Monday, December 30, 2002

Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them,"Go into the world and proclaim the good news to all the creation..." Mark 16:14-15

Proclaim the good news! That seems easy enough. One of the essential tasks of Christian disciples is to "proclaim the good news."

However, when we reflect upon our scriptures contained in the Bible we realize that there are various ways of understanding what the good news is. Further, we realize there are a variety of ways describing "how" to proclaim good news.

In other words, proclaiming the good news is not easy. Rather, it is dynamic. It is alive and it becomes a way of life.

Francis Cardinal Arinze in his book Religions for Peace (A Call for Solidarity to the Religions of the World) proposes the following summary of the "good news" as he understands it.

The good news is "the Gospel of Jesus Christ." This is a Gospel of love of others, of humility, of justice, of reconciliation, and of service. It is a Gospel based on the new commandment of Christ, that of mutual love, after the example of Christ: "As I have love you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples." (John 13: 34-35)

This Gospel preaches that people will have peace and be blessed if they live the spirit of the Beatitudes (cf. Matthew 5:9ff), if they are ready to forgive and even go the extra mile, and if they will be converted to God in the interiority of their hearts and worship him in spirit and truth (cf. Matthew 5:38-42, John 4:24).

Interior peace is Christ's gift to his disciples. It is a peace that the world cannot give (cf. John 14:27). Our peace is centered on Christ. (1)

John Ruiz

(1) Francis Cardinal Arinze, Religions for Peace: A Call for Solidarity to the Religions of the World (Doubleday: New York, London, Sidney, Auckland) 2002, p. 110-111.