Kerygma

Many years ago, we took our then five-year-old daughter skiing.  The instructor said he would teach the class the basics.  At noon, we picked her up from ski school, and after the ok from him, we took her up the mountain.  There, we asked her what she had learned.  Slowly inching down the slope with her skis in a wide wedge, she yelled out “Pizza”!  Smiling as only a young parent can when she realizes her child is a skiing prodigy, her mother asked “What else did you learn?”  Jumping up and landing with skis parallel, our daughter shouted out “French Fries!”, as she unexpectedly shot straight down the hill way too fast for comfort.

When first evangelizing, not everyone needs an immediate explanation of consubstantiation or transubstantiation, or Mary’s role as Mediatrix.  Many just need the basics.  Kerygma is a Greek word meaning “proclamation”.  This kerygma is what the disciples used initially as a call to conversion.  Once the person had been baptized, there was plenty of time to deepen their understanding and maturity through more thorough instruction (didache in Greek).

Whether skiing or evangelizing, sometimes it is the simple, initial instructions that can move you very quickly in the direction you want to go.

Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington does a good job of presenting the content of the basic kerygma: 

Jesus is the chosen Messiah of God, the one who was promised.  And though He was crucified, He rose gloriously from the dead, appearing to His disciples, and having been exulted at the right hand of the Father through His ascension, now summons all to Him, through the ministry of the Church.  This proclamation (kerygma) requires a response from us, that we should repent of our sins accept baptism and live in the new life which Christ is offering.  This alone will prepare us for the coming judgment that is to come upon all humanity.  There is an urgent need to conform ourselves to Christ and be prepared by Him for coming judgment.

If we are to preach the kerygma, we must preach it as first-hand witnesses who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  This is how the apostles were able to convert thousands because they had seen Jesus and had been friends with him.

Some may protest and point out that the apostles were so successful because they were also able to present miracles such as St Peter healing the cripple or the apostles’ gift of tongues such that all heard the apostles speaking in their native language.  But we too can present amazing signs.  We can show others the miracle of a life transformed by a personal relationship with Jesus.  We can show them the “…witness of a transformed human being who shows forth the glory of love, serenity, of the obvious fact of sins having been put to death, and replaced by graceful and godly living.  The greatest miracle to seek is a transformed human being, absent of pride and gluttony, lust and anger, but possessed rather of love, charity, generosity, kindness, self-discipline and authority over their passions.”

Preaching the kerygma cannot be presented as a dry set of facts devoid of any life.  The kerygma must be preached by one who has experienced the relationship and shares it with the joy of a five year old hurtling down a mountain side on skis shouting out “French Fries!”

 

 What Does the Bible Say?

 “What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon, and touched with our own hands… What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you!”

— 1 John:1-3

“When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

— 1 Corinthians:1-2

Evangelizing Challenge This Week:  Check out these great Catholic Apps 

Universalis – Office of Readings (Morning Prayer, Terce, Sext, None, Evening & Night Prayers), Readings at Mass and About the Day. Very popular app for iOS or Android (including Kindle Fire), and reasonably priced at $13.95. 

Guadalupe Radio Network – Allows you to listen live, not only to our local station (KATH) but to any station in the EWTN network. The app is free. Only for iOS at this time. 

Catholic Calendar – Feasts and celebrations according to the General Calendar. The app is complete in itself. It needs no Internet connection and no downloads. One-month preview of the full Universalis content. Free.