(On the 19th of October the Diocese combined the celebration of the Rosary Year with the inauguration of the Year of Evangelization. After the recitation of 8 chosen mysteries of the Rosary Bishop Zen, in his homily, tried to show how the misteries of the rosary can inspire the work of Evangelization. Here is a summary of his sermon in Chinese, provided by Bishop Zen himself.)

1. An evangelizer is like an angel announcing a good news (Joyful misteries 1and 3).

Like Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation and like the army of angels that night in the sky of Bethlehem, we bring a good news when we Evangelize, the good news is that Jesus wants to be born in everybody's heart and make everybody God's loved child. If the message is so good, the messenger must be so happy. Evangelization is a contagion of joy. Joy must be the trade mark of the Gospel.

2. It is the Most Holy Trinity who sends the evangelizer, but this is sent to be a humble, caring, suffering servant. A divine mission with so much humanity. (Luminous mysteries 1 and 2)

It was supposed to be a baptism for forgiveness of sin (Jesus for the sin of the world) but the Father and the Holy Spirit made of it a solemn Theophany, presenting to the Apostles and to the world the new teacher Jesus of Nazareth.

The words "This is my beloved Son" referred obviously to the prophesy by Isaia (chapter 42), where the meekness of the suffering Servant is been described "He will not break the bent reed, the flickering lamp he will not put out."

The same contrast between divine transcendance and human closeness can be seen at the wedding in Cana, a miracle brings before our eyes the power of the Almighty but this miracle was so human: to give some more wine for the enjoyment of the guests and to avoid an embarassment to the young couple.

At this moment it is natural for us to go, in spirit, to St. Peter's square where the Pope is declaring Mother Theresa Blessed, the foundress of the Missionaries of charity, they evangelize with charity, they make themselves images of God's goodness to the poorest of the poor.

3. (Last but not the least, we recited sorrowful mysteries 1 and 5, glorious mysteries 1 and 5). The combination of sorrowful mysteries 1 and 5 show that Jesus accepted the passion and the death on the Cross willingly. The combination of glorious mysteries 1 and 5 show that Jesus' Resurrection is the beginning of the resurrection of mankind, starting from Blessed Mary.

The Death of Jesus and His Resurrection is the Substance of the Good News.

The Apostles made it very clear that their mission was to witness to the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Sin is the only problem and Jesus is the only solution.

By dying on the Cross He destroyed the kingdom of sin, by His Resurrection He brought life back to us.

Sure, we are still sinners and we have confessed it just now: 8 times by saying to the Father "forgive us our sins" and 80 times to our Lady "pray for us sinners". But our prayer is full of confidence, because "when we were still His enemies He choose to die for us".

Evangelization is the fruit of gratitude, we are so happy for our salvation that we can't help shouting our joy to everybody. We cannot refrain from inviting everybody to join our happy thanksgiving company.