(Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12)
Critics of Christianity will sometimes say that if God exists, why haven’t we heard from him since Jesus was on the earth? In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that His voice is the voice of the Father, the voice of God. In this same Gospel message Jesus said, ‘whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.’ These works are to spread the Good News to tell people about Jesus by what we say and, more importantly, by what we do. So, are these critics right when they say we haven’t heard from God for 2000 years? Of course not, we who believe, know that God speaks to us every day through Holy Scriptures; we just need to listen.
As Catholics we believe that our Pope is chosen by the will of the Holy Spirit; the same way the first deacons were chosen in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. If we listen to the words of our Popes going back more than fifty years we can hear the voice of God. God is telling us we need to Evangelise; we need to be Missionary Disciples for Him.
In 1975, Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi [ On Evangelisation in the Modern World] said, ‘The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve.’ He added ‘The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself.’ And he stated, ‘it is unthinkable that a person should accept the Word and give himself to the kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn.’[1]
Pope John Paul II also spoke widely on Evangelisation. In his opening sentence of his encyclical Redemptoris Missio [On…] he said, ‘The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion. As the second millennium after Christ’s coming draws to an end, … this mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service. It is the Spirit who impels us to proclaim the great works of God: “ He also said in that document, ‘missionary activity renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity, and offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentive. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others! It is in commitment to the Church’s universal mission that the new evangelization of Christian peoples will find inspiration and support.’ [2]
Pope Benedict XVI established a Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation.[3] Pope Francis in his Encyclical Evangelii Gaudium [The Joy of the Gospel], emphasised that evangelisation is the joyful, communal and witness-driven mission of every baptised Christian, rooted in God’s love and expressed through service, witness and missionary discipleship.[4]
These four Popes, two of whom are now listed among the Saints of the Church, spoke about continuing and re-energising the mission of Christ, to spread the Good News that Jesus is ‘the way, the truth and the life.’ These men chosen by God to lead the Church He founded, all spoke of Mission and Evangelisation, and almost as if God said that we were not listening, the next Pope chosen a year ago next Friday is a man who has worked for twenty years as a Missionary priest in South America. In his first homily on the day after he was elected, he said that the Church’s ‘missionary outreach is desperately needed.’[5]
While we know that God speaks to us every day and week through Sacred Scripture, I would like to suggest that God has been urging us through the voices of the Popes of the latter part of the 20th century and at the beginning of this century, to go out and reach those who do not believe, to bring back those who have stopped coming; in short to make sure that everyone knows that the Church is a place where everyone can belong.
This is the vision expressed in our Diocesan 10-year Plan and one which is enacted locally through our Pastoral Area Mission Plan. The next phase of our Pastoral Area Mission Plan is to come together as a single Parish, that will involve having a new name for the Parish. The individual churches will still retain their names but will become part of the new larger Parish. Please look out for details of how to get involved in the Parish Newsletters. By coming together, we can share resources and build upon all of the great things which are going on in the individual churches. This will allow us to help grow God’s Church further, as we look at ways to reach those who do not follow Jesus. This is the Mission of the Church, this is how we witness our Faith to the world.
Further Reading
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Fifth Sunday of Easter
CCC 2746-2751: Christ’s prayer at the Last Supper
CCC 661, 1025-1026, 2795: Christ opens for us the way to heaven
CCC 151, 1698, 2614, 2466: believing in Jesus
CCC 1569-1571: the order of deacons
CCC 782, 803, 1141, 1174, 1269, 1322: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood”[6]
Evangelii Nuntiandi (December 8, 1975)
Redemptoris Missio (7 December 1990)
You Will Be My Witnesses – Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth
Please accompany in your prayers
- All those who are sick, either at home or in hospital, especially those who have very few or no visitors.
- Those who have died and those who grieve for them.
- Those who have completed and those who continue with the RCIA programme; especially those who received the Sacraments of Initiation this Easter.
- The young people from our Pastoral Area who are being Confirmed at Portsmouth Cathedral this Sunday.
- The success of the Pastoral Area Mission Plan.
- The success of the current Called & Gifted programme.
- The young people preparing for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist within our Pastoral Area.
- The men and their wives who attended the Selection Day for the Diaconate this weekend.
Deacon Tony
2nd May 2026
[1] Evangelii Nuntiandi (December 8, 1975)
[2] Redemptoris Missio (7 December 1990)
[3] Apostolic Letter issued “Motu Proprio” Ubicumque et semper of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI establishing the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization (September 21, 2010)
[4]“Evangelii Gaudium”: Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World (24 November 2013)
[5] In first homily as pontiff, Pope Leo XIV calls for missionary church in a secular age
[6] Homiletic Directory, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments