saint by cooperating with God’s Grace, does “evangelize”. Each saint is unique; some are “hidden” but all by prayer, and works, have evangelized and continue to evangelize. In one thread a recent poster quoted St. Teresa Benedicta, (Edith Stein) :

…The Saviour hangs before you with a pierced heart. He has spilled His heart’s blood to win your heart. If you want to follow Him in holy purity, your heart must be free of every earthly desire. Jesus, the Crucified, is to be the only object of your longings, your wishes, your thoughts… He wants your life in order to give you His…

This saint also wrote:

…“Hail, Cross, our only hope!” this is what the holy church summoned us to exclaim during the time for contemplating the bitter suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. The jubilant exclamation of the Easter Alleluia silenced the serious song of the cross. But the sign of our salvation greeted us amidst the time of Easter joy, since we were recalling the discovery of the one who had passed from sight. At the end of the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts, the cross greets us through the heart of the Savior. And now, as the church year draws toward an end, it is raised high before us and is to hold us spellbound, until the Easter Alleluia summons us anew to forget the earth for a while and to rejoice in the marriage of the Lamb.

Our holy Order has us begin our fast with the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. And it leads us to the foot of the cross to renew our holy vows. The Crucified One looks down on us and asks us whether we are still willing to honor what we promised in an hour of grace. And he certainly has reason to ask. More than ever the cross is a sign of contradiction. The followers of the Antichrist show it far more dishonor than did the Persians who stole it. They desecrate the images of the Cross, and they make every effort to tear the cross out of the hearts of Christians. All too often they have succeeded even with those who, like us, once vowed to bear Christ’s cross after him. Therefore, the Savior today looks at us, solemnly probing us, and asks each one of us: Will you remain faithful to the Crucified? Consider carefully! The world is in flames, the battle between Christ and the Antichrist has broken into the open. If you decide for Christ, it could cost you your life. Carefully consider what you promise. Taking and renewing vows is a dreadfully serious business. You make a promise to the Lord of heaven and earth. If you are not deadly serious about your will to fulfill it, you fall into the hands of the living God.

Before you hangs the Savior on the cross, because he became obedient unto death on the cross. He came into the world not to do his will, but his Father’s will…

So as the poster invited us to consider the Savior’s cross in evangelization, we must, as all the saints have done, gaze on Jesus every day of our lives and also ponder Him in the context of His Whole Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, for we have been baptized into Christ and we are to LIVE in Him. St. Teresa Bendicta of the Cross says, “If you decide for Christ, it could cost you your life. Carefully consider what you promise. Taking and renewing vows is a dreadfully serious business…” Every Easter we laity renew our Baptismal vows. How carefully do we consider what we promise? Are we, as our saint asked: “deadly serious?” We are called to holiness? Will we be faithful? Are we serious?

This led me to remember another thread in which a poster asked: “What exactly is the fruit God wants us to produce?” Several responses, centered on “love”, but we need more than words. The word “love” has many connotations, misunderstandings, and opinions connected to it. It is vague. A holy priest once said: “More saints are made by gazing on the crucifix than anything else”. In the Gospel, shortly before he died, Jesus said:

…“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;r but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me… (John 12: 23-26)

The phrase that linked the two recent threads for me is: “Blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus”. We must return to God’s design. He created mankind in His Image and Likeness. We are created by Love for Love. The Lord willed to create each of us as a unique and unrepeatable person – destined to be conformed to the image of His Son. When our first parents sinned, Love Himself promised to send Jesus through Mary (Genesis 3:15) and God is consistent. He continues to send His Love, His Incarnate Son by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Mary. If we look into the lives of saints we find Jesus with His Mother. If we desire to share Jesus with others we need to ask and receive, seek and find Him with Mary in our own lives. If we keep knocking on the door of His Pierced Heart He will open to us and enable us to share Him with others as Mary does. “Mary is the key” – and I’d like to add “to His Heart”