Discipleship – A Way Of Life

For Every Catholic

Christian formation and discipleship are interrelated and are both important
elements of the Catholic faith. The two are closely connected with faith,
conversion, and experience. Together, Christian formation and discipleship
constitute the foundation of the Christian life; the following of Jesus is at the
heart of discipleship and formation of the Christian life. The intention
of Christian formation is to convey a dynamic process in the power of the Holy
Spirit as it extends to the whole of our existence in Christ and therefore to the
transformation of all dimensions of human life. As for discipleship, it is an
expression of a more explicit and direct personal relationship with Christ. Both
elements of Christian life take place in a mutual context: in the life of the
Christian family, in Church or ecclesial movements, in the parish or
congregational life, and within the Church as a whole.
Biblical Perspectives
The making of disciples gave character to the public ministry of Jesus. He often
took the initiative and called those who became His disciples to follow him. The
disciples were called and they followed Jesus in response to His call despite their
weakness and failures (Mk 1:17-29; Mt 4:19).
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They were “to be sent out” and “to be with him” by Him on different missions.
This is similar to what happens when a Catholic receives the Sacrament of
Confirmation. A Catholic in full communion with the Church receives a special
outpouring of the Holy Spirit when they are confirmed; the sacrament enables
them to be witnesses of Christ and to be able to practice their faith in all
avenues of their lives. A disciple of Jesus is one who goes with Jesus “wherever
He goes”. The relationship between Jesus and His disciples is one of communion
and fellowship.
Not all disciples in the gospels leave everything and literally follow Christ during
His public ministry of healing, teaching, and preaching in different parts of the
world. Hence, there are two types of the priesthood in the Church; ministerial
priesthood (priesthood of the ordained) and common priesthood (priesthood of
the faithful). However, the model of the disciple who follows Jesus wherever he
may go remains an ideal model for Christians who attempt to follow the risen
Lord amid the various circumstances, contexts, and commitments of their
present life. This explains why there are two states of life within the Church
– consecrated life and the life of the laity. Through baptism, all share in the
priesthood of Jesus but within those who are baptized others are called to live a
life of absolute commitment to Christ – “many are called but few are chosen”.
Communion (“to be with him“) is the foundation of every disciple`s mission (“to
be sent out“), and the bond of their communion among themselves.
Discipleship, therefore, embraces not only the recognition of Jesus’ true identity
(“But who do you say that I am?” Mk 8:29) but also the identity of the
community of disciples as formed by Jesus. Jesus embraces those who respond
to His call for they are doing God’s will (“For whoever does the will of my
heavenly Father is my brother and sister, and mother.” Mt 12: 50).
In their journey with Jesus, the disciples` initial calling and lifelong vocation to
discipleship deepen as Jesus laid before them the challenge of the cross
(“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow me” Mk 8:34) and the attitude of service (“If anyone wishes to be first, he
shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Mk 9:35) as he himself approached
the fulfillment of the Father’s will on Golgotha.
Discipleship in the Synoptic Gospels
The Synoptic Gospels clearly communicate the importance of discipleship as
essential to the response of faith to Jesus’ proclamation of the Gospel of the
Kingdom. The images of ‘going with Jesus’, ‘following Jesus’, ‘being with
Jesus’ (Mk 1:17.20; Mt 4:19), have been very fruitful in the life of the Church;
they have inspired various forms of spirituality and movements of renewal, and
have always wielded an appealing attraction to Christianity.
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Discipleship is something vital and dynamic; it is ongoing and lived out in many
ways by believers of all generations. Disciples follow a Master who fills them
with awe (Mk 10:32-34) and who always walks ahead of them. Towards the end
of the way, “he went on ahead [of them], going up to Jerusalem” (Lk 19:28; Mk
10:32), where the culminating event of His mission took place. However, the
cross and the death were not the end of the journey, for on the eve of His death
He made a promise: “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee”
(Mk 14:28; Mk 16:7). Therefore, “to follow” Jesus goes beyond His historical
existence.
In the synoptic Gospels, the call to discipleship also takes form in the call to
holiness. This requires forsaking all and immediately following Jesus as in the
call of the first disciples (Mt 4:18-22). It is also not incidental that in the Gospel
of Matthew with its many discourses the call to holiness is communicated in the
teaching of Jesus. After the disciples are called and begin to follow Jesus in his
tour of preaching and healing throughout Galilee, Jesus gathers them on the
mountain and instructs them in the way of life that the kingdom requires. The
‘Sermon on the Mount’ combines the Beatitude, sacredness in the presence of
God with maturity and moral transformation — “So be perfect, just as your
heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
Discipleship in Acts
Discipleship in the Acts of the Apostles entails an active faith response to the
Christian proclamation. Multiplicities of expressions are used to describe this,
which is the beginning of discipleship, including:

(1) Listening to and receiving the Word of the Lord in preaching and teaching
(Acts 11:26; 13:14; 15:17; 17:11-12; 18:11; 28:28),
(2) Believing in the person of Jesus, the Lord, the Christ
(Acts 10:43, 11:17; 19:4; 20:21)
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(3) Conversion and repentance (Acts 3:19; 26:20)
The response of faith to the announcement of Jesus Christ changes a
person’s praxis and life. Luke portrays the early community as an
interrelated dimension of Christian discipleship and formation. According to
Luke, the community of disciples,
They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the
communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came
upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common (Acts
2:42-44).
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church attracted many people who felt
drawn to Christ. They enjoyed “favor with all the people” (Acts 2:47), “the
people esteemed them” (Acts 5:13), and “great favor was accorded them
all” (Acts 4:33). Therefore, the church life of the apostles was the powerful and
visible sign of the redeeming grace of the resurrected Lord.
The Acts of the Apostles powerfully exposes the close association of Christian
discipleship with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who anointed and filled Jesus is the
same Spirit that Jesus sends from the Father on Pentecost to His apostles
gathered in prayer after His resurrection. The Holy Spirit that descends upon the
disciples empowers them to establish the church as missionary witnesses,

But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to
the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
The Day of Pentecost itself is an event that initiates and portrays the distinct
connection between evangelization and the Church. The Holy Spirit is vital for
discipleship within the Church, as the Church is on a mission. The power of the
Holy Spirit was heard of in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles when He
attracted the Jews from all homelands (the initial step of the coming together of
all nations) into a new community. Three thousand Jews responded to Peter’s
homily and were joined to the community through penitence, the gift of the Holy
Spirit, and baptism (Acts 2:38-41). The Holy Spirit continues to empower and
guide the missionary work throughout the life of the Church.
Discpleship in the Church
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The Second Vatican Council said, “The laity are given this special vocation: to
make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where
it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth” (Lumen
Gentium 33). In other words, not only is holiness, discipleship, and vocation for a
selected few, it is for all baptized believers so that the society they live in and
the entire world can be evangelized. The laity is meant to take up their call as
disciples and to assist people to undertake the journey that God has uniquely
prepared for them.
Pope Francis wrote the following about discipleship in his encyclical Evangelii
Gaudium,
119. In all the baptized, from first to last, the sanctifying power of the
Spirit is at work, impelling us to evangelization. The people of God is holy
thanks to this anointing, which makes it infallible in credendo. This means
that it does not err in faith, even though it may not find words to explain
that faith. The Spirit guides it in truth and leads it to salvation. [96] As
part of his mysterious love for humanity, God furnishes the totality of the
faithful with an instinct of faith – sensus fidei – which helps them to
discern what is truly of God. The presence of the Spirit gives Christians a
certain connaturality with divine realities, and a wisdom which enables
them to grasp those realities intuitively, even when they lack the
wherewithal to give them precise expression.

121. Of course, all of us are called to mature in our work as evangelizers.

We want to have better training, a deepening love and a clearer witness
to the Gospel. In this sense, we ought to let others be constantly
evangelizing us. But this does not mean that we should postpone the
evangelizing mission; rather, each of us should find ways to communicate
Jesus wherever we are. All of us are called to offer others an explicit
witness to the saving love of the Lord, who despite our imperfections
offers us his closeness, his word and his strength, and gives meaning to
our lives. In your heart you know that it is not the same to live without
him; what you have come to realize, what has helped you to live and
given you hope, is what you also need to communicate to others. Our
falling short of perfection should be no excuse; on the contrary, mission is
a constant stimulus not to remain mired in mediocrity but to continue
growing. The witness of faith that each Christian is called to offer leads us
to say with Saint Paul: “Not that I have already obtained this, or am
already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus
has made me his own” (Phil 3:12-13)

In conclusion, being a disciple of Christ means that one has to have an

extraordinary love for people, be passionately committed to Christ, have the
heart of a servant, submit and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, live by God`s
Word, and have a purpose in life. Most importantly, one has to have a solid
relationship with Christ.

