Goals and Strategies - Go and Make Disciples
Part II: Goals and Strategies (¶70-74)
70. Not long after Jesus was raised from the dead, a small group huddled together in a secluded room. Suddenly, the building shook, a great wind encircled them, and flames of fire, like tongues, appeared around the group.45
71. We see, in the midst of this small group, two people whose lives still guide us in the work of evangelization. We see a woman, Mary, now middle-aged, who, over thirty years before, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and became the mother of Jesus.46 God used the faith of this Jewish woman, her cooperation with God's way, to bring Jesus into the world. So Mary, long devoutly loved by Christians as the Mother of Jesus and Mother of God, also is a model of true discipleship and evangelization. With Mary's example and prayer, we grow as disciples, ever faithful to Jesus and ever wanting to reveal him.
72. We also see a former fisherman, now called Peter, whom Jesus chose to give as a leader to the disciples.47 Though weak enough to deny his friend Jesus,48 he is yet empowered to proclaim the faith of Jesus as Messiah.49 He would proclaim that message until he died in testimony for the faith.50 Jesus made Peter the "rock" of the Church, and his faithfulness to the Lord, in spite of his weakness, strengthens us disciples today.
73. Two people, Mary and Peter, encircled by the other disciples, received in the tongues of flame at Pentecost a confirmation of their discipleship, of their involvement in the story of Jesus, of their role in spreading God's Good News.51
74. This is the fire of the Holy Spirit from whom all evangelization springs. May the Spirit that came upon Mary and filled the apostles also come upon us as we present the apostolic parts of our plan.
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