Take a moment to answer these questions on Catholic discipleship. I recommend you write your answers down, before you move on to read the answers.

A Catholic Discipleship Quiz

1. WHAT is a disciple?

2. Can you be a Christian and a non-disciple of Jesus?

3. HOW does one make a disciple of Jesus? In other words, what is the way in which we distinguish a non-disciple and a disciple? (If we don’t know the answer, we are incapable of fulfilling the command to “make disciples of all nations”)

4. Jesus said his brother, sister, and mother were those that did what?

5. Jesus told would-be disciples that following him would cost them something. He used two illustrations to make his point. What were they?

6. The world will know that we are Jesus’ disciples by what defining characteristic? 

7. Why does the Catholic Church exist?

8. What is the goal of evangelization?

The answers to these questions are below. Before we get to them, understand that Jesus and the Church have provided the answers to these questions long ago. Unfortunately, many modern Catholics no longer hold to the same understanding. Too often we have allowed ourselves to give into mission drift. That is, we are not operating based on what is most important, but on secondary issues. Rather than aiming to be saints and fruitful disciples who are acting as agents of God’s transformative grace in the lives of others, we settle for managers of programs and events at our parishes. This isn’t a bad thing, but it certainly is the primary thing.

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. WHAT is a disciple?
   -A follower and student of Jesus. This is a radical call, where we leave all else behind and take up a new life in imitation of Jesus. The word has more to do with the lifestyle of following in a kind of apprenticeship more than just a student who learns. The Catechism says:
   “In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is "the perfect man", who invites us to become his disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate, through his prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way.” -CCC 520

2. Can you be a Christian and a non-disciple of Jesus?
   Yes. By definition, one becomes a Christian by baptism. Yet, many baptized Christians have never made the conscious decision to be a follower of Jesus (his disciple). One can never accidentally or unintentionally be a disciple. While they have the capactity to believe in Jesus (and follow him), they have never made the decision to do so. In oterh words, they are merely potential disciples, though they are Christians. As JPII said:
   “[Some baptized people are] without any explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ; they only have the capacity to believe placed within them by Baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit.” -CT 19

3. HOW does one make a disciple of Jesus? In other words, what is the way in which we distinguish a non-disciple and a disciple?
   Conversion through repentance, faith in Jesus, and baptism, is the way in which one becomes a disciple of Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI wrote:
   “Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” -Pope Benedict XVI
   
   The Catechism says this about faith:
   "By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith"." -CCC 143
   
   All who are Catholic have been baptized. It is the entry into the Catholic Church. Some Catholics have repented and been forgiven of their sins, though too few go to Confession regularly. Even fewer have placed Jesus at the center of their lives and believed in him (with a faith as described above). Thus, disciples are made through conversion. Too few Catholics are converted to Jesus and thus His disciples.

4. Jesus said his brother, sister, and mother were those that did what?
   Jesus says this in Matthew:
   “he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brethren! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.” -Matt 12:48-50
   
   To do the will of the Father means we are obedient to the commands of Jesus. We do what he asks of us, including making disciples of others and loving them with the hear of the Father. We love them enough to seek and help save what is now lost.

5. Jesus told would-be disciples that following him would cost them something. He used two illustrations to make his point. What were they?
   Jesus used the illustrations of building a tower and going to war to illustrate what it costs us, when we follow him:
   “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” -Luke 14:28-33

6. The world will know that we are Jesus’ disciples by what defining characteristic?
   How we love other followers of His. In fact, it seems to be the defining characteristic of showing the world that we follow Jesus. He put it this way:
   “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:35
   
   This is an “if” statement. So, IF we don’t love one another, then the world will not know that we are disciples of Jesus. How are we failing to love each other? Primarily by not being saints and not evangelizing Catholics who need it.

7. Why does the Catholic Church exist?
   To evangelize.
   “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize” -Paul VI, EN 14
   
   The Catechism says:
   “Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.” -CCC 3

8. What is the goal of evangelization?
   “Evangelizing means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself. At its essence are the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ and the response of a person in faith, which are both works of the Spirit of God.” -USCCB, Go & Make Disciples, 10
   
   Ultimately, evangelization is the fulfillment of the command to “make disciples”. A person is transformed, through repentance, faith, and baptism, they make Jesus the center of life and are thus transformed. The goal of evangelization is conversion.

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How did you do? 
What do you need to work on?
Do you evangelize? If not, why not?

Simply put:

• Evangelization leads to conversion.
• Conversion (through repentance, faith, and baptism) leads to discipleship.
• Discipleship leads to holiness and mission.
• Holiness and mission lead to heaven.

The point of being a disciple of Jesus is to live your life in service to Jesus and His Gospel. To make disciples. To be a saint. To glorify God. To go to heaven and bring as many as you can with you. This is a high bar, but it is the call of all of us:

“We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should ... have eternal life” (3:16).” -Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 1