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By Olivia Obijiaku
The Members of Association of Catholic Trained Evangelizers of Nigeria (ACTEN) of the Catholic Diocese of Zaria held their second Diocesan Joint Fellowship for the year 2022 in St Enda’s Catholic Church Bassawa Zaria on Sunday, 20th March 2022.
Hinging his message on the topic ‘A Society in Dire Need of Witnesses: A Call to Evangelizers (Mt.5:1-14),’ the group’s Financial Secretary, Evang Peter Mary Johnson tasked them to make good use of everyday challenges that come their way as a showroom for their virtues.
Some commissioned evangelizers at the event
“Salt gives taste to whatever it comes in contact with.” He reminded. “Our lives should give taste, happiness and joy to others. We are not meant to scatter gatherings, forgetting the opportunity to be witnesses. We are lights and we must always reflect our lights. This is not to say that we are perfect but it means that we are consciously making effort and that we are humble enough to accept our mistakes – irrespective of who is concerned, if we cannot practice these simple things, then there will be no true witnesses left for people to follow. You don’t pray for humility, you practice it. If there are no challenges, how do we exhibit virtues? Christ has given us the standard of the Beatitudes.”
“Even if you are the only one standing out that is even when your light should shine more because light does not really shine if everywhere is bright. Light becomes that person who seems to be taking a different path when every other person is going a different way – particularly when every other person is going wrong. We went to the School of Evangelization to learn about the Church and to be able to help the Church in her work but if passing through that school has not made you a better person, it means you missed the most important value of the exercise. It is not having knowledge of words and speaking well, you must be an example to others.”
Commissioned evangelizers at the event
Evang. Johnson proffered a daily self-examination as a way of evaluating themselves – reminding them that they would be judged more by their actions and inactions than by their words.