This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book:
“Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization”
by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

---

An Introduction

As kids, when we looked forward to special events we just couldn’t wait until the day arrived. How excited we were when we finally got to “go there”, “do it”, or “receive that special gift.”

I have been reminded of those younger years and younger feelings of anticipation waiting for Ralph Martin’s recently published book, “WILL MANY BE SAVED? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012) Knowing this book about the Church’s most important service of love was coming kept my spirit up in gratitude with excitement as I counted the months left before publication.

So, what was the big deal?

This book would help readers realize that while spiritual realities were being ignored, certain theological speculations kept the Church from evangelizing with purpose and passion. The book would demonstrate how a practical universalism crept in generating the false belief that everyone will be saved and go to heaven no matter what is believed and done in this life.

I knew that author Ralph Martin would remind us what Jesus taught.

“wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in there at….. narrow the gate and strait the way that leads to life, and they are few who find it.”

Every indicator pointed to a bold and bracing book regarding evangelizing for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Of course I looked forward with enthusiasm to Martin’s contribution which would clear up our confusion, name what is ultimately at stake, and restore for Catholics a doctrinal foundation, a renewed Christian faith and confidence in the saving Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. In this way the book would inspire the Church to refocus her priority and primary mission, to reconsider her pastoral strategy and to be inspired to evangelize; an inspiration which has been missing far too long.

Now that the book has been published, I have bought and read a copy. It has not been a disappointment. It is so good that already I’ve started my second reading.
Because this subject is so very important to God, to His Church and for the world, I have decided to accept an offer to write a simple book report of “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” outlining and highlighting the author’s research, observations and conclusions.

My confident hope is that our cleansingfiredor family’s interest will be peeked enough to consider reading Ralph Martin’s traditional interpretation with timely insights, commenting on it and eventually acting on the author’s conclusions, conclusions which evangelizers cannot help but admit do in fact make a vital difference because of what is ultimately at stake.

This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

---

About the Author Ralph Martin and His Commitment to Renewal and Evangelization

Ever since Martin’s adult experience of personal renewal in 1967, a grace of the Holy Spirit which focused him on both the person of Christ and the salvific redemption accomplished by this Son of God made man, our book’s author has been fully engaged in the Catholic Church’s primary ministry of love. Passionate about the universal call to holiness, evangelization and inviting others to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ, Ralph Martin knows, believes, and instructs others in the Church’s Sacred Tradition and Magisterial teaching regarding the message of salvation in Christ and the necessity to proclaim this good news to all people. The Catholic Church is convinced this message and its announcement make an eternal difference in people’s lives and Martin willing shares this truth.

A Doctor of Sacred Theology, Martin is the Director of Graduate Theology Programs in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, President of Renewal Ministries, and a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

Dr. Martin, a Roman Catholic all of his life, has witnessed God’s life transforming grace and fruitfulness in peoples’ lives throughout the United States, Canada, Africa, Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. However, for the 45 years he has been responding as a Catholic to God’s call to evangelize, evidence mounts demonstrating that within the Catholic Church there is little urgency to proclaim Christ the Savior.

Recognized by both the hierarchy and lay scholars to be an evangelist-scholar with theological insight and prophetic wisdom, Dr. Ralph Martin’s life’s work culminates in writing the book which can wake the Church out of its lethargy.

Endorsements by Catholic Church leaders include comments like the following: “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” revisits the Second Vatican Council’s missionary purpose and inspiration, clarifies authentic doctrine of salvation, exposes a pastoral strategy that fosters a belief everyone is saved anyway and shakes up the extreme optimism about the salvation of nonbelievers.

Wow, it is about time that false interpretations, exaggerated theological speculations and misplaced pastoral strategies are exposed for what they are and for they have harmed. Dr. Martin reveals and evaluates the thinking which undermines the Church’s central mission.

This book will impact the New Evangelization.

Thanks be to God.

This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

---

The Contents

The book’s 7 chapters make up 208 of the total pages. The Chapters’ titles in order are:

While anyone without theological training can decide to read only these chapters and find it easy to understand, the author includes 69 pages of thorough endnotes for those more inclined to research and read Martin’s sources.

