"Today, in this Mass, we will make ourselves close to the Church of Constantinople, the Church of Andrew, we will pray for the Church, for the unity of the Churches". With these words, at the beginning of the celebration on Friday 30 at Santa Marta, Pope Francis wished to recall the liturgical feast of Saint Andrew. And the vocation of "Peter and Andrew" was recalled by the Pontiff with the words of the entrance antiphon: "On the shores of the Sea of Galilee the Lord saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and he called them: "Come after me, I will make you fishers of men" (cf. Matthew 4:18-19)". The proclamation of the Gospel, the Pope went on to say, is "testimony" and "consistency" even to the point of martyrdom: it is a mission that involves "a single ticket". And it has nothing to do with 'proselytism' and the 'logic of marketing'.

In his homily, the Pontiff first of all took up the contents of Paul's letter to the Romans (10:9-18) proposed as the first reading. The apostle, he explained, "tells the Romans that the proclamation of the Gospel is important: to bring this proclamation, that Christ has saved us, that Christ has died, risen for us". But the apostle also says "how these people must invoke the name of the Lord in order to be saved: 'how will they invoke him in whom they have not believed?'". For "without faith one cannot invoke". And again, the Pope went on to repeat Paul's words, "how will they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How will they hear of him without someone announcing him? And how will they proclaim him, if they have not been sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good!'"

"The proclamation of Jesus Christ is to bring, yes, news, but not simple, common news: the good news," Francis explained, adding that in reality it is "not even good news" but the news, "the only great good news".

And "this announcing of Jesus Christ for the disciples of the first times and also of this time," said the Pontiff, "is not a job of publicity: to advertise a very good person, who did good, healed many people and taught us beautiful things". Advertising, he insisted, 'is not publicity, nor is it proselytism'. So much so that 'if someone goes to speak about Jesus Christ, to preach Jesus Christ in order to proselytise, no, this is not the proclamation of Christ: this is the work of a preacher, governed by the logic of marketing'.

So, the Pope asked, 'what is the proclamation of Christ, which is neither proselytism, nor advertising, nor marketing, and how to describe it?' It is, he replied, 'first of all, to be sent, but not like the head of a company looking for new partners', but rather as 'sent to the mission'. And 'the proper sign, that one is sent to the mission' is 'when one's own life comes into play: the apostle, the envoy, who carries out the proclamation of Jesus Christ does so on condition that he puts his own life, his own time, his own interests, his own flesh on the line'. And 'there is a saying that can explain it, a common saying said by simple people from my land, which says: "to do this you have to put your own flesh on the grill"'. The question, Francis reiterated, is 'to put oneself at stake and this journey of going to the proclamation risking one's life - because I put my life, my flesh at stake - has only the outward ticket, not the return'. Because "to return is apostasy".

"Announcing Jesus Christ with witness" therefore. And "testimony means putting one's life on the line: what I say I do," the Pontiff reiterated. Moreover, "Jesus rebuked the doctors of the law of that time who said many good things, but did the opposite". Not by chance, "the advice Jesus gave the people was: 'Do whatever they say, but do not imitate what they do'". Indeed, he added, 'the word to be proclamation must be testimony'.

But "how much of a scandal we Christians give when we say we are Christians and then live as pagans, as non-believers, as if we had no faith", the Pope acknowledged, inviting people to have "coherence between the word and their own life: this is called witness". And so "the apostle, the one who brings, the announcer, the one who brings the word of God, is a witness who plays his life to the end". And 'he is also a martyr'.

At this point, Francis suggested, 'someone may wonder who invented this method of making a person like Jesus known: it is a method proper to Christianity. Who invented it? Perhaps St Peter or St Andrew? No, God the Father, because it was his own method of making himself known: sending his Son in the flesh, risking his own life'.

In fact, the Pontiff pointed out, 'the first act of faith is: "I believe that the Son became flesh"'. And even this statement 'scandalised so much and continues to scandalise: God became one of us". This too 'was a journey,' Francis said, 'with a one-way ticket only: the devil tried to convince him to take another road and he did not want to, he did the Father's will to the end'. But his 'proclamation must go the same way, the witness, because he was the witness of the Father made flesh'. And also "we must make ourselves flesh, that is, make ourselves witnesses: do, do what we say, and this is the proclamation of Christ".

"Martyrs are those who prove that the proclamation was true," the Pope explained. They are "men and women who gave their lives - the apostles gave their lives - with blood". But they are "also many men and women hidden in our society and in our families, who give witness every day in silence to Jesus Christ, but with their own lives, with that consistency of doing what they say".

"All of us are baptised and have with our baptism the mission of proclaiming Jesus Christ," the Pontiff relaunched. Therefore "if we live as Jesus taught us to live, live in harmony with what we preach, the proclamation will be fruitful". But "if we live without coherence, saying one thing and doing another contrary thing, the result will be scandal; and the scandal of Christians does so much harm, so much harm to the people of God".

"Let us ask the Lord for the grace" - Francis concluded - to do "like Peter and Andrew, James and John who left boat, net, father, family: to leave everything that prevents us from going forward in the proclamation of witness". Because "we all have something to leave inside, all of us. We look for what? We leave. That attitude, that sin, that vice: everyone knows his own". That is why, he repeated, we ask for "the grace to leave in order to be more consistent and to announce Jesus Christ, so that people will believe with our witness."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 01/12/2018]