Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, Day 11: Holiday reflections

On this night, like a burst of brilliant light, there rings out the proclamation of the Apostle:“God's grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race”(Tit 2:11). 
                                                                                Pope Francis homily during the Christmas eve Mass

 A Happy and blessed Christmas season to  all!!
 I originally was hoping to do this morning's  blog entry on the Pope's Christmas message, which was also very prayerful and beautiful ( I prayed with it on Christmas morning). There's a lot of reasons why I opted not to in the end, but the main one is that Evangelii Gaudium really is proving to be a great tool of meditation on this season's themes of joy, hope, and renewal. So why interrupt this meditation!!

 One theme I was meditating with this week is power. Someone who does not know the Christian story, when they hear about Jesus's birth we celebrate every year, may conclude that such a majestic man with such a divine origin ' must have been a powerfull baby'. How thrown off they would be when we tell them that no, he wasn't...at least, not in the way we could imagine or predict. God's power is not supposed to be something we can predict.(EG 22). After all, the Strength of God lays not in the human form he chose to take, but in the seed Jesus gave the world. I love how Francis describes the power of that seed, the Word of God planted in us: He describes it as something that will ' surpass our calculations and ways of thinking'.  (EG 22)  I think this sentiment is why so many Christians carry so much  hope within them. Our prayers, our life of faith may not accomplish exactly what we intend, but we understand that they may also achieve far more than we could ever expect.
 
  I think this is the  main reason why Pope Francis reiterates the importance of going forth and preaching the Gospel to all people and places without hesitation, reluctance or fear. (EG 23) We need people that will carry this seed, this Word of God to every corner of their lives, because we know that the joy of the Gospel is intended for everyone, that no one is excluded from it.(EG 23) This evangelical message makes sense: Knowing how much joy and hope this season and everything that comes with it brings, why would we want to keep this to ourselves, in the comfort of our quiet and warm little homes? It's said that even the Shepherds who were not learned men, not formed to preach the Gospel, went out into the world after their encounter with the holy family, to tell the greatest story ever told to all the peoples of the land.

 But before they set out to do this, they had to process the story.  We can just picture this group of shepherds, the first group to hear about the coming of the Messiah,  standing still before this miracle, imbibing in the radiance of their savior,  letting that peace, joy and hope fill their hearts. As I've mentioned before in this blog, I believe this is the first step of evangelization for all of us. We contemplate, and pray over the truths that God gives us, and allow ourselves to be converted by them. We are indeed called to that conversion every day of our life, but the call seems to much more strong during the holidays, when we see what the spirit of good cheer does to people (  It's safe to say  that there is there's a lot more goodness going around out there than we the good happy stories our media and social media talk about!!).  As Pope Francis might ask...if we expect this much good to be spread around during the holidays...why not all year long!!

 Why not indeed!



22. God’s word is unpredictable in its power. The Gospel speaks of a seed which, once sown, grows by itself, even as the farmer sleeps (Mk 4:26-29). The Church has to accept this unruly freedom of the word, which accomplishes what it wills in ways that surpass our calculations and ways of thinking.

23. The Church’s closeness to Jesus is part of a common journey; “communion and mission are profoundly 

interconnected”.[20] In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people: no one can be excluded. That is what the angel proclaimed to the shepherds in Bethlehem: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people (Lk 2:10). The Book of Revelation speaks of “an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tongue and tribe and people (Rev 14:6).

Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, Day 10: Remembering Joy

In case you haven't had the time to read all the entries on this blog, the main theme Francis has dealt with so far is: Evangelization is hard, but it needs to be spoken about. I would add, it needs to be spoken about at all levels: At the active level, we (the lay faithful and religious)  need to concretely go out into the world and spread the Gospel. This implies coming out of our comfort zone as God challenges us to do (EG 20), and sharing the joy we experience around the Bible with others. However before we go out into the world, it would be a good idea to work on evangelization at two other levels: At the intellectual level, we need to think about what evangelization means to us personally.Perhaps we even need to  discuss a theology of evangelization, which will necessarily begin with the person of Jesus. As we begin our efforts to evangelize  by spending time with Jesus, we will  encounter Him at a personal level, which is something Francis has already encouraged in this exhortation (EG 3); At the spiritual level, we need to cultivate for ourselves a spirituality of evangelization that helps us remain rooted in the fact that evangelization isn't just a job or task we're doing to gain more disciples for Christ. It is us, being Christ to the world, connecting with people spiritually and restoring hope to the hopeless any way we can. We indeed need to have deep spiritual roots in order to undertake such an endeavor.

 It sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it?
 Perhaps it is. 

 But as Pope Francis maintains, if we allow ourselves to be truly converted by the joy of the Gospel, the labors we're being called to will be a joyful experience, as it was for the 72 disciples (Luke 10:17) As strange as it may sound, we need to give that joy some breathing space within us, so that it can truly impact our lives. If we're going to talk about reforming the Church's missionary outreach, it seems that much of such talk will revolve around centering that outreach  and work of evangelization on joy. We must remember that this exhortation is not just a call to evangelize. It's first and foremost, a call to be filled with the joy that is so integral to our life of faith. It's a call to embark upon a new evangelization marked by joy. (EG 1) As Pope Francis was saying to a group of children and young people this week, it's also about being convinced that we are loved by  Jesus. Once we are convinced by that love, we will "know how to transmit the joy of this friendship everywhere...and (we) will know the witness of kindness of true Christians: ready to lend a hand to those in need without judging others.”

Notice:  I've been talking about 'sharing joy' from the beginning,  but Pope Francis speaks more about 'transmitting it'. And we can't avoid doing so. As he says,  this joy is a sign that the gospel has been proclaimed and is being fruitful (EG 21) in our world. We are that fruit, and by transmitting the joy, we help cultivate other fruits among people. This is so simple that Francis could encourage children to do it. 

Yet it's a task that has proven to be  a challenge for our world. We're too shy, we're not inspired enough, or we're guided by a different set of values that tell us all religions are good therefore evangelizing isn't necessary etc... there are probably hundreds of reasons why not to put ourselves in such a challenging position. I think Francis acknowledges that, but what he emphasizes is that anyone who contemplates the joy this season brings to us,will know the strength it offers us when we confront, and inevitably overcome  a million of these reasons to resist the call!

I began this blog series by asking 'how do you live your joy'.
Perhaps  today I should be asking ' do you know you have this joy at all'. 
Sometimes we forget, even during Advent! It easy to forget.
It's time to remember and embrace that joy.
That's the real first step of our new evangelization!
 May God grant you a deep awareness of that joy this holiday season!


I. A CHURCH WHICH GOES FORTH

20. The word of God constantly shows us how God challenges those who believe in him “to go forth”.(C )Abraham received the call to set out for a new land (cf. Gen 12:1-3). Moses heard God’s call: “Go, I send you” (Ex 3:10) and led the people towards the promised land (cf. Ex 3:17). To Jeremiah, God says: “To all whom I send you, you shall go” (Jer 1:7). In our day Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” echoes in the changing scenarios and ever new challenges to the Church’s mission of evangelization, and all of us are called to take part in this new missionary “going forth”. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel. (C)

21. The Gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a missionary joy.(A) The seventy-two disciples felt it as they returned from their mission (cf. Lk 10:17). Jesus felt it when he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised the Father for revealing himself to the poor and the little ones (cf. Lk 10:21). It was felt by the first converts who marvelled to hear the apostles preaching “in the native language of each” (Acts 2:6) on the day of Pentecost. This joy is a sign that the Gospel has been proclaimed and is bearing fruit. Yet the drive to go forth and give, to go out from ourselves, to keep pressing forward in our sowing of the good seed, remains ever present. The Lord says: “Let us go on to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out” (Mk 1:38). Once the seed has been sown in one place, Jesus does not stay behind to explain things or to perform more signs; the Spirit moves him to go forth to other towns.

Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, Day 9: We are a called people

The commission. 

In the previous entry, I spoke about the ball being in our court. It is. The good news?: We're not trying to hit that ball alone. Yes, we always have the Trinity accompanying us along the way, and we have the communion of saints praying for us in all that we do, but this pope has taken upon himself to give us a specific guideline which he encourages us to adopt in every activity we undertake. (EG 18) Obviously, this 'specific guideline' of over 200 points and close to 80 pages is a bit of a daunting document to appropriate.  But it's important that we try, because Francis, guided by his love for God and by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, is trying to encourage and guide the whole Church towards an enthusiastic  and vital way of evangelization (EG 17). 

  To  accomplish this, he turns to Lumen Gentium, to explain different points that this new evangelization could focus on, from reforming the very way the Church does missionary outreach,to broadening our understanding of Church as an entire people of God which evangelizes (EG 17). When I read the 8 points that he mentions as his focus, I am faced with a bit of challenge: Part of the reason I began this blog is that, inspired by my Vatican II prof (who specifically invited us to pray this document), and by a classmate of mine who recently quoted rather extensively  from this document in her own blog, I felt the call to really prayerfully analyze this document. Now, I'm not an analytical person per say, but I feel like I owe it to myself -and to whoever decides to read these- to really stay close to these 8 points he mentions in section 17.  Therefore, from here on in, whenever he makes allusion to any of these points in the rest of the document, in the quoted text which I always include after my reflections, I will place a letter in brackets after a passage that I find relevant to any of these points. For example,  if he were to say something like'one must labor hard to write a good homily that echoes the sentiment of the gospel readings'  I'd put  a (D) in the text, to remind us that 'homily and its preparation' was point D in the 8 points he intended to speak about. I'm not sure if that will help anyone at all...but it will help me stay connected to his vision...at least, I think it will. Time will tell!

 The resistance I'm still feeling to this  method is that there is something about evangelization that is about immediate action, not about analyzing the action. Less thinking, more doing seems to be a common theme in much of Pope Francis' work. Of course, if that were entirely true, he wouldn't have written such a long exhortation!! But at the end of the day, it's still an exhortation:  We are called. Evangelization takes place in obedience to the missionary mandate of Jesus from Mt 28:19-20.(EG 19) There is something radically simple, and yet deeply complex about that call. Let us pray during this season of Advent, we all can learn to hear that call more effectively in our lives, as we continue to unite ourselves with Jesus and with all of creation.

17. Here I have chosen to present some guidelines which can encourage and guide the whole Church in a new phase of evangelization, one marked by enthusiasm and vitality. In this context, and on the basis of the teaching of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, I have decided, among other themes, to discuss at length the following questions:

a) the reform of the Church in her missionary outreach;
b) the temptations faced by pastoral workers;
c) the Church, understood as the entire People of God which evangelizes;
d) the homily and its preparation;
e) the inclusion of the poor in society;
f) peace and dialogue within society;
g) the spiritual motivations for mission.

18. I have dealt extensively with these topics, with a detail which some may find excessive. But I have done so, not with the intention of providing an exhaustive treatise but simply as a way of showing their important practical implications for the Church’s mission today. All of them help give shape to a definite style of evangelization which I ask you to adoptin every activity which you undertake. In this way, we can take up, amid our daily efforts, the biblical exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say: Rejoice” (Phil 4:4). 

CHAPTER ONE

THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY TRANSFORMATION

19. Evangelization takes place in obedience to the missionary mandate of Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). In these verses we see how the risen Christ sent his followers to preach the Gospel in every time and place, so that faith in him might spread to every corner of the earth.

Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, Day 8: The ball is in our court.

                   source: http://thesaurus.babylon.com/The%20ball%20is%20in%20your%20court

 It's taken me slightly more time to deal with this entry, as there have been many big issues that I've had to deal with!  Indeed, I continue  my efforts to come to term with what our Church is asking of us when it speaks of missionary activities as being 'paradigmatic for all Church activity' (EG 15). Part of my own personal tension with the call to evangelization, is that I wonder how we can strike a balance between this and inter faith dialog. I know too many Catholics who operate under the assumption that Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and others (including other Christians )need to be converted to Catholicism. I don't believe that's what Vatican II was asking of us, and I certainly know that no Pope since that period has openly asked for this. We're called to dialog with other religions and denominations, not try to convert them. If I'm wrong about this, please challenge me, but this is how I perceive a healthy tension between ecumenism, and evangelization in the Church.

  However, as I struggled with this tension in the past few weeks, I also realized Pope Francis was right: The idea of evangelization IS the paradigm under which I already operate in my everyday life: every time I engage people about the faith; every time I listen to people's struggles with the Church and help them find peace in their faith journey; every time I try to help non Christians understand Pope Francis and the Universal Church a little better; every time I reach out to people in need, (i.e.  not just reaching out to the marginalized, but reaching out to all people in need)  etc...I believe all of this,in a very small way, is also part of the new evangelization, which in the end, is really an invitation for the faithful to actively and lovingly  live out their faith for all to see. It is not an invitation to  shove faith down people's throats, and present it as the only truth they should accept. Nor is it a call to remain complacent with the faith without ever acting upon it.  Too many live out their faith in one of those two approaches.  Both options are valid in their own way, but both need to be challenged if we're going to move forward as a Church in the 21st century.

   In reality,  Pope Francis, like his predecessors does not focus too much on the fact that many do struggle to live out evangelization. Instead, he concentrates on the hopeful positive steps forwards that could be (and are)  taking place in the Church. This is why he  feels free to  muse out loud: what would  happen to our church if people began appropriating the call to evangelize more seriously? In asking this question, I think he already accepts that some of that drive to evangelize the faith is already there in our faith communities and in our life (something he recognizes by quoting quoting JPII 's Redemptoris Missio in EG 15). All we need to do is respond to it, to break away from a passive pastoral ministry that is built on conservation, and to decide to take up a more missionary pastoral ministry instead. (EG15)  Let me rephrase that:  I originally thought he was condemning pastoral ministry in general. Then I misread the word 'conservation' as 'conversation' (damned dyslexia!) and was about to have serious issues with our Pope!! In the end...what HE IS saying, is that, our Church isn't a museum  with ideologies and relics that need to be conserved and protected, or sheltered from the world. She's a living breathing organism that has shared her tradition with the world for 2000 years, and has in fact allowed that tradition to shape the world. She will continue to do so until the end of times..so long as her members (all of them!! Not just Popes, Bishops and Priests)  remain (or become!)  pastoral, loving individuals towards all people. That is what 'missionary pastoral ministry' implies to me. Or to put it differently: The ball is in our court.

 This is an uncomfortable message for many of us who are indeed complacent in our faith, but it's one that the Synod on New Evangelization emphasized as well. And while Pope Francis isn't necessarily building up directly on the work the Synod did, he is 'reaping the fruits of its labours' ( EG 16). Nevertheless, Francis is eager to express his own ideas on the topic of evangelization, while conducting his own interviews. Part of the reason for this is that he was not involved with the Synod, and rather than just taking its ideas, he seems anxious to be nourished by it, but take the message somewhere else. This is both a good and a bad thing: I would have liked to see something more concrete about the work the Synod did, and I hope someone else does end up  working with  the product of the Synod in the future. At the same time, Pope Francis  states that the time for research on the question of evangelization is done. We need to act.  WE, the faithful, need to act. This is why he also is takes the initiative to say that what the Synod did, and what he or the papal magisterium would do or say...this is not the final word on the new evangelization. Local Bishops have their say in this...and by the way... so do we. This is the beginning of the articulation of the Pope's vision of a decentralized Church.  

I can't wait to see what WE will do with that vision!!