There are 3 pertinent appendixes,16 pages for a Select Bibliography, 10 pages in the Index, 6 pages set aside for a preface, acknowledgments, and a list of abbreviations for Documents of Vatican II, Papal Encyclicals and Apostolic Exhortations, Curial Offices and Documents, and other Source and Reference Documents.

Of particular interest to me are the first 5 unnumbered pages of 16 endorsements by various Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Layman. This book comes highly recommended!

The contents of Dr. Ralph Martin’s book will satisfy the pastor, the scholar and the lay man/woman that the author knows his subject and has articulated well his argument with substantial evidence demonstrating thoughtful evaluation. Only the most recalcitrant will object to Dr. Martin’s exhortation for a renewed pastoral strategy that fosters the most important mission of the Church for the glory of God, the salvation of souls, the edification of the Church and extension of the Kingdom of God.

This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

---

What’s it all about?  Lumen Gentium 16

At the Second Vatican Council, the assembled Bishops voted 2394 to 5 for the DECREE ON THE MISSIONARY ACTIVITY OF THE CHURCH which was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965. In section 7 we read: “God in ways known to Himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to find that faith without which it is impossible to please Him.” (AG 7)

Hmm, interesting.

In 1975, the same Pope Paul VI wrote the Apostolic Exhortation, EVANGELIZATION IN THE MODERN WORLD in which we read: “God can accomplish salvation in whomsoever He wishes by ways which He alone knows…… Men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God’s mercy, even though we do not preach the Gospel to them….(EN 80)

Yes, with God all things are possible.

But somehow many in the Church (both clergy and laity) have moved to the extreme interpretation that if God can lead those ignorant of the Gospel to find pleasing faith, God has led those who are ignorant of the Gospel to pleasing faith. And somehow, many in the Church (both clergy and laity) have moved to the extreme interpretation that if Men and Women can gain salvation in other ways known to God alone, they have gained salvation even though they do not know the Gospel.

Dr. Ralph Martin, in “WILL MANY BE SAVED? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” contends that a study of the primary Second Vatican Council text (LG 16) upon which the two above quotes are based is the same primary text used by many in the Church to promote consequent extreme and erroneous interpretations that all are saved whether they heard the Gospel or not.

In fact instead of emphasizing what is actually taught (…without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, can be saved even if they have not been baptized…..[see CCC 1281 1997 edition], many in the Church (both clergy and laity) incorrectly teach “are saved”.

Martin asserts that “The jump from possibility to certainty about the salvation of people (who have not heard the Gospel through no fault of their own) to certainty about their salvation is not warranted by the text” upon which all of these statements are based. (LG 16)

For this reason, the focus of Dr. Ralph Martin’s book is the 16th section of LUMEN GENTIUM, The Dogmatic Constitution On The Church. In fact, our author emphasizes an analysis of the last three sentences of Lumen Gentium 16 is particularily essential to understanding what Vatican II actually teaches; the same three sentences that virtually always are ignored or if they are ever mentioned at all, are mentioned only very briefly, and without significant comment.

But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, “Preach the Gospel to every creature”, the Church fosters the missions with care and attention. (LG 16)

For our author, and for all of us, those are three very significant sentences which should neither be ignored nor given only brief attention without significant comment. Why should sustained attention be paid to these neglected last three sentences of LG 16?
Because, as Dr. Ralph Martin proceeds to demonstrate: THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH PEOPLE CAN BE SAVED WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL ARE VERY OFTEN, IN FACT, NOT FULFILLED.

This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

---

The Confusion

During RCIA in a Rochester parish, a Sister of Mercy tells an inquirer that Jewish people are saved by being good Jews. In other words, Jesus and the New Testament are for Christians only. Moses and the Old Testament are for Jewish people and their salvation.

That parish’s pastor initially objects to using the Name JESUS on a prayer card because of potential offense to neighborhood residents with whom we will be visiting and ‘sharing a prayer’.

