APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
EVANGELII GAUDIUM
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY,
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL
IN TODAY’S WORLD
INDEX
I. A JOY EVER NEW, A JOY WHICH IS SHARED [2-8]
II. THE DELIGHTFUL AND COMFORTING JOY OF EVANGELIZING [9-13]
Eternal newness [11-13]
III. THE NEW EVANGELIZATION FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF THE FAITH [14-18]
The scope and limits of this Exhortation
[16-18]
CHAPTER ONE
THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY TRANSFORMATION [19]
I. A CHURCH WHICH GOES FORTH [20-24]
Taking the first step, being involved and
supportive, bearing fruit and rejoicing [24]
II. PASTORAL ACTIVITY AND CONVERSION [25-33]
An ecclesial renewal which cannot be deferred
[27-33]
III. FROM THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL [34-39]
IV. A MISSION EMBODIED WITHIN HUMAN LIMITS [40-45]
V. A MOTHER WITH AN OPEN HEART [46-49]
CHAPTER TWO
AMID THE CRISIS OF COMMUNAL COMMITMENT [50-51]
I. SOME CHALLENGES OF TODAY’S WORLD [52-75]
No to an economy of exclusion [53-54]
No to the new idolatry of money [55-56]
No to a financial system which rules rather
than serves [57-58]
No to the inequality which spawns violence
[59-60]
Some cultural challenges [61-67]
Challenges to inculturating the faith
[68-70]
Challenges from urban cultures [71-75]
II. TEMPTATIONS FACED BY PASTORAL WORKERS [76-109]
Yes to the challenge of a missionary
spirituality [78-80]
No to selfishness and spiritual sloth
[81-83]
No to a sterile pessimism [84-86]
Yes to the new relationships brought by Christ [87-92]
No to spiritual worldliness [93-97]
No to warring among ourselves [98-101]
Other ecclesial challenges [102-109]
CHAPTER THREE
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL [110]
I. THE ENTIRE PEOPLE OF GOD PROCLAIMS THE GOSPEL [111-134]
A people for everyone [112-114]
A people of many faces [115-118]
We are all missionary disciples [119-121]
The evangelizing power of popular piety
[122-126]
Person to person [127-129]
Charisms at the service of a communion which
evangelizes [130-131]
Culture, thought and education [132-134]
II. THE HOMILY [135-144]
The liturgical context [137-138]
A mother’s conversation [139-141]
Words which set hearts on fire [142-144]
III. PREPARING TO PREACH [145-159]
Reverence for truth [146-148]
Personalizing the word [149-151]
Spiritual reading [152-153]
An ear to the people [154-155]
Homiletic resources [156-159]
IV. EVANGELIZATION AND THE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE KERYGMA
[160- 175]
Kerygmatic and mystagogical catechesis
[163-168]
Personal accompaniment in processes of growth [169-173]
Centred on the word of God [174-175]
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF EVANGELIZATION [176]
I. COMMUNAL AND SOCIETAL REPERCUSSIONS OF THE KERYGMA [177-185]
Confession of faith and commitment to society
[178-179]
The kingdom and its challenge [180-181]
The Church’s teaching on social questions
[182-185]
II. THE INCLUSION OF THE POOR IN SOCIETY [186-216]
In union with God, we hear a plea
[187-192]
Fidelity to the Gospel, lest we run in vain [193-196]
The special place of the poor in God’s people
[197-201]
The economy and the distribution of income
[202-208]
Concern for the vulnerable [209-216]
III. THE COMMON GOOD AND PEACE IN SOCIETY [217-237]
Time is greater than space [222-225]
Unity prevails over conflict [226-230]
Realities are more important than ideas
[231-233]
The whole is greater than the part
[234-237]
IV. SOCIAL DIALOGUE AS A CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE [238-258]
Dialogue between faith, reason and science [242-243]
Ecumenical dialogue [244-246]
Relations with Judaism [247-249]
Interreligious dialogue [250-254]
Social dialogue in a context of religious
freedom [255-258]
CHAPTER FIVE
SPIRIT-FILLED EVANGELIZERS [259-261]
I. REASONS FOR A RENEWED MISSIONARY IMPULSE [262-283]
Personal encounter with the saving love of
Jesus [264-267]
The spiritual savour of being a people
[268-274]
The mysterious working of the risen Christ and
his Spirit [275-280]
The missionary power of intercessory prayer
[281-283]
II. MARY, MOTHER OF EVANGELIZATION [284-288]
Jesus’ gift to his people [285-286]
Star of the new evangelization [287-288]
1. THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter
Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow,
inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In
this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new
chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for
the Church’s journey in years to come.
I. A JOY EVER NEW, A JOY WHICH IS SHARED
2. The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism,
is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the
feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our
interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no
longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard,
the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.
This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up
resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled
life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has
its source in the heart of the risen Christ.
3. I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a
renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting
him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one
should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is
excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”.[1]
The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step
towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with
open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be
deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more,
to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me
once more into your redeeming embrace”. How good it feels to come back to him
whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving
us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. Christ, who told us to
forgive one another “seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22) has given us his
example: he has forgiven us seventy times seven. Time and time again he bears
us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by
this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness which never disappoints,
but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift
up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus,
let us never give up, come what will. May nothing inspire more than his life,
which impels us onwards!