15. John Paul II asked us to recognize that “there must be no lessening of the impetus to preach the Gospel” to those who are far from Christ, “because this is the first task of the Church”.[14] Indeed, “today missionary activity still represents the greatest challenge for the Church”[15] and “the missionary task must remain foremost”.[16] What would happen if we were to take these words seriously? We would realize that missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity. Along these lines the Latin American bishops stated that we “cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings”;[17] we need to move “from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry”.[18] This task continues to be a source of immense joy for the Church: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Lk15:7).

The scope and limits of this Exhortation

16. I was happy to take up the request of the Fathers of the Synod to write this Exhortation.[19] In so doing, I am reaping the rich fruits of the Synod’s labours. In addition, I have sought advice from a number of people and I intend to express my own concerns about this particular chapter of the Church’s work of evangelization. Countless issues involving evangelization today might be discussed here, but I have chosen not to explore these many questions which call for further reflection and study. Nor do I believe that the papal magisterium should be expected to offer a definitive or complete word on every question which affects the Church and the world. It is not advisable for the Pope to take the place of local Bishops in the discernment of every issue which arises in their territory. In this sense, I am conscious of the need to promote a sound “decentralization”.

Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, day 7: The New Evangelization as a deep expression of lived faith.

   source:  http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/inside-the-synod-deliberating-on-the-new-evangelization-and-                                                          applause-for-a-young-catechist/


As I continue to reflect on the theme of newness,it's important to remember this:  God remains in charge of our renewal. (EG12). He guides and shapes it. As I mentioned in the last entry, some will be uncomfortable with 'Newness in faith' as it may often imply getting rid of, or neglecting the old. But we know that this is not the case here.The old, (or the memory dimension of our faith) (EG 13) is something that is a part of our religious experience and can't be neglected or forgotten ( that is why  Francis describes  the believer as 'one who remembers!'). (EG 13) So rather than seeing newness and remembrance as two opposite experiences, we recognize that in the Church, we have a great spiritual and liturgical act of devotion that is a  remembrance  ( the Eucharist) which is also a great source of  renewal, and  of change in our faith!

 All these things come together in one act of worship, to give us....you guessed it: Joy. We remember, and in remembering, we  experience 'inner growth ( Catechism 7) and are transformed into a new holiness that gives us the energy and courage  to go out and share the joy with others by telling them about the powerthe Gospel has in our lives! And that good people, is WHY evangelization happens. It does not take place because ' we gotta fill the pews' or 'we gotta make money for the Church' or 'we have to convert those Atheists'.  No... it takes place so that we can point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction.” (EG 14) As we saw in EG 9-10, a big part of the new evangelization will be sharing the joy with others, seeing their joy, and growing in it to allow our own personal fulfillment. But as we learn in EG 13 and 14, it's more than 'just sharing' something special with others. 
  
The joy we receive isn't just a personal one: It's one that whole universal Church is alert to as she continues to be 'attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who helps us together to read the signs of the times. (EG 14) It was according to those promptings that the Synod for New Evangelization met last year to reaffirm that evangelization is a "summons addressed to all." (14)  But rather than being a call to do something 'new', it's a call to put God at the center of what we already do. When we reach out to people in need, when we listen to people's struggles, when we give of our time for the benefit of others...that can be an opportunity for evangelization. We live by example, as Francis often tells us. We also aught to live in confidence: Although we're not necessarily being asked to convert every person we meet, we are asked to speak about our faith with greater ease. It's not proselytizing  (which as we know, is an act that  Francis is not too fond of) where all you're doing is speaking about what excites and inspires you in your prayer life, in scripture, or in the tradition of our Church.  
 So we're back to sharing then? Yes we are.  It really is an integral part of the new evangelization. Forget the Bible thumping, prosletyzing,  fear mongers on Street corners across Canada -I'm mostly familiar with the ones on St Catherine in Montreal, but I know they're everywhere!-. This is NOT what we're called to. We share and talk about our faith with people, we give our love for others, and we offer our commitment for the greater good with all people. This above all, is what I believe Pope Francis wants to see as the shape of the new Evangelization. Spreading the Gospel to the world is still central, but it's done differently, with more personal care and attention to the needs of others. A great challenge for our 21st century Catholic world.

