The everyday disciple

One of the most basic and yet enduring lessons that I have learned in community over the years is the focus on everyday evangelization. The dictum I follow is to go and evangelize and evangelize as you go.

What does this mean? When one is set to Go and Evangelize, it is in the context of a community leader who deliberately plans and strategizes to win members for his movement or association. This is the typical pathway and way of life of a community member, particularly one who belongs to a religious organization.

But I have come to realize that “Go and Evangelize” has a flip side, one that embraces a bigger context and a wider scope and that is to “Evangelize as you Go.” Meaning, beyond planning, strategizing, mobilizing and doing the myriad administrative tasks of evangelization, there is the mere simplicity of using the daily and average circumstances of life and work to draw people to embrace your vision and mission. If you belong to a Christian organization, this is the most effective way to bring people to Christ and present Christ to the people.

As a long-time member of Couples for Christ, I recall that the people who somehow responded to my invitation to join the community were actually those that I encountered daily in my work in the hospital and the university. One of those who responded to my invitation, attended our seminar and eventually decided to join the community told me that he attended because he saw in my wife and me the joy of service, a fulfilled family life and contentment despite a hectic professional life and heavy service to community.

A couple, both of whom are doctors, joined CFC because of our invitation for them to help us in our work of conducting surgical and medical missions in far-flung, poor and underserved areas of the country. The passion, dedication and empathy for the poor that they slowly acquired while serving in the missions convinced them that this kind of work requires a deeper commitment to the Almighty. 

As a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, and a member of a religious community, it is customary for me to pray over my patients before they undergo major surgeries, especially heart and lung surgeries. I firmly believe that my expertise and my knowledge, when augmented by the unseen Divine Hand of God guiding me, will ensure that the patient will get the best care he or she deserves. Our medical trainees, surgical residents and nurses who normally accompany me on my rounds and pre-operation procedures simply watched at first but now they join me during the praying over session.

From the point of view of the patients, it is amazing how this simple and yet meaningful act of sharing Christ to them during their illness and treatment makes them receptive to the invitation for a life-changing experience.

The Bible tells us that one of the greatest evangelizers was the apostle Paul. Nearly everyone is familiar with the very dramatic conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus. His courage and persistent attitude of evangelization, plus the many instances when he dramatically overcame awesome obstacles are exemplary. He taught countless generations of Christians with his spirit-filled books and epistles. His writings impacted heavily in terms of shaping the Catholic religion and other Christian churches. Paul was unique because he was called during the fragile infancy of the Church and was used mightily by God despite his past hostility to the early Christian converts. It was not his writings per se but the daily example of his life, how he endured countless sufferings and sacrifice and how he persevered in spite of them, that have made him a primary model and example of how to evangelize.

Other examples come to mind. In our modern times, however, it is Mother Teresa of Calcutta who epitomizes the dictum “Evangelize as you Go.” She did not count herself as a great preacher. She was humble and unassuming but the examples of her charity, her great love for the poor, her commitment to making life bearable for the very least of God’s people, have earned her the respect and admiration of everyone, including the greatest world leaders. The greatest accolade is her being proposed for elevation to sainthood, a process that was widely accepted. She was beatified soon after her death and is now called Blessed.

So the everyday disciple, one who evangelizes as he goes, is not the bombastic preacher, not the excellent organizer of events, not the popular personality. The everyday disciple is one who exhibits the same virtues the saints and the great men lived by — kindness, patience, deep faith, commitment, perseverance, trust in God’s providence, humility, and great love.

If only each one of us can truly be an everyday disciple, we would indeed be living in a kind and loving society.

(Dr. Yamamoto is a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, member of CFC’s International Council, president of GIVE KARE Health Foundation, Inc., and Chairman of ANCOP, CFC’s work with the poor.)