4. The books of the Old Testament predicted that the joy of salvation
would abound in messianic times. The prophet Isaiah exultantly salutes the
awaited Messiah: “You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy”
(9:3). He exhorts those who dwell on Zion to go forth to meet him with song:
“Shout aloud and sing for joy!” (12:6). The prophet tells those who have
already seen him from afar to bring the message to others: “Get you up to a high
mountain, O herald of good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, O
herald of good tidings to Jerusalem” (40:9). All creation shares in the joy of
salvation: “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth! Break forth, O
mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have
compassion on his suffering ones” (49:13).
Zechariah, looking to the day of the Lord, invites the people to
acclaim the king who comes “humble and riding on a donkey”: “Rejoice greatly, O
daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he” (9:9).
Perhaps the most exciting invitation is that of the prophet
Zephaniah, who presents God with his people in the midst of a celebration
overflowing with the joy of salvation. I find it thrilling to reread this text:
“The Lord, your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives you the victory; he
will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will
exult over you with loud singing, as on a day of festival” (3:17).
This is the joy which we experience daily, amid the little things of
life, as a response to the loving invitation of God our Father: “My child, treat
yourself well, according to your means… Do not deprive yourself of the day’s
enjoyment” (Sir 14:11, 14). What tender paternal love echoes in these
words!
5. The Gospel, radiant with the glory of Christ’s cross, constantly
invites us to rejoice. A few examples will suffice. “Rejoice!” is the angel’s
greeting to Mary (Lk 1:28). Mary’s visit to Elizabeth makes John leap
for joy in his mother’s womb (cf. Lk 1:41). In her song of praise, Mary
proclaims: “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:47). When Jesus
begins his ministry, John cries out: “For this reason, my joy has been
fulfilled” (Jn 3:29). Jesus himself “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Lk
10:21). His message brings us joy: “I have said these things to you, so that my
joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:11). Our
Christian joy drinks of his brimming heart. He promises his disciples: “You
will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (Jn 16:20). He
then goes on to say: “But I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and
no one will take your joy from you” (Jn 16:22). The disciples “rejoiced”
(Jn 20:20) at the sight of the risen Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles
we read that the first Christians “ate their food with glad and generous hearts”
(2:46). Wherever the disciples went, “there was great joy” (8:8); even amid
persecution they continued to be “filled with joy” (13:52). The newly baptized
eunuch “went on his way rejoicing” (8:39), while Paul’s jailer “and his entire
household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God” (16:34). Why should we
not also enter into this great stream of joy?
6. There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter. I
realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life,
especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it
always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that,
when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. I understand the
grief of people who have to endure great suffering, yet slowly but surely we all
have to let the joy of faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid
the greatest distress: “My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what
happiness is… But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast
love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new
every morning. Great is your faithfulness… It is good that one should wait
quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam 3:17, 21-23, 26).
7. Sometimes we are tempted to find excuses and complain, acting as if
we could only be happy if a thousand conditions were met. To some extent this
is because our “technological society has succeeded in multiplying occasions of
pleasure, yet has found it very difficult to engender joy”.[2]
I can say that the most beautiful and natural expressions of joy which I have
seen in my life were in poor people who had little to hold on to. I also think
of the real joy shown by others who, even amid pressing professional
obligations, were able to preserve, in detachment and simplicity, a heart full
of faith. In their own way, all these instances of joy flow from the infinite
love of God, who has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. I never tire of
repeating those words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the
Gospel: “Being a 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”.[3]
8. Thanks solely to this encounter – or renewed encounter – with God’s
love, which blossoms into an enriching friendship, we are liberated from our
narrowness and self-absorption. We become fully human when we become more than
human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest
truth of our being. Here we find the source and inspiration of all our efforts
at evangelization. For if we have received the love which restores meaning to
our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others?
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]
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.
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]
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” (Lk 15:7).
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”.
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 adopt in 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.
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”. 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.
21. The Gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a
missionary joy. 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.
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).
Taking the first step, being involved and supportive, bearing fruit and
rejoicing
24. The Church which “goes forth” is a community of missionary disciples
who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and
rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the
initiative, he has loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19), and therefore we can
move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have
fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast. Such a community
has an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of its own experience of the
power of the Father’s infinite mercy. Let us try a little harder to take the
first step and to become involved. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The
Lord gets involved and he involves his own, as he kneels to wash their feet. He
tells his disciples: “You will be blessed if you do this” (Jn 13:17). An
evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people’s daily lives;
it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it
embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others.
Evangelizers thus take on the “smell of the sheep” and the sheep are willing to
hear their voice. An evangelizing community is also supportive, standing by
people at every step of the way, no matter how difficult or lengthy this may
prove to be. It is familiar with patient expectation and apostolic endurance.
Evangelization consists mostly of patience and disregard for constraints of
time. Faithful to the Lord’s gift, it also bears fruit. An evangelizing
community is always concerned with fruit, because the Lord wants her to be
fruitful. It cares for the grain and does not grow impatient at the weeds. The
sower, when he sees weeds sprouting among the grain does not grumble or
overreact. He or she finds a way to let the word take flesh in a particular
situation and bear fruits of new life, however imperfect or incomplete these may
appear. The disciple is ready to put his or her whole life on the line, even to
accepting martyrdom, in bearing witness to Jesus Christ, yet the goal is not to
make enemies but to see God’s word accepted and its capacity for liberation and
renewal revealed. Finally an evangelizing community is filled with joy; it
knows how to rejoice always. It celebrates at every small victory, every step
forward in the work of evangelization. Evangelization with joy becomes beauty
in the liturgy, as part of our daily concern to spread goodness. The Church
evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which
is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her
renewed self-giving.
