Bolivian cardinal: Don't be afraid to proclaim the Lord

La Paz, Bolivia, Oct 25, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval, exhorted Bolivians this week not to be afraid of proclaiming Christ and to remember that the mission the Lord gives to Christians is to proclaim the Gospel to all nations.

“We have grown accustomed to some in the Church speaking about Jesus Christ, and the rest of us are afraid, the rest of us hide.  Perhaps we might show up at some gathering, but when its time to speak of the Lord and defend the cause of the Kingdom, we cannot hide in anonymity,” the cardinal said during the Mass for Mission Sunday.

The cardinal recalled that the order Jesus gave to the disciples was to bring the message of salvation to all nations.  “Go and proclaim what they have seen, what they have heard, what they have felt, what they have touched—Christ the Lord,” he stated.

“A Church that does not heed this order of the Lord is a Church that is asleep, a Church that gets used to small things in order to assuage its consciences,” Cardinal Terrazas warned.

During his homily, the cardinal noted that the faith of Bolivia grew thanks to the missionaries who came from different countries, and he praised new initiatives that encourage children to be missionaries and become involved in spreading the faith. 

“This is the model that the Lord proposed to his followers, become like them, because only the one who has the soul of a child surrenders to God.  Only the one who does not trust in his own plans, his own money, his own power, can proclaim the liberating word of God,” he said.