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     If the evangelist Luke is the same Luke that St. Paul mentions in today's first scripture, then he is a "double" evangelist.  He preached with Paul and he wrote the two-volume Luke-Acts which has "evangelized" and continues to evangelize its readers for centuries!  Today's particular passage from the Gospel of Luke portrays a training session for evangelizers!  Perhaps Luke himself was recalling his own training or training that he gave others?

     When I was a pastor in San Antonio, some parishioners were concerned about the small "evangelical" churches that were appearing in their neighborhoods.  Members of these churches were going door-to-door and inviting people to come to worship with them.  My parishioners asked me, "What are we to do?"  I suggested to them that they try doing the same thing as those other church folks were doing!  My parishioners recoiled in horror:  "Oh no, Father!  That's what the Protestants do!  We're Catholics!"    

     The "New Evangelism" that our last three popes have been promoting is aimed at those Catholics who have "fallen away" or gotten lukewarm or who think that they have no duty to share their faith or proclaim the gospel!  Many Catholics confused evangelizing with "prosyletizing."  The latter means to gain converts and add to the numbers.  Evangelizing has as its goal to proclaim the gospel in the confidence that God will take care of the hearts of the listeners.  By our baptism we are all called to be evangelists not just to those who are non-Catholic but to those who ARE!   Today's gospel passage from St. Luke gives us an early edition of the training manual for our task.  Updating and using it is the task at hand!  AMEN