II. PASTORAL ACTIVITY AND CONVERSION
25. I am aware that nowadays documents do not arouse the same interest as
in the past and that they are quickly forgotten. Nevertheless, I want to
emphasize that what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance
and important consequences. I hope that all communities will devote the
necessary effort to advancing along the path of a pastoral and missionary
conversion which cannot leave things as they presently are. “Mere
administration” can no longer be enough.[21]
Throughout the world, let us be “permanently in a state of mission”.[22]
26. Paul VI invited us to deepen the call to renewal and to make it clear
that renewal does not only concern individuals but the entire Church. Let us
return to a memorable text which continues to challenge us. “The
Church must look with penetrating eyes within herself, ponder the mystery of her
own being… This vivid and lively self-awareness inevitably leads to a comparison
between the ideal image of the Church as Christ envisaged her and loved her as
his holy and spotless bride (cf. Eph 5:27), and the actual image which
the Church presents to the world today... This is the source of the
Church’s heroic and impatient struggle for renewal: the struggle to correct
those flaws introduced by her members which her own self-examination, mirroring
her exemplar, Christ, points out to her and condemns”.[23]
The Second Vatican Council presented ecclesial conversion as openness to a
constant self-renewal born of fidelity to Jesus Christ: “Every renewal of the
Church essentially consists in an increase of fidelity to her own calling…
Christ summons the Church as she goes her pilgrim way… to that continual
reformation of which she always has need, in so far as she is a human
institution here on earth”.[24]
There are ecclesial structures which can hamper efforts at
evangelization, yet even good structures are only helpful when there is a life
constantly driving, sustaining and assessing them. Without new life and an
authentic evangelical spirit, without the Church’s “fidelity to her own
calling”, any new structure will soon prove ineffective.
An ecclesial renewal which cannot be deferred
27. I dream of a “missionary option”, that is, a missionary impulse
capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing
things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled
for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.
The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood
in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make
ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in
pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth and in this way to elicit a
positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with him. As
John Paul II once said to the Bishops of Oceania: “All renewal in the Church
must have mission as its goal if it is not to fall prey to a kind of ecclesial
introversion”.[25]
28. The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it
possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on
the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While
certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if it proves capable of
self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in
the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”.[26]
This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its
people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a
self-absorbed cluster made up of a chosen few. The parish is the presence of
the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for
growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach,
worship and celebration.[27] In
all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be
evangelizers.[28] It is a
community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the
midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must
admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet
sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living
communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented.
29. Other Church institutions, basic communities and small communities,
movements, and forms of association are a source of enrichment for the Church,
raised up by the Spirit for evangelizing different areas and sectors.
Frequently they bring a new evangelizing fervour and a new capacity for dialogue
with the world whereby the Church is renewed. But it will prove beneficial for
them not to lose contact with the rich reality of the local parish and to
participate readily in the overall pastoral activity of the particular Church.[29]
This kind of integration will prevent them from concentrating only on part of
the Gospel or the Church, or becoming nomads without roots.
30. Each particular Church, as a portion of the Catholic Church under the
leadership of its bishop, is likewise called to missionary conversion. It is
the primary subject of evangelization,[30]
since it is the concrete manifestation of the one Church in one specific place,
and in it “the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly
present and operative”.[31] It is
the Church incarnate in a certain place, equipped with all the means of
salvation bestowed by Christ, but with local features. Its joy in communicating
Jesus Christ is expressed both by a concern to preach him to areas in greater
need and in constantly going forth to the outskirts of its own territory or
towards new sociocultural settings.[32]
Wherever the need for the light and the life of the Risen Christ is greatest, it
will want to be there.[33] To make
this missionary impulse ever more focused, generous and fruitful, I encourage
each particular Church to undertake a resolute process of discernment,
purification and reform.
31. The bishop must always foster this missionary communion in his
diocesan Church, following the ideal of the first Christian communities, in
which the believers were of one heart and one soul (cf. Acts 4:32). To
do so, he will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping
their hope vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his
unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk
after them, helping those who lag behind and – above all – allowing the flock to
strike out on new paths. In his mission of fostering a dynamic, open and
missionary communion, he will have to encourage and develop the means of
participation proposed in the Code of Canon Law,[34]
and other forms of pastoral dialogue, out of a desire to listen to everyone and
not simply to those who would tell him what he would like to hear. Yet the
principal aim of these participatory processes should not be ecclesiastical
organization but rather the missionary aspiration of reaching everyone.
32. Since I am called to put into practice what I ask of others, I too
must think about a conversion of the papacy. It is my duty, as the Bishop of
Rome, to be open to suggestions which can help make the exercise of my ministry
more faithful to the meaning which Jesus Christ wished to give it and to the
present needs of evangelization. Pope John Paul II asked for help in finding “a
way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is
essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation”.[35]
We have made little progress in this regard. The papacy and the central
structures of the universal Church also need to hear the call to pastoral
conversion. The Second Vatican Council stated that, like the ancient
patriarchal Churches, episcopal conferences are in a position “to contribute in
many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegial spirit”.[36]
Yet this desire has not been fully realized, since a juridical status of
episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions,
including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.[37]
Excessive centralization, rather than proving helpful, complicates the Church’s
life and her missionary outreach.
33. Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent
attitude that says: “We have always done it this way”. I invite everyone to be
bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and
methods of evangelization in their respective communities. A proposal of goals
without an adequate communal search for the means of achieving them will
inevitably prove illusory. I encourage everyone to apply the guidelines found
in this document generously and courageously, without inhibitions or fear. The
important thing is to not walk alone, but to rely on each other as brothers and
sisters, and especially under the leadership of the bishops, in a wise and
realistic pastoral discernment.
III. FROM THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL
34. If we attempt to put all things in a missionary key, this will also
affect the way we communicate the message. In today’s world of instant
communication and occasionally biased media coverage, the message we preach runs
a greater risk of being distorted or reduced to some of its secondary aspects.
In this way certain issues which are part of the Church’s moral teaching are
taken out of the context which gives them their meaning. The biggest problem is
when the message we preach then seems identified with those secondary aspects
which, important as they are, do not in and of themselves convey the heart of
Christ’s message. We need to be realistic and not assume that our audience
understands the full background to what we are saying, or is capable of relating
what we say to the very heart of the Gospel which gives it meaning, beauty and
attractiveness.
35. Pastoral ministry in a missionary style is not obsessed with the
disjointed transmission of a multitude of doctrines to be insistently imposed.
When we adopt a pastoral goal and a missionary style which would actually reach
everyone without exception or exclusion, the message has to concentrate on the
essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the
same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of its
depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing.
36. All revealed truths derive from the same divine source and are to be
believed with the same faith, yet some of them are more important for giving
direct expression to the heart of the Gospel. In this basic core, what shines
forth is the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who
died and rose from the dead. In this sense, the Second Vatican Council
explained, “in Catholic doctrine there exists an order or a ‘hierarchy’ of
truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian
faith”.[38] This holds true as
much for the dogmas of faith as for the whole corpus of the Church’s teaching,
including her moral teaching.
37. Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that the Church’s moral teaching has its
own “hierarchy”, in the virtues and in the acts which proceed from them.[39]
What counts above all else is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).
Works of love directed to one’s neighbour are the most perfect external
manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit: “The foundation of the New
Law is in the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is manifested in the faith which
works through love”.[40] Thomas
thus explains that, as far as external works are concerned, mercy is the
greatest of all the virtues: “In itself mercy is the greatest of the virtues,
since all the others revolve around it and, more than this, it makes up for
their deficiencies. This is particular to the superior virtue, and as such it
is proper to God to have mercy, through which his omnipotence is manifested to
the greatest degree”.[41]
38. It is important to draw out the pastoral consequences of the Council’s
teaching, which reflects an ancient conviction of the Church. First, it needs
to be said that in preaching the Gospel a fitting sense of proportion has to be
maintained. This would be seen in the frequency with which certain themes are
brought up and in the emphasis given to them in preaching. For example, if in
the course of the liturgical year a parish priest speaks about temperance ten
times but only mentions charity or justice two or three times, an imbalance
results, and precisely those virtues which ought to be most present in preaching
and catechesis are overlooked. The same thing happens when we speak more about
law than about grace, more about the Church than about Christ, more about the
Pope than about God’s word.
39. Just as the organic unity existing among the virtues means that no one
of them can be excluded from the Christian ideal, so no truth may be denied.
The integrity of the Gospel message must not be deformed. What is more, each
truth is better understood when related to the harmonious totality of the
Christian message; in this context all of the truths are important and illumine
one another. When preaching is faithful to the Gospel, the centrality of
certain truths is evident and it becomes clear that Christian morality is not a
form of stoicism, or self-denial, or merely a practical philosophy or a
catalogue of sins and faults. Before all else, the Gospel invites us to respond
to the God of love who saves us, to see God in others and to go forth from
ourselves to seek the good of others. Under no circumstance can this invitation
be obscured! All of the virtues are at the service of this response of love.
If this invitation does not radiate forcefully and attractively, the edifice of
the Church’s moral teaching risks becoming a house of cards, and this is our
greatest risk. It would mean that it is not the Gospel which is being preached,
but certain doctrinal or moral points based on specific ideological options.
The message will run the risk of losing its freshness and will cease to have
“the fragrance of the Gospel”.
IV. A MISSION EMBODIED WITHIN HUMAN LIMITS
40. The Church is herself a missionary disciple; she needs to grow in her
interpretation of the revealed word and in her understanding of truth. It is
the task of exegetes and theologians to help “the judgment of the Church to
mature”.[42] The other sciences
also help to accomplish this, each in its own way. With reference to the social
sciences, for example, John Paul II said that the Church values their research,
which helps her “to derive concrete indications helpful for her magisterial
mission”.[43] Within the Church
countless issues are being studied and reflected upon with great freedom.
Differing currents of thought in philosophy, theology and pastoral practice, if
open to being reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the
Church to grow, since all of them help to express more clearly the immense
riches of God’s word. For those who long for a monolithic body of doctrine
guarded by all and leaving no room for nuance, this might appear as undesirable
and leading to confusion. But in fact such variety serves to bring out and
develop different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel.[44]
41. At the same time, today’s vast and rapid cultural changes demand that
we constantly seek ways of expressing unchanging truths in a language which
brings out their abiding newness. “The deposit of the faith is one thing... the
way it is expressed is another”.[45]
There are times when the faithful, in listening to completely orthodox language,
take away something alien to the authentic Gospel of Jesus Christ, because that
language is alien to their own way of speaking to and understanding one
another. With the holy intent of communicating the truth about God and
humanity, we sometimes give them a false god or a human ideal which is not
really Christian. In this way, we hold fast to a formulation while failing to
convey its substance. This is the greatest danger. Let us never forget that
“the expression of truth can take different forms. The renewal of these forms
of expression becomes necessary for the sake of transmitting to the people of
today the Gospel message in its unchanging meaning”.[46]
42. All of this has great relevance for the preaching of the Gospel, if we
are really concerned to make its beauty more clearly recognized and accepted by
all. Of course, we will never be able to make the Church’s teachings easily
understood or readily appreciated by everyone. Faith always remains something
of a cross; it retains a certain obscurity which does not detract from the
firmness of its assent. Some things are understood and appreciated only from
the standpoint of this assent, which is a sister to love, beyond the level of
clear reasons and arguments. We need to remember that all religious teaching
ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher’s way of life, which awakens the
assent of the heart by its nearness, love and witness.