13. Nor should we see the newness of this mission as entailing a kind of displacement or forgetfulness of the living history which surrounds us and carries us forward. Memory is a dimension of our faith which we might call “deuteronomic”, not unlike the memory of Israel itself. Jesus leaves us the Eucharist as the Church’s daily remembrance of, and deeper sharing in, the event of his Passover (cf. Lk 22:19). The joy of evangelizing always arises from grateful remembrance: it is a grace which we constantly need to implore. The apostles never forgot the moment when Jesus touched their hearts: “It was about four o’clock in the afternoon” (Jn 1:39). Together with Jesus, this remembrance makes present to us “a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1), some of whom, as believers, we recall with great joy: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God” (Heb 13:7). Some of them were ordinary people who were close to us and introduced us to the life of faith: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice” (2 Tim 1:5). The believer is essentially “one who remembers”.

III. THE NEW EVANGELIZATION FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF THE FAITH

14. Attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who helps us together to read the signs of the times, the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops gathered from 7-28 October 2012 to discuss the theme: The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. The Synod reaffirmed that the new evangelization is a summons addressed to all and that it is carried out in three principal settings.[10]

In first place, we can mention the area of ordinary pastoral ministry, which is “animated by the fire of the Spirit, so as to inflame the hearts of the faithful who regularly take part in community worship and gather on the Lord’s day to be nourished by his word and by the bread of eternal life”.[11] In this category we can also include those members of faithful who preserve a deep and sincere faith, expressing it in different ways, but seldom taking part in worship. Ordinary pastoral ministry seeks to help believers to grow spiritually so that they can respond to God’s love ever more fully in their lives.

A second area is that of “the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism”,[12] who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith. The Church, in her maternal concern, tries to help them experience a conversion which will restore the joy of faith to their hearts and inspire a commitment to the Gospel.

Lastly, we cannot forget that evangelization is first and foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have always rejected him. Many of these are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition. All of them have a right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction”.[13]

Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, day 6: Coming to terms with eternal newness in God.

Source: http://bible-daily.org/2011/07/06/piper-fixed-in-newness-and-fighting-to-become-new/

                                                  


 When the Second Vatican council was taking place, one of the points of contention was newness. Some of the Bishops and Cardinals were calling for it in the Church, but many were resisting it. ' Why Change a formula that's been,working for 2000 years' or to put it bluntly, 'if it ain't broke...don't fix it'.   Thankfully, wiser minds understood that it wasn't a question of the Church being 'broken', but a more of a question of her needing to cooperate with the world at some basic level, or at the very least, it was a question of allowing the Church to openly dialog with the world around her, which would lead to something new.  But in the end, the newness that the Church seeks is often misunderstood by many,  no matter what their beliefs or lack of beliefs are. Some fear the new, because they assume New means compromising, or even disposing of the old; on the other side, some -especially those outside the Church- expect the Church to conform to what is new.  This is why it's always good to pray with the idea of the new.

Popes in general are good in helping with this process, and  Francis is no different: The focus in the year of faith had been a renewal of the way in which we communicate our faith. Continuing with this theme, Francis asserts that a renewal of preaching can offer all people, new joy in the faith.(EG 11) New Joy in the faith...this may seem like an enigmatic sentence to some.  Does faith bring new joy, or is the old joy we received constantly growing? A bit of both perhaps. The bottom line is that God never abandons us. " those who wait for the lord shall renew their strength.." (Is 40:31)

