Peter said this while the apostles were gathered in the upper room after the ascension. They were choosing someone to replace Judas. Notice that the only qualification to be an apostle was (and still is) to have accompanied the apostles ALL THE TIME that Jesus was with them from the Baptism to the Ascension.

The purpose: To become a witness to his resurrection.

So an apostle should have experienced Jesus and his purpose is to be a witness to his resurrection. Simple.

As Christians, by our baptism, we have been anointed to be apostles of Christ. As such, we should also experience Jesus so that we can be a witness to his resurrection.

To be able to experience Jesus, we need to take time - make time - so that we can spend time with him. We cannot speak about Jesus if we do not know anything about him.

I work in software technology. Ask me anything within my expertise, I can talk to you about it. Why? Because I spent more than half my life living and breathing software technology.

Now ask me anything about sewing or knitting. Anything I say about them is either hearsay, a guess or a lie. Why? Because I have never tried them! Neither have I ever read about them!

The same is true about evangelization. How can we talk about the resurrection of Jesus? We have to live and breath Jesus. We have to make an effort to spend time with Jesus in his Word, in the eucharist and in silent prayer.

We cannot talk about Jesus if we do not know about him. We can attend seminars, listen to preachers talk about Jesus, read books about Jesus - but unless - this is a big UNLESS - we experience Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, we cannot talk about him. Anything we say about Jesus will be hearsay, a lie or a guess.

Evangelisation is more than standing in front of people and talking about Jesus. It is telling others about our experience of who Jesus is.

To be able to do this, we have to spend time with him. Listen to him. Learn of him, learn from him. Love him.

May the Lord continue to give us the desire to be with him so that we can be true witnesses of his resurrection.