The Catechism defines a disciple this way: “The disciple of Christ

must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it,
confidently bear witness to it, and spread it” (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 1816).
Around 10 thousand people gathered in St. Peter’s Square to listen to the Pope’s Sunday message
and later pray the Angelus with him. As usual, the Pope focused his address on the Gospel
presented in the Sunday liturgy. Below is the Pope’s message translated into English: ***
Today the Gospel presents Jesus’ encounter with the first disciples (cf. Jn 1:35-42). This scene
invites us to remember our first encounter with Jesus. Each one of us has had the first encounter
with Jesus, as a child, as an adolescent, as a young person, as an adult… When did I encounter
Jesus for the first time? Try to remember this a bit. And after this thought, this memory, to renew
the joy of following Him and to ask ourselves – following Jesus means being a disciple of Jesus
– what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? According to today’s Gospel we can take three
words: to seek Jesus, to stay with Jesus, and to proclaim Jesus. To seek, to stay, to proclaim.

[1st Search] First of all, to seek. Two disciples, thanks to the Baptist’s witness, start to follow
Jesus; He “saw them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’” (v. 38). They are the
first words Jesus addresses to them: first of all, He invites them to look within, to ask themselves
about the desires they carry in their heart. “What are you seeking?”. The Lord does not want to
make proselytes, He does not want to gain superficial followers; the Lord wants people who
question themselves and let themselves be challenged by His Word. Therefore, to be disciples of
Jesus, it is necessary first of all to seek Him, it is necessary to seek Him, then to have an open,
searching heart, not a satiated or complacent heart.

[2nd Living] What were the first disciples seeking through the second verb: to stay? They were
not seeking news or information about God, or signs or miracles, but they wished to meet Jesus,
to meet the Messiah, to talk with Him, to stay with Him, to listen to Him. What is the first
question they ask? “Where are you staying?” (v. 38). And Christ invites them to stay with Him:
“Come and see” (v. 39). To stay with Him, to remain with Him: this is the most important thing
for the disciple of the Lord. In short, faith is not a theory, no; it is an encounter – it is an
encounter. It is going to see where the Lord stays, and dwelling with Him. Encountering the Lord
and staying with Him.

[3rd Announce] To seek, to stay, and finally, to proclaim. The disciples sought Jesus, then they
went with Him and stayed the entire evening with Him. And now, to proclaim. Then, they return
and they proclaim. To seek, to stay, to proclaim. Do I seek Jesus? Do I stay with Jesus? Do I
have the courage to proclaim Jesus? The disciples’ first encounter with Jesus was such a
powerful experience that the two disciples always remembered the time: “it was about the tenth
hour” (v. 39). This lets us see the power of that encounter. And their hearts were so full of joy
that straight away they felt the need to communicate the gift they had received. Indeed, one of
the two, Andrew, hastens to share it with his brother.

Brothers and sisters, let us too recall today our first encounter with the Lord. Each one of us has
had the first encounter, either within the family or outside… When did I encounter the Lord?
When did the Lord touch my heart? And let us ask ourselves: are we still disciples, enamoured of
the Lord, do we seek the Lord, or do we settle into a faith made up of habits? Do we stay with
Him in prayer, do we know how to stay in silence with Him? Do I know how to stay in prayer
with the Lord, to stay in silence with Him? And then, do we feel the desire to share, to proclaim
this beauty of the encounter with the Lord? May Mary Most Holy, first disciple of Jesus, give us
the desire to seek Him, the desire to stay with Him, and the desire to proclaim Him.
What does it mean to be disciples of Jesus? Pope Francis’ three answers | ZENIT - English