All Christians are called to be evangelists. In paragraph 1816, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it… Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: ‘So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.’”
Archbishop Charles Chaput likewise said that “Faith is always personal but never private. And it involves more than prayer at home and Mass on Sunday—although these things are vitally important. Real faith always bears fruit in public witness and public action. Otherwise it’s just empty words.”
If you are feeling anxious about evangelizing, remember the words of Jesus in Luke chapter five, as he called the first disciples: “Duc in altum!” (Lk 5:4). “Put out into the deep.” At the word of Jesus, the disciples, despite their weariness from a long night with no catch, “put out into the deep.” And because they obeyed the call of the Lord in that moment, they “enclosed a great shoal of fish; and … their nets were breaking” (Lk 5:6). As evangelists we want to help Jesus to receive into the eternal Kingdom every soul Hhe paid for on the cross. It’s our duty and our honor to become “fishers of men” and “put out into the deep” for that great catch. As we strive to be saints, as we evangelize in spite of fear, as we call on the Holy Spirit to help us; we will find that the harvest is indeed abundant (see Lk 10:2; Jn 4:35).