Actions do speak louder than words. People inspire me and teach me more by how they live than by what they say. Actions also give meaning to the words we speak. I think this is especially true in giving witness to Christ.
I remember a quote often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi that says, “Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” There is a power to witnessing faith that speaks beyond words. It is the witness of seeing, hearing and loving.
The Church was born to be a witness to Christ. At the time of his ascension, Jesus commissioned the disciples to remember all they had seen in following him in life, death and resurrection: “You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:28). The early Church father Tertullian remarked on how often he would hear from non-Christians, “See how they love one another.” Beyond any teaching or preaching, it was the way that Christians loved that inspired generations of faith. Many of the earliest saints were martyrs — witnesses — who died for their faith. Christians built their churches on the graves of these martyrs to draw strength and inspiration from their lives. It came to be said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church’s growth. People believe witnesses more than words!
Two hundred years ago in France, a young woman named Pauline Jaricot was inspired by the stories of missionaries witnessing to Christ in Asia and the Americas. She decided to respond by reaching out in prayer and support of God’s mission happening in foreign lands. She wanted to amplify what she had seen and heard from missionaries. She began to gather with groups of women who shared letters of mission stories, to pray for the missions and to offer what they could to support missionaries living in difficult and poor circumstances. Her witness of prayer, sharing faith and offering support to foreign missions gave birth to a worldwide movement that continues to our day called the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Joining in support of God’s mission abroad in this way also motivated her own witness and ministry at home. Pauline Jaricot was beatified in May of this year.
On World Mission Sunday, we renew our most basic vocation as Christians to be witnesses of Christ’s love. We join with Catholics around the world on this day to pray, to share faith and offer financial support for the Church’s universal mission. Speaking of the Church and the witness of the Christians in it, Pope St. Paul VI said, “It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus — the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity” (“Evangelii Nuntiandi,” No. 41). The Christian call to witness is the same as the call to holiness.
Faith grows when we share it. We are part of a great story of God’s love. God is choosing us to take our place in the story by what we say and what we do. We are among a great cloud of witnesses who continue to bring the good news of Christ to the world. We also come alive in faith as we give witness to what we have seen and heard. Let us join with St. John who wrote, “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete” (I Jn 1:3-4). Witnessing faith helps it to grow in us.
Deacon Friesen is director of the Center for Mission in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
