Everybody evangelizes about something. Some people evangelize about their favorite restaurant or vacation destination, others about music or a movie, some about their new iPhone, and still others, about a politician or political agenda. Everybody evangelizes about something, and everyone is a disciple of something or someone.
This is the heart of Matthew Kelly’s message in this book. It begins with his presentation at a Vatican summit to discuss the challenges of sharing the Gospel today. His words and bold and insightful.
It is one thing to write such bold words in the quiet of one’s room. It is another thing altogether to stand in the Papal Palace, before one hundred bishops and one thousand ministry leaders from around the world, and boldly announce these confronting truths.
But the boldest ideas in his text were met with spontaneous applause on several occasions despite the solemnity of the occasion. Part way through his speech, as Matthew presented his most challenging idea, a group of bishops stood in the middle of his speech and began to applaud his ideas. At the conclusion of his remarks, the whole audience rose in a resounding ovation.
Imagine yourself there, in the Vatican on that day, as you read and reflect upon these words. They echo forth from the heart of a man who loves the Catholic Church deeply, from the heart of a man who has powerfully served God’s people for three decades.