Tuesday, November 19, 2013
The Duty to Evangelize
The following comes from the Catholic Exchange:
The bible study group had been discussing the Sunday readings, which naturally led to the subject of evangelization, which naturally led to our responsibility for preaching the Good News. Suddenly the subject was evangelization and us. A woman had a question.
“I heard the diocese was putting together an evangelization plan,” she said, “but I haven’t seen anything about it in the parish yet. Do you know anything about that?” And she turned a quizzical eye on me.
Now, right here I should say that when it comes to real-life evangelizing, this good woman can run rings around me and just about everybody. She’s a woman of faith who’s eager to share her faith with others and has plenty of practice doing that. Nothing I said should be taken as a putdown of her.
“I don’t know what the diocese has in mind,” I replied. “And I certainly agree that a plan is needed if people are supposed to work together in evangelizing teams. But really–there’s no reason why individual Catholics must wait for the word from on high before they evangelize. The right and the duty to do that come to each one of us with baptism and are reaffirmed and strengthened by confirmation.
“Sharing in the mission of the Church–of which evangelization is a fundamental part–is something expected of every single member of the Church by reason of his or her Christian vocation. If more of us understood that, we wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for somebody to tell us to start doing it. We’d be out there evangelizing right now.”
Which, as I said, is exactly how things already are with the woman who asked the question. We could all take a leaf from her book.
Looking for an authority to support what I said? You can’t do better than Blessed John Paul II’s marvelous document on the vocation of the laity, Christifideles Laici (The Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People). He speaks there about individual apostolate as a duty of each baptized Catholic and then says this:
“Such an individual form of apostolate can contribute greatly to a more extensive spreading of the Gospel; indeed it can reach as many places as there are daily lives of individual members of the lay faithful….In sharing fully in the unique conditions of life, work, difficulties and hopes of their sisters and brothers, the lay faithful will be able to reach the hearts of their neighbors, friends, and colleagues, opening them to a full sense of human existence–that is, to communion with God and with all people” (Christifideles Laici, 28).
Beautiful but unrealistic? We’d better hope it’s not. For otherwise the problems confronting the faith in the United States may be more serious than most people imagine.
Recently I came across numbers for the Church in the U.S. make the point more vividly than rhetoric can. Consider. Infant baptisms declined from 1,005,490 in 2003 to 763,208 in the year past. Adult baptisms fell from 81,013 to 41,918. People received into full communion dropped from 82,292 to 71,582. Catholic marriages plummeted from 241,727 to 163,976. (Source: 2013 Official Catholic Directory)
However anyone explains those numbers, they tell a troubling story. If you agree, you won’t wait for somebody to hand you a plan of action before setting out to do what you can, in word and in the way you live your life, to open the eyes of family members, friends, and neighbors to the beauty and truth of the Good News.
"I felt as though my heart was leaving my body"
The following comes from the Daily Mail:
The severely disfigured man whose full-body tumours were lovingly kissed by the Pope has told MailOnline the moving story of his life.
Vinicio Riva, from Vicenza in northern Italy, is covered from head-to-toe in painful growths, a symptom of his genetic disease neurofibromatosis, passed down to him by his late mother.
Earlier this month the 53-year-old's picture spread across the world when he was warmly embraced by Pope Francis at one of the pontiff's weekly audiences in St Peter's Square.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the brave man has described meeting the head of the Catholic church, saying that being caressed by Pope Francis made his heart beat so fast he thought he 'would die'.
The pontiff's hug was 'like paradise', he said, adding: 'He didn't even think about whether or not to hug me.
'I'm not contagious, but he didn't know that. But he just did it: he caressed me all over my face, and as he did I felt only love.'
Mr Riva recollected: 'He came down from the altar to see the sick people. He embraced me without saying a word. I felt as though my heart was leaving my body.
'He was completely silent but sometimes you can say more when you say nothing.'
'First, I kissed his hand while with the other hand he caressed my head and wounds. Then he drew me to him in a strong embrace, kissing my face.
'My head was against his chest his arms were wrapped around me. It lasted just over a minute, but to me it seemed like an eternity.'
Pope Francis to release apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”
The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis will officially deliver his first post-synodal apostolic exhortation to coincide with the end of the Year of Faith.
During a Nov. 18 press conference, the Holy See revealed that the title of the new document is “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel,” which will be publicly proclaimed by the Pope during the closing Mass for the Year of Faith on Sunday, Nov. 24.
The exhortation is a concluding document of last year’s Synod of Bishops, which centered on the theme of “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.”