43. In her ongoing discernment, the Church can also come to see that
certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even some
which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and
appreciated. Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no longer serve
as means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be afraid to re-examine
them. At the same time, the Church has rules or precepts which may have been
quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for
directing and shaping people’s lives. Saint Thomas Aquinas pointed out that the
precepts which Christ and the apostles gave to the people of God “are very few”.[47]
Citing Saint Augustine, he noted that the precepts subsequently enjoined by the
Church should be insisted upon with moderation “so as not to burden the lives of
the faithful” and make our religion a form of servitude, whereas “God’s mercy
has willed that we should be free”.[48]
This warning, issued many centuries ago, is most timely today. It ought to be
one of the criteria to be taken into account in considering a the reform of the
Church and her preaching which would enable it to reach everyone.
44. Moreover, pastors and the lay faithful who accompany their brothers
and sisters in faith or on a journey of openness to God must always remember
what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches quite clearly:
“Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even
nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate
attachments, and other psychological or social factors”.[49]
Consequently, without detracting from the evangelical ideal, they need to
accompany with mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as
these progressively occur.[50] I
want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber but
rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best. A
small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God
than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without
confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be touched by the comfort and
attraction of God’s saving love, which is mysteriously at work in each person,
above and beyond their faults and failings.
45. We see then that the task of evangelization operates within the limits
of language and of circumstances. It constantly seeks to communicate more
effectively the truth of the Gospel in a specific context, without renouncing
the truth, the goodness and the light which it can bring whenever perfection is
not possible. A missionary heart is aware of these limits and makes itself
“weak with the weak... everything for everyone” (1 Cor 9:22). It never
closes itself off, never retreats into its own security, never opts for rigidity
and defensiveness. It realizes that it has to grow in its own understanding of
the Gospel and in discerning the paths of the Spirit, and so it always does what
good it can, even if in the process, its shoes get soiled by the mud of the
street.
V. A MOTHER WITH AN OPEN HEART
46. A Church which “goes forth” is a Church whose doors are open. Going
out to others in order to reach the fringes of humanity does not mean rushing
out aimlessly into the world. Often it is better simply to slow down, to put
aside our eagerness in order to see and listen to others, to stop rushing from
one thing to another and to remain with someone who has faltered along the way.
At times we have to be like the father of the prodigal son, who always keeps his
door open so that when the son returns, he can readily pass through it.
47. The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always
wide open. One concrete sign of such openness is that our church doors should
always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit, comes there looking for
God, he or she will not find a closed door. There are other doors that should
not be closed either. Everyone can share in some way in the life of the Church;
everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of the sacraments be
closed for simply any reason. This is especially true of the sacrament which is
itself “the door”: baptism. The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of
sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and
nourishment for the weak.[51]
These convictions have pastoral consequences that we are called to consider with
prudence and boldness. Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its
facilitators. But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father,
where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.
48. If the whole Church takes up this missionary impulse, she has to go
forth to everyone without exception. But to whom should she go first? When we
read the Gospel we find a clear indication: not so much our friends and wealthy
neighbours, but above all the poor and the sick, those who are usually despised
and overlooked, “those who cannot repay you” (Lk 14:14). There can be no
room for doubt or for explanations which weaken so clear a message. Today and
always, “the poor are the privileged recipients of the Gospel”,[52]
and the fact that it is freely preached to them is a sign of the kingdom that
Jesus came to establish. We have to state, without mincing words, that “there
is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor”. May we never abandon
them.
49. Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of
Jesus Christ. Here I repeat for the entire Church what I have often said to the
priests and laity of Buenos Aires: I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting
and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is
unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not
want a Church concerned with being at the centre and then ends by being caught
up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb
us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and
sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of
friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them,
without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope
is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures
which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh
judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door peole are
starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them something to eat” (Mk
6:37).
CHAPTER TWO
AMID THE CRISIS OF COMMUNAL COMMITMENT
50. Before taking up some basic questions related to the work of
evangelization, it may be helpful to mention briefly the context in which we all
have to live and work. Today, we frequently hear of a “diagnostic overload”
which is not always accompanied by improved and actually applicable methods of
treatment. Nor would we be well served by a purely sociological analysis which
would aim to embrace all of reality by employing an allegedly neutral and
clinical method. What I would like to propose is something much more in the
line of an evangelical discernment. It is the approach of a missionary
disciple, an approach “nourished by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit”.[53]
51. It is not the task of the Pope to offer a detailed and complete
analysis of contemporary reality, but I do exhort all the communities to an
“ever watchful scrutiny of the signs of the times”.[54]
This is in fact a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless
effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanization
which would then be hard to reverse. We need to distinguish clearly what might
be a fruit of the kingdom from what runs counter to God’s plan. This involves
not only recognizing and discerning spirits, but also – and this is decisive –
choosing movements of the spirit of good and rejecting those of the spirit of
evil. I take for granted the different analyses which other documents of the
universal magisterium have offered, as well as those proposed by the regional
and national conferences of bishops. In this Exhortation I claim only to
consider briefly, and from a pastoral perspective, certain factors which can
restrain or weaken the impulse of missionary renewal in the Church, either
because they threaten the life and dignity of God’s people or because they
affect those who are directly involved in the Church’s institutions and in her
work of evangelization.