Another Diocesan priest expresses shock and disappointment with me when I tell him I was inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi to visit the Islamic Center on Westfall Road a few weeks after September 11, 2001. The priest, a holy and prayerful man, could not understand the motivation that sent me to inquire about the Sharia LAW OF APOSTASY and ask the Imam whether or not a Muslim is in personal danger after professing Christian faith in Jesus and after submitting to Catholic baptism in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A third priest friend becomes angry and argumentative when I tell him Catholics have a solemn obligation to share with Muslims and tell them that the Lord Jesus, the only savior of the world, is the Son of God made man who died on the cross and rose again from the dead.

While discussing the subject of homily topics with a fourth Diocesan priest, I am left thinking the Catholic Church does not preach repentance. For, I am told by this evangelizer/pastor, “We don’t use the word repent in preaching, it’s not the Catholic approach”.

None of this made sense to me.

All of this is incredible. How can Catholics seemingly be so out of touch with our beloved Church’s Sacred Tradition? Answers are available.

It is Ralph Martin’s book “WILL MANY BE SAVED? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” which helps clarify the confusion which permeates the Church. His book has the potential to put the Church back on her own solid doctrinal foundation so as to restore our confidence in the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our author convincingly demonstrates that the loss of confidence in the Gospel does not come from the Second Vatican Council itself. Martin’s readers are reminded that nowhere in Official Church Documents is it written to not name the NAME above every other Name; to not announce the saving announcement to all people; nor is it written anywhere to believe that non-Christian religions are salvific in and of themselves and that their adherents have no right to hear the Good News of Salvation Through Jesus Christ.

But, as Dr. Ralph Martin in “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” observes, one does read in LUMEN GENTIUM 16:

“… those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God.”

Then, this section 16 in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church continues by naming adherents to Non-Christian religions:

“In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues. But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohammedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.”

Then, this Second Vatican Council Document refers to those who have no religion per se:

“Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things, and as Saviour wills that all men be saved. Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life.”

Martin argues that the doctrinal confusion which saps the Church of her missionary zeal rests in part, by a selective reading of Lumen Gentium 16. We must finish reading all of it, concentrating on the last three sentences,* so as to enter the discussion whether the conditions under which people can be saved who have never heard the Gospel are in fact easily fulfilled or very often are not.

*But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, “Preach the Gospel to every creature”, the Church fosters the missions with care and attention.

Those last three sentences in LUMEN GENTIUM 16 reference Romans 1:25, 29 and Mark 16:16 which read:

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen”

“Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers,”

“He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.”

Readers will readily discover that Martin’s excellent book with its observations, research, analysis and doctrinal clarity can facilitate the significant discussion as to whether conditions are being met for salvation without hearing the saving announcement of Christ.

For the Church and her primary mission of evangelization, Dr. Ralph Martin’s work could prove to be the most important book of our day.

This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

btw (this is still Ben until you get to the horizontal line) – if you haven’t read the Pope’s homily for the opening mass of the Syond of Bishops check it out here. I was moaning the other day on facebook about not being able to find full texts of what the Pope says and then bam! a friend shared this site. They’ve got everything the pope says right there.

Also, this post on CatholicVote.org includes a youtube lecture by Dr. Martin.

---

The Conditions, Preliminary Conclusions, and Implications for the New Evanglization

Dr. Ralph Martin studies and analyzes the doctrinal development of LUMEN GENTIUM 16 and the necessary conditions to be fulfilled for Non-Christians to be saved. The author’s painstaking process of tracing this theology’s history affirms the truth that the non-baptized can be saved by God in ways known to the Lord alone. Analysis of the necessary conditions to be fulfilled by those who do not know Christ or his Catholic Church demonstrates the possibility or potential. However, that same analysis and reflection on the optimistic assertion of its certainty are determined and substantiated by Martin to be something different than what the Second Vatican Council actually teaches.

