There are gazes that judge, gazes that label, gazes that stop at appearances. And there are gazes that change a life. In the first catechesis of his series on “The Passion for Evangelization”, Pope Francis invites us to pause precisely there: on the gaze of Jesus. To explain this, he takes us to Matthew, that man sitting in his tax collector’s office, singled out by everyone, considered a sinner, and, probably, someone from whom no one expected much. But Jesus did not see the tax collector; he did not see the label; he did not see his past. “He saw a man”. And that gaze was the beginning of a new story. Francis thus reminds us of something we may have forgotten: it all begins when we discover that Jesus looks at us that way too—not through the lens of our flaws, but through the love God has for us.
And here a question arises that goes to the heart of who we are as Christians and, especially, as Cursillistas: how do we look at others? Because it’s very easy to look at the person in front of us and focus on their labels: the one who’s estranged, the one who doesn’t go to church, the one who thinks differently, the one who “isn’t one of us,” the one who has made decisions we don’t understand. Pope Francis reminds us that this is not how Jesus sees people. Christ looks at the person before focusing on their label. He looks at their heart, their story, their wounds, and also all the good that God has sown within them. Perhaps evangelization begins long before we open our mouths: it begins when we learn to see as Jesus does. And perhaps therein lies one of the great riches of our Cursillo experience: discovering that Christ counts on every person, even those from whom we no longer expect anything.
But Jesus’ gaze does not leave Matthew sitting there. After looking at him, Jesus says to him: “Follow me.” And Matthew gets up. Pope Francis places great emphasis on this second step: evangelization demands action. We cannot live our faith by passively waiting for others to come looking for us. The Church, says the Pope, is born apostolic and missionary; when she loses that vision, she closes in on herself and withers away. That is why a Cursillista cannot be content with having experienced a Cursillo, having discovered Christ, and keeping that experience as a fond memory. The encounter with Jesus sets us on a path toward others. And not necessarily toward distant places. Matthew returns to his own home, to his surroundings, to the people he knows. That is where his mission begins.
This detail is especially beautiful for us: the main stage of our evangelization is precisely where we already are. In our family, at work, among our friends, in our daily concerns—in places where perhaps no one expects us to speak of God. We don’t need to be perfect or have answers for everything. Nor do we need to convince anyone. Pope Francis insists that the Church does not grow through proselytism, but through attraction. It grows when someone, upon encountering us, discovers something of Christ’s beauty. Like those Korean nuns who, without speaking the language of the patients at a hospital in Buenos Aires, managed to convey to them through their gaze and their gestures that Jesus was near. They didn’t speak much about Jesus: they proclaimed him through the way they were.
Perhaps this first catechesis leaves us with a simple yet demanding task: to let ourselves be seen by Jesus so that we may learn to see as he does, and to rise up and go out to meet others.
That is the passion for evangelization. It is not a burdensome obligation, nor a strategy, nor a campaign. It is the fire that is kindled when one knows they are loved and can no longer remain seated. Matthew got up, returned home, and was never the same again. And what about us? Perhaps the world does not need us to explain more about our faith.
Perhaps it needs to encounter men and women who, because they have been looked upon by Christ, see things differently, live differently, and make the joy of the Gospel visible wherever they are.
Reflection on Pope Francis’s First Catechesis, “A Passion for Evangelization.”
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2023/documents/20230111-udienza-generale.html
