[Editor’s note: there are five angles and three were covered in the last lesson.]
Proof of God’s Love
Fourthly, Christ’s Paschal Mystery is the proof of God’s love for us. Romans 5:8 says, “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” For people who are alienated from God out of fear, the Cross proves the depths of God’s love. For people who think that they’re unworthy or unloved by anyone, the evangelist can point them to the Crucifix and say:
When we gaze upon Jesus on the cross, that is a sign and demonstration of the depths to which God the Father loves you. God the Father would send His only-begotten Son to go to the ultimate point, to go even to death for your sake. That is how much you mean to God. God loves you to death and that calls for a response. You need to give your life to God in a relationship of love so that love may be returned to God for His love.
Showing the Way to be Saved
Fifthly, the Paschal Mystery is Christ showing us the way to be saved. John 14:6 says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Similarly, Luke 9:23-24 says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” Jesus’ self-gift on the Cross shows us the path to return to God the Father. That path is a life of self-giving love, even to the point of death. Giving oneself away to the point of death is how we actually find ourselves and discover God and meaning in our lives. The cross is a demonstration of the path to return to the loving Creator God and experience His loving Fatherhood in our own lives.
Relation to Evangelization
Let’s talk about the relevance of the different aspects of the Paschal Mystery to evangelization. Different aspects of Christ’s saving work are going to speak to the different needs felt by the people with whom the evangelist converses and ministers. Some individuals are going to need to be assured of God’s love for them. They feel unloved by those around them. Maybe they had dysfunctions in their family upbringing, or something similar. They’re searching for love; they’re searching to be embraced, to know like they are important. They need to be assured that God loves them. The definitive proof of God’s love for them is the fact that God Himself died for them on the Cross. These things need to be emphasized with them.
Others may desperately want to be free from the forces of evil they are experiencing. The evangelist might encounter people that are dabbling in the occult, are drug-addicted, feel very oppressed, or living under heavy bondage to sin. They may even be having manifestations of evil spirits in their life. They need to hear about how Christ can liberate them, that He has defeated Satan and the evil spirits, crushing their power over human beings.
Others feel profound guilt and need to know that they are forgiven. Maybe they’ve committed a profoundly evil act against someone, or are suffering from the wake of an abortion and dealing with the guilt of that. Such people need to know that Christ has paid the price for their sin and they can be received back into God’s merciful embrace. They just need to accept that gift from the hands of God.
Others are looking for a “better” way to live and are exploring different life philosophies. Perhaps they’ve dabbled in eastern religions, or read some philosophy. Maybe they’ve read self-help books. They’re trying to figure out “how should I live my life, to experience life to its fullest?” With persons like that, the evangelist should emphasize giving oneself away through love in the image of Jesus Christ. Be sure to point out His Cross as the perfect way of living one’s life, the way that finds meaning and love and perfect communion at its end.
Simply put, depending on where people are, the evangelist should emphasize different aspects of the Paschal Mystery with them.