Therefore, under certain very specific conditions salvation is possible (not certain) for non-Christians: they must not be culpable for their ignorance of the Gospel; they must seek God with a sincere heart; moved by grace, they must live according to what they know of God’s will as they follow natural law; they must receive whatever good or truth exists in their lives.

While there really is a possibility for Non-Christians to be saved, Martin aptly reminds his readers that the world’s situation has been radically changed with Christ’s coming. (Christ Has Died, Christ Is Risen, Christ Will Come Again) For God freely offers the gift of salvation and there is an urgency to proclaim to the whole world this gracious treasure and the need for its acceptance.

The Catholic Church must not forget that hearing and understanding the Gospel while steadfastly rejecting God’s gift of salvation in Christ, in fact, does jeopardize one’s salvation. This truth applies to both Non-Christians and the baptized. “To depart from the Catholic Church or not to enter it, knowing it to be the Church of Christ, is to jeopardize one’s salvation.”

A memorable Martin sentence reads: INCULPABLE IGNORANCE OF THE GOSPEL IS A CONDITION OF, NOT A CAUSE OF, SALVATION. So much for those theologies (for example Rahner’s ‘Anonymous Christians’ and Balthasar’s ‘Dare We Hope that All Are Saved’) which promote an optimism of salvation and at the same time undermine the urgency to proclaim Christ Crucified and Risen to the ends of the earth.

Why is there an urgency to proclaim the Grace of God through Jesus Christ?

Of course, an important element to the answer is because the Lord Jesus has commanded us to preach the Gospel. We must obey the Lord!

Knowledge of humanity’s condition without the grace of God through Christ, moreover, informs our desire to obey and inspires us to action.

Ralph Martin’s study of LUMEN GENTIUM 16’s Scriptural Foundations, which concentrated on the verses referenced in the foot notes (Romans 1:25, 29 and Mark 16:16), as well as the context of Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3, sheds light on the darkened, rebellious condition of the human heart apart from the Savior.

How does one sincerely appreciate God’s good news treasure gift?

By first realizing how bad the bad news is.

Doesn’t the Apostle Paul make us aware of the wrath/anger of God (Romans 1:18-32) before revealing the saving justice of God (Romans 3:21ff)? Dr. Martin quotes Stanislas Lyonnet who wrote, “in order to receive justification as a purely gratuitous gift of God, it is necessary that a man be deeply aware of his sin (Romans 3:19-21).

The last three sentences of LUMEN GENTIUM 16 [which detail how often the conditions to be saved without knowing Christ are not fulfilled] inform us and inspire us to ‘promote the Glory of God and procure the salvation of all who believe by preaching the Gospel to every Creature and as such foster the missions with care and attention’.

“WILL MANY BE SAVED?’ reminds all of us that ‘Something is really at stake: eternal salvation or damnation.’

Now that spells URGENCY.

This is a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

Here’s two pertinent links that Dominick left in the comments of the previous post:

• Evangelization should include fear of hell, Ralph Martin says
• Synod: List of 38 propositions placed before Holy Father (or here if you like the main Vatican site’s background.)

And here’s the video I referenced last time as well – definitely worth watching (or listening to)

---

Pastoral Strategy

Transmit the whole teaching of Jesus and the apostles as it comes to us in Scripture, Tradition, and the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium

This 7th installment (second to last) of the Book Review “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” highlights Dr. Ralph Martin’s suggestions to adjust the Church’s Pastoral Strategy in order to implement effectively the New Evangelization.

At the end of a masterful summary of the consistent biblical message that “there are two ways set before the human race: one way that leads to life, the other way leads to death……….the choice for God and the choice against God”, Martin makes a convincing case that ‘it matters whether or not the Gospel is preached; it matters if the horror of sin and being lost without Christ is acknowledged; it matters whether or not people repent, believe and are baptized’. Because evangelization really matters, Dr. Ralph Martin devotes his book’s last chapter to analyzing the pastoral strategy of Vatican II and how it is time to make an adjustment for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Martin documents the Council’s decision to not continue to be a Church “alienated from modern culture and locked into a defensive, apologetic stance perceived by the world as negative, condemnatory, and unattractive”. Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council purposely changed the Church’s pastoral strategy to reflect the more positive aspects of the Gospel. The Catholic Church would attempt ‘to communicate more effectively and make evangelization more successful’. Therefore, the Council was called to be pastoral and not promulgate any condemnations.