 I think what Pope Francis is emphasizing is that God is permanent, Christ is always the same, yet what we gain from our relationship with the Lord can't be exhausted, because God remains a source of newness in our lives ( EG 11) .  This also may be a  little enigmatic. Many people may be more comfortable seeing God as the unchanging, the constant, the trustworthy that brings goodness and lets us  stay in that goodness forever. But if we stay in the same place all the time, we become stagnant, and let's be clear here: God is many things, but stagnant is not one of them.
  I guess a question that comes to me at this point is," are we afraid of newness in our faith?" Once we 'become converted', once we fall in love and go through changes and deepen our communion with God and others...do we assume 'hey that's it. I made it through all this. Now I can a quiet life of graces and blessings!"? If so, Pope Francis' words will challenge us (what else is new!). In Quoting St Irenaeus, he states that what Jesus brings with him is salvation, but also newness. (EG 11) What this implies is that we're never done walking with Jesus.  We can label him, rationalize him, study him, think we understand everything there is to understand...and he'll still manage to break through " the categories with which we enclose him and...amaze us with divine creativity" (11) This is why authentic evangelization, no matter what form it takes, will connect with this newness. The question, as it has been from the start in this blog series, is 'how do we respond to it'?

   This question is the scary part for some Christians. It implies, something is required of us here. This is scary because, it's easy for us to get comfortable in our faith. Once we've experienced conversion, once we've discovered divine love, and have found quiet little ways to express that love in our lives with some volunteering and acts of kindness, we assume our task is done. Jesus would say, it's just begun.   Pope Francis echoes that in saying that the mission demands great generosity on our part...but that it's not about Our Work, what We Do...how good We are. No. Our response remains first and foremost, the Lord's work...all we're called to is cooperate with God. (EG 12)  This is an important sentiment, reminding us that the Life of the Church 'should always reveal that God takes the initiative in us. (12).

 So the real newness is not something we should fear: It's something we see all around us in Spring, or all year round in births; It's something that happens around us in people, things, and places. Change is never easy or pleasant, but always necessary. And as the Pope says in this section, yes it's our duty to respond to the call to change and newness, but God brings it about, inspires and provokes it, and guides it along the thousands of ways it will take (EG 12) When we know this, when we understand that God and God alone gives growth, the spirit of joy in us should be maintained, because it is then that we know " god asks everything of us, and ...offers everything to us."(12)


Eternal newness

11. A renewal of preaching can offer believers, as well as the lukewarm and the non-practising, new joy in the faith and fruitfulness in the work of evangelization. The heart of its message will always be the same: the God who revealed his immense love in the crucified and risen Christ. God constantly renews his faithful ones, whatever their age: “They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint” (Is 40:31). Christ is the “eternal Gospel” (Rev 14:6); he “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8), yet his riches and beauty are inexhaustible. He is for ever young and a constant source of newness. The Church never fails to be amazed at “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” (Rom 11:33). Saint John of the Cross says that “the thicket of God’s wisdom and knowledge is so deep and so broad that the soul, however much it has come to know of it, can always penetrate deeper within it”.[7] Or as Saint Irenaeus writes: “By his coming, Christ brought with him all newness”.[8] With this freshness he is always able to renew our lives and our communities, and even if the Christian message has known periods of darkness and ecclesial weakness, it will never grow old. Jesus can also break through the dull categories with which we would enclose him and he constantly amazes us by his divine creativity. Whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world. Every form of authentic evangelization is always “new”.

12. Though it is true that this mission demands great generosity on our part, it would be wrong to see it as a heroic individual undertaking, for it is first and foremost the Lord’s work, surpassing anything which we can see and understand. Jesus is “the first and greatest evangelizer”.[9] In every activity of evangelization, the primacy always belongs to God, who has called us to cooperate with him and who leads us on by by the power of his Spirit. The real newness is the newness which God himself mysteriously brings about and inspires, provokes, guides and accompanies in a thousand ways. The life of the Church should always reveal clearly that God takes the initiative, that “he has loved us first” (1 Jn 4:19) and that he alone “gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). This conviction enables us to maintain a spirit of joy in the midst of a task so demanding and challenging that it engages our entire life. God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us.

Praying with Evangelii Gaudium, Day 5 : The many faces of evangelization.

              (source: http://home.catholicweb.com/maryqueen/index.cfm/NewsItem?id=222635)




It's that time of the year with school work, so the entries are a little more irregular, but I've still been working on them. This one has just been a little more challenging.

