ST. FRANCIS AND MOTHER TERESA:
TWO GREAT EVANGELISTS

by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R.

St. Luke begins his account of the early Church, called the "Acts of the Apostles," with a reference to his former writing, the Gospel which bears his name. He write:"In my first account Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up to Heaven..." (Acts 1:1-2). Jesus came to bring us the Gospel or "Good News" of His Heavenly Father's love for us and of the salvation. He Himself would accomplish for us by His holy life, saving death and glorious resurrection.

Jesus Himself is the Good News personified. What He first did and then taught is the Good News for us first to "do" and then to teach in our lives. We first "do" the Good News by faithfully living what He taught us by His deeds and words in the Gospel. Then we must in turn teach others to do the same by exemplary lives of genuine Christian holiness and by sharing the message about Jesus' identity and His mission of salvation for all mankind.

Jesus is our Supreme Example and Teacher in all things. We must imitate Him as faithfully as we can with the help of His grace. This is especially important today in the Church with regard to the vital task of evangelization, which is the work of sharing the "Good News" about Jesus. Pope Paul II has called the Church at this crucial moment in history to the task of a "New Evangelization," to proclaim Christ anew to everyone, but especially to those who have never heard of Him as well as to those who have forgotten Him. It is ultimately a call to personal reform and the renewal of the whole Church. Pope John Paul II has stated: "I sense that the moment has come to commit all the Church's energies to a new evangelization...No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all people."

Jesus has given us the supreme example of evangelization. The saints, in their burning love for God and great desire to see Him loved by others, have faithfully imitated Him and so become examples for us also. Among these St. Francis and Mother Teresa are outstanding models of evangelization for us to follow.

Both took the Gospel seriously, even literally. Both did the work of the Gospel, first of all, by their ardent love for God. St Francis' love for God was expressed in one of his favorite sayings: "Greatly to be loved is the love of Him Who loved us so much!" Mother Teresa's love for God is seen in her desire to "do something beautiful for God" and to "give God permission" to work in her own life. I once heard her say, "I have never refused God anything!"

Then both translated their ardent love for God into heroic charity toward those in need. St. Francis began when he overcame his aversion and embraced a leper along the roadside. This led him to become "the father of the poor," reaching out to all in poverty and destitution. He had found that "what seemed bitter was changed into sweetness of soul and body." Mother Teresa began when she first picked up a dying person and carried him in her arms to a hospital, leading her to pick up over 65,000 dying people from the streets of Calcutta. She had come to see and serve "Jesus hidden in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor."

Finally, both then taught the Gospel to others by becoming living examples of the Gospel life for others to see and imitate as well as by reaching and teaching about Jesus to others. Their words were characteristically simple; but they usually made a profound impression on those who heard them, because the witness of their lives was loud and clear. They cried out the Gospel with their lives, before they cried it out with their words. Like Jesus they "did" first, then they "taught." They were "evangelists par excellence!"

The Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal follow St. Francis, as our "Seraphic Father," like countless millions have for the past 800 years. In the work of the new evangelization in the Church we participate by the witness of our work with the poor and our varied preaching apostolate, working for reform and renewal of the Church in America. Thus we continue the mission of evangelization Jesus gave to the "little poor man" of Assisi: "Francis, go and rebuild My Church which you see is falling into ruin."

We Franciscans also look to the heroic example of Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity. She and they have given and continue to give, a great witness of evangelization, reaching out worldwide poorest of the poor. With the death of Mother Teresa our community has lost a great personal friend. But the memory of her holiness and the example of her zeal and humble service will continuously challenge all of us in the work of evangelization "to do something beautiful for God".