I. SOME CHALLENGES OF TODAY’S WORLD
52. In our time humanity is experiencing a turning-point in its history,
as we can see from the advances being made in so many fields. We can only
praise the steps being taken to improve people’s welfare in areas such as health
care, education and communications. At the same time we have to remember that
the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire
consequences. A number of diseases are spreading. The hearts of many people
are gripped by fear and desperation, even in the so-called rich countries. The
joy of living frequently fades, lack of respect for others and violence are on
the rise, and inequality is increasingly evident. It is a struggle to live and,
often, to live with precious little dignity. This epochal change has been set
in motion by the enormous qualitative, quantitative, rapid and cumulative
advances occuring in the sciences and in technology, and by their instant
application in different areas of nature and of life. We are in an age of
knowledge and information, which has led to new and often anonymous kinds of
power.
No to an economy of exclusion
53. Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in
order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou
shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills.
How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies
of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a
case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while
people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes
under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the
powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find
themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities,
without any means of escape.
Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and
then discarded. We have created a “disposable” culture which is now spreading.
It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new.
Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in
which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes
or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are
not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.
54. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories
which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably
succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This
opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and
naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the
sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded
are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain
enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has
developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of
feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain,
and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s
responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are
thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime
all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail
to move us.
No to the new idolatry of money
55. One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money,
since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The
current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a
profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have
created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex
32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and
the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The
worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances
and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to
one of his needs alone: consumption.
56. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is
the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few.
This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy
of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the
right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any
form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which
unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the
accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the
potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real
purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving
tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and
possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything
which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the
environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which
become the only rule.
No to a financial system which rules rather than serves
57. Behind this attitude lurks a rejection of ethics and a rejection of
God. Ethics has come to be viewed with a certain scornful derision. It is seen
as counterproductive, too human, because it makes money and power relative. It
is felt to be a threat, since it condemns the manipulation and debasement of the
person. In effect, ethics leads to a God who calls for a committed response
which is outside of the categories of the marketplace. When these latter are
absolutized, God can only be seen as uncontrollable, unmanageable, even
dangerous, since he calls human beings to their full realization and to freedom
from all forms of enslavement. Ethics – a non-ideological ethics – would make
it possible to bring about balance and a more humane social order. With this in
mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of
one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to
steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods
which we hold, but theirs”.[55]
58. A financial reform open to such ethical considerations would require a
vigorous change of approach on the part of political leaders. I urge them to
face this challenge with determination and an eye to the future, while not
ignoring, of course, the specifics of each case. Money must serve, not rule!
The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of
Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I
exhort you to generous solidarity and a return of economics and finance to an
ethical approach which favours human beings.
No to the inequality which spawns violence
59. Today in many places we hear a call for greater security. But until
exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples is reversed, it will be
impossible to eliminate violence. The poor and the poorer peoples are accused
of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression
and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode.
When a society – whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part
of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law
enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility.
This is not the case simply because inequality provokes a violent reaction from
those excluded from the system, but because the socioeconomic system is unjust
at its root. Just as goodness tends to spread, the toleration of evil, which is
injustice, tends to expand its baneful influence and quietly to undermine any
political and social system, no matter how solid it may appear. If every action
has its consequences, an evil embedded in the structures of a society has a
constant potential for disintegration and death. It is evil crystallized in
unjust social structures, which cannot be the basis of hope for a better future.
We are far from the so-called “end of history”, since the conditions for a
sustainable and peaceful development have not yet been adequately articulated
and realized.
60. Today’s economic mechanisms promote inordinate consumption, yet it is
evident that unbridled consumerism combined with inequality proves doubly
damaging to the social fabric. Inequality eventually engenders a violence which
recourse to arms cannot and never will be able to resolve. This serves only to
offer false hopes to those clamouring for heightened security, even though
nowadays we know that weapons and violence, rather than providing solutions,
create new and more serious conflicts. Some simply content themselves with
blaming the poor and the poorer countries themselves for their troubles;
indulging in unwarranted generalizations, they claim that the solution is an
“education” that would tranquilize them, making them tame and harmless. All
this becomes even more exasperating for the marginalized in the light of the
widespread and deeply rooted corruption found in many countries – in their
governments, businesses and institutions – whatever the political ideology of
their leaders.
Some cultural challenges
61. We also evangelize when we attempt to confront the various challenges
which can arise.[56] On occasion
these may take the form of veritable attacks on religious freedom or new
persecutions directed against Christians; in some countries these have reached
alarming levels of hatred and violence. In many places, the problem is more
that of widespread indifference and relativism, linked to disillusionment and
the crisis of ideologies which has come about as a reaction to anything which
might appear totalitarian. This not only harms the Church but the fabric of
society as a whole. We should recognize how in a culture where each person
wants to be bearer of his or her own subjective truth, it becomes difficult for
citizens to devise a common plan which transcends individual gain and personal
ambitions.