I began this series of exploring  EG with a question: How do we live our joy?  I asked this question, because this document assumes -rightly so-  that many of us do not live the joy of the Gospel to its fullest. Case in point: In my last entry, I mentioned the fear that some may have over any mention of evangelization. I understand that there are many ways in which evangelization can be lived and experienced  in our faith (through blogs, through conversations with people, through art etc...). However, the traditional understanding of it,( going out into the world and preach the Gospel to strangers) is something that is a little intimidating and scary even to me. 

Does that necessarily mean I never live my faith in joy? Of course not. Most people that know me well  consider me to be a happy person, and I am happy, because I am fully conscious of just how much the Lord has blessed me. But again...this question haunts me. If I am happy, why don't I live the happiness more fully? Why don't I go out into the world to celebrate this happiness with others? I'm not certain.  This is why I am grateful that Francis continues to challenge me/us in speaking of ' the joy of evangelizing. No...not just the joy.  The Delightful, and Comforting joy of evangelizing. (EG 9) Wow...

This is indeed an exquisite idea, but  how can we accept that something that is so challenging for us to do, could be so comforting?  The answer lies in something  I touched on it in my last entry: when we experience our conversion through a genuine encounter with God, we will have such a sense of being liberated  (EG 8) from our attachments to  things that are wordly, that evangelization, (i.e. sharing with others this faith that brings us so much joy), will be something that brings us peace and happen very naturally and will cause joy to grow in our lives. Pope Francis believes this because knows that goodness will always spread (EG 9).  As he puts it,  anyone who has experienced conversion (liberation) begins to reach out to others and seek their good (EG 9) in order to allow their own good to continue growing.

   I must say, this has not generally been my experience of new converts in the Church. Many of those that I have met were so enthralled with Catholic tradition, rituals and doctrine, that in the first few years of their conversion, they were still caught up with the details of the faith, and not the heart of it.  Nevertheless, this does not take away from the idea that faith, and the goodness it generates, constantly grows within us: We learn about new ideas, see how people live those ideas in our lives, and are challenged to do the same. What's amazing with this idea, is how Pope Francis uses it to broaden the concept of evangelization. He doesn't limit it to the spreading of the Gospel, (though that is something that will always be central to evangelization). He also reminds us that the authentic faith received by the convert will be lived out of concern for the other, and that, driven by the heart of Christ, it will always be seeking the good of the other.(EG 9) 

 The 10th point of EG only affirms all of this by reminding us that through the Gospel, we can live life on a higher plane of authentic personal fulfillment. How does all this fulfillment take place? When we discover what Francis calls the 'profound law of reality':  " that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give it to others". (EG 10) I'm going to come out and say it: This is a shocking, and very counter-cultural statement for our world. Even  for religious, there has to be limits to how much we give to others. This is why Pope Francis is the man we needed for this job. There are even Jesuits who are uncomfortable with his message, but he's going to keep saying it: When we begin living more simply, that is when we will know the true jo y of the Gospel. Until then, we will  continue to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, sometimes looking as if we've come back from a funeral (EG 10). It's human nature to do so, but the pope calls us out of our understanding of our gloomy nature, and into the life of an evangelizing missionary whose life is driven by the fervor of knowing and loving jesus ( EG 10)




II. THE DELIGHTFUL AND COMFORTING JOY OF EVANGELIZING

9. Goodness always tends to spread. Every authentic experience of truth and goodness seeks by its very nature to grow within us, and any person who has experienced a profound liberation becomes more sensitive to the needs of others. As it expands, goodness takes root and develops. If we wish to lead a dignified and fulfilling life, we have to reach out to others and seek their good. In this sense, several sayings of Saint Paul will not surprise us: “The love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14); “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).

10. The Gospel offers us the chance to live life on a higher plane, but with no less intensity: “Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others”.[4] When the Church summons Christians to take up the task of evangelization, she is simply pointing to the source of authentic personal fulfilment. For “here we discover a profound law of reality: that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others. This is certainly what mission means”.[5] Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow… And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ”.[6]