The Pope, The Gospel, and Your Personal Story

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When we feel called to share the good news of Jesus, it's easy to hope for a miracle—a dramatic sign or a powerful mystical experience to do the heavy lifting for us. But while we should always be open to the Holy Spirit's movement, our primary responsibility is to prepare. Just as you would for a job interview or a big presentation, we should equip ourselves to be effective messengers. This means knowing the four essential parts of the gospel message: God's love as our creator, our human tendency to fall short of His glory, Jesus's sacrifice to restore our relationship with God, and our response to accept and live out our faith. But simply knowing the message isn't enough; we have to make it our own.

In 1975, on the tenth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI released a letter called Evangelii Nuntiandi, urging Catholics to embrace the mission of evangelization with renewed energy. He made it clear that the council's purpose was to make the Church better suited to proclaiming the gospel to the modern world. If the Church as a whole needed to be better equipped, then so do each of its members. The Pope ardently desired that Catholics get out and share the gospel, and he stressed that personal evangelization—one person sharing their faith with another—was the most essential way to do this.

Pope Paul VI asked a profound question: "Is there any other way of handing on the gospel than by transmitting to another person one’s personal experience of faith?" He recognized the power of a unique word—a message that comes from your own personal conscience and is shared with someone else. This is where your personal story becomes vital. What is the unique word you can share? What elements from your life, your own journey, and your relationship with God can you draw on to communicate Jesus to others? Your personal experience, tailored to the person you are speaking with, is one of the most powerful tools you have.

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