We Are All Called to Be Witnesses

More of Fr. Tony’s homily One body, many witnesses:

“You might think that when Paul says, not everyone is an apostle or a teacher, that this means the responsibility for the growth of the Church falls only to a few professionals. But here I think there’s a confusion between being a teacher and being a witness. Teaching Christian doctrine does require some specialized training, depending on the type and level of teaching, some skills that not everybody has and not everybody needs. But being a witness is part of the DNA of discipleship. It’s something that belongs to every cell. We all are called to be witnesses as part of our contribution to the common good.

Being a witness means giving testimony. Think about being called to be a witness in court. It involves saying what you have seen and experienced. When Luke writes his Gospel, what he is doing is pulling together the testimony of witnesses—people who have seen and experienced Jesus. And we are all witnesses. We have experienced Jesus, in prayer, in the sacraments, in the stories others have passed on to us, in the ways his teachings have shaped our thinking and inspired us. We all are called to share that testimony.”