62. In the prevailing culture, priority is given to the outward, the
immediate, the visible, the quick, the superficial and the provisional. What is
real gives way to appearances. In many countries globalization has meant a
hastened deterioration of their own cultural roots and the invasion of ways of
thinking and acting proper to other cultures which are economically advanced but
ethically debilitated. This fact has been brought up by bishops from various
continents in different Synods. The African bishops, for example, taking up the
Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, pointed out years ago that there
have been frequent attempts to make the African countries “parts of a machine,
cogs on a gigantic wheel. This is often true also in the field of social
communications which, being run by centres mostly in the northern hemisphere, do
not always give due consideration to the priorities and problems of such
countries or respect their cultural make-up”.[57]
By the same token, the bishops of Asia “underlined the external influences
being brought to bear on Asian cultures. New patterns of behaviour are emerging
as a result of over-exposure to the mass media… As a result, the negative
aspects of the media and entertainment industries are threatening traditional
values, and in particular the sacredness of marriage and the stability of the
family”.[58]
63. The Catholic faith of many peoples is nowadays being challenged by the
proliferation of new religious movements, some of which tend to fundamentalism
while others seem to propose a spirituality without God. This is, on the one
hand, a human reaction to a materialistic, consumerist and individualistic
society, but it is also a means of exploiting the weaknesses of people living in
poverty and on the fringes of society, people who make ends meet amid great
human suffering and are looking for immediate solutions to their needs. These
religious movements, not without a certain shrewdness, come to fill, within a
predominantly individualistic culture, a vacuum left by secularist rationalism.
We must recognize that if part of our baptized people lack a sense of belonging
to the Church, this is also due to certain structures and the occasionally
unwelcoming atmosphere of some of our parishes and communities, or to a
bureaucratic way of dealing with problems, be they simple or complex, in the
lives of our people. In many places an administrative approach prevails over a
pastoral approach, as does a concentration on administering the sacraments apart
from other forms of evangelization.
64. The process of secularization tends to reduce the faith and the Church
to the sphere of the private and personal. Furthermore, by completely rejecting
the transcendent, it has produced a growing deterioration of ethics, a weakening
of the sense of personal and collective sin, and a steady increase in
relativism. These have led to a general sense of disorientation, especially in
the periods of adolescence and young adulthood which are so vulnerable to
change. As the bishops of the United States of America have rightly pointed
out, while the Church insists on the existence of objective moral norms which
are valid for everyone, “there are those in our culture who portray this
teaching as unjust, that is, as opposed to basic human rights. Such claims
usually follow from a form of moral relativism that is joined, not without
inconsistency, to a belief in the absolute rights of individuals. In this view,
the Church is perceived as promoting a particular prejudice and as interfering
with individual freedom”.[59] We
are living in an information-driven society which bombards us indiscriminately
with data – all treated as being of equal importance – and which leads to
remarkable superficiality in the area of moral discernment. In response, we
need to provide an education which teaches critical thinking and encourages the
development of mature moral values.
65. Despite the tide of secularism which has swept our societies, in many
countries – even those where Christians are a minority – the Catholic Church is
considered a credible institution by public opinion, and trusted for her
solidarity and concern for those in greatest need. Again and again, the Church
has acted as a mediator in finding solutions to problems affecting peace, social
harmony, the land, the defence of life, human and civil rights, and so forth.
And how much good has been done by Catholic schools and universities around the
world! This is a good thing. Yet, we find it difficult to make people see that
when we raise other questions less palatable to public opinion, we are doing so
out of fidelity to precisely the same convictions about human dignity and the
common good.
66. The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all
communities and social bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these
bonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of
society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to
belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to
their children. Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional
satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the
indispensible contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and
momentary needs of the couple. As the French bishops have taught, it is not
born “of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but from the depth of the
obligation assumed by the spouses who accept to enter a total communion of
life”.[60]
67. The individualism of our postmodern and globalized era favours a
lifestyle which weakens the development and stability of personal relationships
and distorts family bonds. Pastoral activity needs to bring out more clearly
the fact that our relationship with the Father demands and encourages a
communion which heals, promotes and reinforces interpersonal bonds. In our
world, especially in some countries, different forms of war and conflict are
re-emerging, yet we Christians remain steadfast in our intention to respect
others, to heal wounds, to build bridges, to strengthen relationships and to
“bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). Today too, various associations
for the defence of rights and the pursuit of noble goals are being founded.
This is a sign of the desire of many people to contribute to social and cultural
progress.
Challenges to inculturating the faith
68. The Christian substratum of certain peoples – most of all in the West
– is a living reality. Here we find, especially among the most needy, a
moral resource which preserves the values of an authentic Christian humanism.
Seeing reality with the eyes of faith, we cannot fail to acknowledge what the
Holy Spirit is sowing. It would show a lack of trust in his free and unstinting
activity to think that authentic Christian values are absent where great numbers
of people have received baptism and express their faith and solidarity with
others in a variety of ways. This means more than acknowledging occasional
“seeds of the word”, since it has to do with an authentic Christian faith which
has its own expressions and means of showing its relationship to the Church.
The immense importance of a culture marked by faith cannot be overlooked; before
the onslaught of contemporary secularism an evangelized culture, for all its
limits, has many more resources than the mere sum total of believers. An
evangelized popular culture contains values of faith and solidarity capable of
encouraging the development of a more just and believing society, and possesses
a particular wisdom which ought to be gratefully acknowledged.