But what kept the Church from being effectively evangelistic?

Should blame for ineffective evangelization be on accentuating the beauty of the Trinity/the Incarnation/the mercy and goodness of God and the beauty of the Church as the sacrament of Christ which manifests his face to the world? I don’t read “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” that way. As Martin demonstrates, the problem is with what was left out in this new strategy.

The pastoral strategy of Vatican II “chose to affirm everything it could about the endeavors of the modern world and modern man” while remaining silent about the consequences of rejecting the good news of salvation. Since the Council, no one talks about sin, hell and the need to repent.

Silence about the darkness of sin and the consequences of rejecting the one Savior could lead people to think it doesn’t matter; it doesn’t matter if people believe; it doesn’t matter if the Church doesn’t evangelize; it doesn’t matter if Catholics share the good news of the Crucified/Risen Lord with others.

But since it really does matter, the Church can no longer remain silent; for Heaven can be lost and Hell is real. It is a matter of eternal life or damnation.

By reminding his readers that it matters, is Ralph Martin out of step with the documents of the Second Vatican Council? Is Ralph Martin an extreme reactionary? No, not at all. In fact he is in step with Sacred Tradition and Magisterial teaching.

The book’s author quotes Pope Benedict XV in “On the Propagation of the Catholic Faith Throughout the World”, Pope Pius XI in “On Catholic Missions” and Pope Pius XII in “On the Present Condition of the Catholic Missions, Especially in Africa”; each of which are referenced in a footnote to LUMEN GENTIUM 17. In their own words, each of these Popes insist that it matters; there are consequences; people are in sin and darkness, in desperate need of Jesus Christ and the Church must bring them the Gospel of Salvation.

The last chapter of “WILL MANY BE SAVED substantiates that the Church must adjust her Pastoral Strategy, that ‘There is the need to Recover the Boldness of Apostolic Preaching’, and that ‘An Unwise Silence Should End’.

Dr. Martin asserts, “Salvation requires a response to grace”. He reminds his readers that LUMEN GENTIUM 16 & 17 concluded by citing the ‘great commission’ that Jesus gives his disciples to evangelize in Mark 16:16 and in Matthew 28:18-20.” The Second Vatican Council put it this way:

The Church has received this solemn command of Christ to proclaim the saving truth from the apostles and must carry it out to the very ends of the earth. Therefore, she makes the words of the Apostle her own: “Woe to me, if I do not preach the Gospel”, and accordingly never ceases to send heralds of the Gospel….By the proclamation of the Gospel, she prepares her hearers to receive and profess the faith. She gives them the dispositions necessary for baptism, snatches them from the slavery of error and of idols and incorporates them in Christ so that in love for him they grow to full maturity…. …..(to) the confusion of the devil and the happiness of man. Each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his ability. (LG 17)

Brothers and sisters, it does matter.

This is the final installment of a multi-part book review on Ralph Martin’s new book “Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” by guest submitter Dominick Anthony Zarcone.

---

In “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” Ralph Martin succeeded in exposing the ‘atmosphere of universalism’ which permeates the Church and undermines her motivation to evangelize. Dr. Martin has examined LUMEN GENTIUM 16 which, because of bad interpretation, speculative theologies and misguided pastoral strategy, has added to the confusion regarding the Church’s primary mission. His book demonstrates that when LG 16 is not read in light of the text’s history of development, doctrinal tradition and scriptural foundations, the courageous and loving action, to which Vatican II calls the Church, will go undone.

What, one may ask, does this have to do with you and me? I have no influence on the Hierarchy. I can’t motivate Church leaders to be faithful to Christ and his great commission. Ralph Martin is a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. Moreover, he went to Rome in October 2012 during the opening of the YEAR OF FAITH and the SYNOD on THE NEW EVANGELIZATION. So he might influence a number of bishops and perhaps his book will become required reading in some graduate school or other.