Although the Pope will make the first announcement on the Nov. 24, the official presentation will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in the John Paul II Hall of the Vatican.
Pope Francis will deliver the exhortation to “a bishop, a priest, a deacon, religious men and women, novices, a family, catechists, artists, journalists, young people, the elderly and the sick” noted Archbishop Rino Fisichella.
Archbishop Fisichella, who will be present at the official presentation on Nov. 26, is the President of the Pontifical Council for the promotion of the New Evangelization.
“Namely,” he continued, “it will be delivered to all those in various stages of life, who as Christians, are called to be evangelizers.”
“The Year of Faith becomes a commitment that the Church assumes her duty once again to bring the Gospel to every creature,” added the archbishop.
Altogether, there will be 36 people present for the event representing 18 different countries and five continents, the Vatican during the press release.
Special note was made that the Bishop, priest and deacon that the Pope will deliver the exhortation to come from Letonia, Tanzania Australia, and were chosen because of their youth.
It was also made known that the document might not be a “classical ‘post-synodal’” apostolic exhortation, and due to this fact the preparation and structure of the document remain unknown.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Pope Francis: God is a 'relentless warrior' for our salvation
“When the Lord takes up the defense of his people it is like this: he is a relentless warrior and saves his people,” Pope Francis said Nov. 16.
God “saves (and) renews everything: ‘All creation was made anew in its nature as before.’ ‘The Red Sea became a road without obstacles,’” the Roman Pontiff preached, recounting the first reading, from the book of Wisdom.
Our salvation comes when God hears “the prayer of his people, because he has heard in his heart that his chosen ones suffer,” he explained.
The Pope then turned to the Gospel story in which a poor widow persistently begs an unjust judge to render a verdict on her behalf.
This widow’s perseverance reveals the true strength of humanity: that of prayer.
“And what is the power of men? What is the power of mankind? That of the widow: to knock at the heart of God, knocking, asking, lamenting many problems, many sorrows, and asking the Lord for freedom from these sorrows, from these sins, from these problems.”
God has the power to save man, but “the power of man is prayer.” Most especially, “the prayer of the humble man is the weakness of God,” he emphasized.
“God is weak only in this: he is weak in respect to the prayers of his people … the culmination of the power of God, the salvation of God” is in “the Incarnation of the Word.”
The Lord “does and will do justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night,” added the Pope.
The persistent widow in the Gospel “was brave” and never tired in her pleas, he said.
“You are like the widow: pray, ask, knock at the heart of God, every day.”
“Always remember that God is powerful. He is capable of making all things new, but he also has a weakness: our prayer.”
Pope Francis concluded by thanking the priests of St. Peter’s Basilica who were present at the Mass, reminding them of the power of their intercession in “praying to the Lord for the many needs of the Church, of humanity, of all.”
“Thank you for this work…and continue on for the good of the Church.”
Sunday, November 17, 2013
‘Today’ is the Day: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
It is the age between our Lord’s first coming and His last. We live in the new world begun by His life, death, Resurrection and Ascension, by the sending of His Spirit upon the Church. But we await the day when He will come again in glory.
“Lo, the day is coming,” Malachi warns in today’s First Reading. The prophets taught Israel to look for the Day of the Lord, when He would gather the nations for judgment (see Zephaniah 3:8; Isaiah 3:9; 2 Peter 3:7).
Jesus anticipates this day in today’s Gospel. He cautions us not to be deceived by those claiming “the time has come.” Such deception is the background also for today’s Epistle (see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).
The signs Jesus gives His Apostles seem to already have come to pass in the New Testament. In Acts, the Epistles and Revelation, we read of famines and earthquakes, the Temple’s desolation. We read of persecutions - believers imprisoned and put to death, testifying to their faith with wisdom in the Spirit.
These “signs” then, show us the pattern for the Church’s life - both in the New Testament and today.
We too live in a world of nations and kingdoms at war. And we should take the Apostles as our “models,” as today’s Epistle counsels. Like them we must persevere in the face of unbelieving relatives and friends, and forces and authorities hostile to God.
As we do in today’s Psalm, we should sing His praises, joyfully proclaim His coming as Lord and King. The Day of the Lord is always a day that has already come and a day still yet to come. It is the “today” of our Liturgy.
The Apostles prayed marana tha - “O Lord come!” (see 1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20). In the Eucharist He answers, coming again as the Lord of hosts and the Sun of Justice with its healing rays. It is a mighty sign - and a pledge of that Day to come.
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