By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD — William Donaghy and Connie Scharff presented an evangelization outreach program at the Catholic Life Congress Oct. 30, 2004.

To many there would seem to be no connection between evangelization and the Eucharist, but Pope John Paul II begs to differ. ''To evangelize the world there is need of apostles who are ‘experts’ in the celebration, adoration, and contemplation of the Eucharist,'' said Pope John Paul II in his 2004 World Mission Sunday address last month. It is this call that William Donaghy and Connie Scharff of the archdiocesan Evangelization Outreach addressed in their presentation at the Oct. 30 archdiocesan Catholic Life Congress. ''It’s a powerful call from the Holy Father, and it’s a bit of a paradox as well,'' Donaghy said. ''Are we to evangelize the world or are we to contemplate?'' The answer is both.

The Church draws her life from the Eucharist, and so it is the foundation for everything she does, including the mission to evangelize, Donaghy and Scharff said. ''He who eats with faith, eats fire and spirit,” Donaghy said. “When we eat the Eucharist we’re eating fire, which will burn away all the sin in us.'' The transformation that takes place through the celebration, adoration and contemplation of the Eucharist is the secret to becoming the perfect evangelizer — one who imitates Christ in silence, simplicity, vulnerability, and who masters the art of being broken and poured out, Donaghy explained.

Opening oneself to these four elements of the Eucharist make one an ‘expert’ he said. ''They are difficult but these are the ways we can learn, because Jesus did everything for a reason,'' Donaghy said.

Silence
''His silence in the Eucharist speaks to our modern world because it’s so foreign to our society,'' Donaghy continued. He recounted seeing a cell phone ad with the tag line: Silence is weird. ''I remember thinking, 'No, it’s not.' Silence is golden. Like Mother Teresa said, 'Silence is God speaking to us.'''

As the Holy Father wrote in his apostolic letter, Novo Millennio, ''Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of ‘doing for the sake of doing’. We must resist this temptation by trying ‘to be’ before trying ‘to do’. In this regard we should recall how Jesus reproved Martha: ''You are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful’.''
Through eucharistic adoration and contemplation, Christians learn to be comfortable with silence so they can ‘discern’ where God is leading them.



Simplicity
''Jesus is utterly simple,'' Donaghy continued. ''Becoming man was big enough, but now He comes in the form of bread and wine.''
In stark contrast is a culture that encourages excess. ''What do we see in our culture? Think of the Pepsi commercial ... ‘Drink Pepsi; get stuff.'''

Donaghy points out how gazing upon Christ in the Eucharist will melt away the societal excess in life, mind and heart so that Christ’s simplicity reigns.



Vulnerability
The Eucharist is the epitome of vulnerability. In the Eucharist, one is able to meditate on the utter vulnerability of Christ, Sharff said. ''He made himself vulnerable to countless sacrileges through the ages,'' she added. Vulnerability like Christ’s makes Christians open to both sorrow and joy. It helps us to love more. How can we, then, become more vulnerable? Donaghy illustrated the point by describing his experience of finding a chewed-up host on the floor in a back pew. ''[Christ] knew the risks, but He didn’t care,” said Donaghy, ''it was worth it to be with us, to get inside of us. What are the walls that we can let down to be more like Him?''

The Eucharist teaches that through vulnerability, one is able to more powerfully touch the lives of others.



Being broken and poured out
This is perhaps the hardest lesson to learn, because it requires dying to self and allowing God to take control, Sharff said. It means forgiving, and loving without limits, in imitation of Christ, she added. ''Every time we are at Mass, you can hear how the Eucharist is broken,'' Donaghy said. ''Our Lord isn’t doing the breaking and the pouring, but He is allowing it to be done to Him. So we come before Jesus and ask, ‘Lord how will you break and pour me out?''' At this point, experts of evangelization are formed. A true evangelizer is one that, like Christ, is willing to be broken and poured out for the love of others. A true evangelizer is one that is possessed by God — the original plan of God for every soul, Donaghy noted.

''This is the ‘filet mignon’ of Catholic spirituality,'' he said. ''This is the mystical life challenging us.'' ''When we do this we’ll come up against some painful purification — ‘the dark night of the soul’ that St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila talk about. [It’s] like Israel in the desert for 40 years – but there was an end. It’s different for every heart.''

The Pope tells us such purification is normal and necessary.

''He tells us, ‘Be not afraid,’'' said Donaghy, ''This is how to become experts of the new evangelization.''


CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.