But what does his book have to do with you and me, the ordinary Catholic?

We say our prayers, read our spiritual books, go to confession and mass. Sure, we know about the doctrinal confusion, the liturgical abuses and the weak, even derelict, episcopal leadership which plague the Church. But how do Martin’s research, analysis and conclusions help me help the Catholic Church?

By helping each of us personally and by helping each of us help others. “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” reminds you and me that we are each called to ongoing conversion and growth in holiness. Salvation depends upon on our response. We read in LUMEN GENTIUM 14:

“He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity… All the Church’s children should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged.”

For those of us who worry whether or not the Hierarchy will be faithful, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta encourages us by saying, “DO NOT WAIT FOR LEADERS: DO IT ALONE, PERSON TO PERSON.”

“WILL MANY BE SAVED?” has reminded us and perhaps has made us more aware than ever before that hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ makes an eternal difference in people’s lives.

Martin’s conclusions are sound doctrinally; preaching the Gospel and proclaiming salvation is a matter of life and death, eternal life or damnation; because “.. often men, deceived by the Evil One have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair.” (LG 16)

But, I am not an evangelist; am I?

If I have acknowledged sin in my life and recognized my helpless and lost condition without the grace of the Savior, I can help another person. If in the sacrament, I confess my sins trusting the Savior Jesus for forgiveness and the hope of eternal life, I Can Help Another Person. If at Holy Mass, I listen to the Word of the Lord in Sacred Scripture and the Eucharistic Prayer and I respond prayerfully in word or song, giving thanks to God the Father Almighty through Jesus Christ, eating his body and drinking his blood, I CAN HELP ANOTHER PERSON.

The most beautiful help anyone can give another is to bring Jesus to him and to bring him to Jesus. This help can be offered in many material ways, all of which are significant. But the help, the service, the mission for which the Church and all of her members exist is the announcement of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. (EN 15; cf. 1 Cor.2:1-5)

For those of us who still are uncomfortable with this rather new and unfamiliar spiritual work, please, let us reconsider what one reads in the NEW TESTAMENT, or in any of the many official documents of the Catholic Church. For example:

“To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer.” (CCC 904, Saint Thomas Aquinas)

“…the true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers….or to the faithful.” (CCC 905, cf. AA 6.3 &AG 15)

“Evangelization will always contain a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy.” (Pope Paul VI in EN 27)

“I sense the moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization and to the mission ad gentes. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church, can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.” (Pope John Paul II in RM 3)

Because this is a matter of life and death, we pray.

We pray for the salvation of souls, for the conversion of sinners, for growth in holiness. We pray for ourselves, for our family and friends, for the whole world and even for our enemies. We pray that God would open an effectual door to share, explain, teach or just announce. And we invite.

We invite to Church, to Bible study, to Catechism class, to the special event or to our homes for dinner. And we pray, Come, Holy Spirit, come!

And we study and exhort others with the exhortations with which we have been exhorted: Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelization InThe Modern World:

The respectful presentation of Christ and His kingdom is more than the evangelizer’s right; it is his duty. It is likewise the right of his fellow men to receive from him the proclamation of the Good News of salvation. God can accomplish this salvation in whomsoever He wishes by ways which He alone knows. And yet, if His Son came, it was precisely in order to reveal to us, by His word and by His life, the ordinary paths of salvation. And He has commanded us to transmit this revelation to others with His own authority. It would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about the following thought: men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God’s mercy, even though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame- what St. Paul called “blushing for the Gospel”- or as a result of false ideas we fail to preach it? (EN 80)

Beloved Brothers and sisters, it has been a joy to review for you Ralph Martin’s “WILL MANY BE SAVED?” Together, with the help of God, we remember, reiterate and act upon these most memorable words: BE NOT AFRAID. OPEN THE DOORS TO CHRIST and PROCLAIM HIS HOLY NAME!