69. It is imperative to evangelize cultures in order to inculturate the
Gospel. In countries of Catholic tradition, this means encouraging, fostering
and reinforcing a richness which already exists. In countries of other
religious traditions, or profoundly secularized countries, it will mean sparking
new processes for evangelizing culture, even though these will demand long-term
planning. We must keep in mind, however, that we are constantly being called to
grow. Each culture and social group needs purification and growth. In the case
of the popular cultures of Catholic peoples, we can see deficiencies which need
to be healed by the Gospel: machismo, alcoholism, domestic violence, low Mass
attendance, fatalistic or superstitious notions which lead to sorcery, and the
like. Popular piety itself can be the starting point for healing and liberation
from these deficiencies.
70. It is also true that at times greater emphasis is placed on the
outward expressions and traditions of some groups, or on alleged private
revelations which would replace all else, than on the impulse of Christian
piety. There is a kind of Christianity made up of devotions reflecting an
individual and sentimental faith life which does not in fact correspond to
authentic “popular piety”. Some people promote these expressions while not
being in the least concerned with the advancement of society or the formation of
the laity, and in certain cases they do so in order to obtain economic benefits
or some power over others. Nor can we overlook the fact that in recent decades
there has been a breakdown in the way Catholics pass down the Christian faith to
the young. It is undeniable that many people feel disillusioned and no longer
identify with the Catholic tradition. Growing numbers of parents do not bring
their children for baptism or teach them how to pray. There is also a certain
exodus towards other faith communities. The causes of this breakdown include: a
lack of opportunity for dialogue in families, the influence of the
communications media, a relativistic subjectivism, unbridled consumerism which
feeds the market, lack of pastoral care among the poor, the failure of our
institutions to be welcoming, and our difficulty in restoring a mystical
adherence to the faith in a pluralistic religious landscape.
Challenges from urban cultures
71. The new Jerusalem, the holy city (cf. Rev 21:2-4), is the goal
towards which all of humanity is moving. It is curious that God’s revelation
tells us that the fullness of humanity and of history is realized in a city. We
need to look at our cities with a contemplative gaze, a gaze of faith which sees
God dwelling in their homes, in their streets and squares. God’s presence
accompanies the sincere efforts of individuals and groups to find encouragement
and meaning in their lives. He dwells among them, fostering solidarity,
fraternity, and the desire for goodness, truth and justice. This presence must
not be contrived but found, uncovered. God does not hide himself from those who
seek him with a sincere heart, even though they do so tentatively, in a vague
and haphazard manner.
72. In cities, as opposed to the countryside, the religious dimension of
life is expressed by different lifestyles, daily rhythms linked to places and
people. In their daily lives people must often struggle for survival and this
struggle contains within it a profound understanding of life which often
includes a deep religious sense. We must examine this more closely in order to
enter into a dialogue like that of our Lord and the Samaritan woman at the well
where she sought to quench her thirst (cf. Jn 4:1-15).
73. New cultures are constantly being born in these vast new expanses
where Christians are no longer the customary interpreters or generators of
meaning. Instead, they themselves take from these cultures new languages,
symbols, messages and paradigms which propose new approaches to life, approaches
often in contrast with the Gospel of Jesus. A completely new culture has come
to life and continues to grow in the cities. The Synod noted that today the
changes taking place in these great spaces and the culture which they create are
a privileged locus of the new evangelization.[61]
This challenges us to imagine innovative spaces and possibilities for prayer and
communion which are more attractive and meaningful for city dwellers. Through
the influence of the media, rural areas are being affected by the same cultural
changes, which are significantly altering their way of life as well.
74. What is called for is an evangelization capable of shedding light on
these new ways of relating to God, to others and to the world around us, and
inspiring essential values. It must reach the places where new narratives and
paradigms are being formed, bringing the word of Jesus to the inmost soul of our
cities. Cities are multicultural; in the larger cities, a connective network is
found in which groups of people share a common imagination and dreams about
life, and new human interactions arise, new cultures, invisible cities. Various
subcultures exist side by side, and often practise segregation and violence.
The Church is called to be at the service of a difficult dialogue. On the one
hand, there are people who have the means needed to develop their personal and
family lives, but there are also many “non-citizens”, “half citizens” and “urban
remnants”. Cities create a sort of permanent ambivalence because, while they
offer their residents countless possibilities, they also present many people
with any number of obstacles to the full development of their lives. This
contrast causes painful suffering. In many parts of the world, cities are the
scene of mass protests where thousands of people call for freedom, a voice in
public life, justice and a variety of other demands which, if not properly
understood, will not be silenced by force.
75. We cannot ignore the fact that in cities human trafficking, the
narcotics trade, the abuse and exploitation of minors, the abandonment of the
elderly and infirm, and various forms of corruption and criminal activity take
place. At the same time, what could be significant places of encounter and
solidarity often become places of isolation and mutual distrust. Houses and
neighbourhoods are more often built to isolate and protect than to connect and
integrate. The proclamation of the Gospel will be a basis for restoring the
dignity of human life in these contexts, for Jesus desires to pour out an
abundance of life upon our cities (cf. Jn 10:10). The unified and
complete sense of human life that the Gospel proposes is the best remedy for the
ills of our cities, even though we have to realize that a uniform and rigid
program of evangelization is not suited to this complex reality. But to live
our human life to the fullest and to meet every challenge as a leaven of Gospel
witness in every culture and in every city will make us better Christians and
bear fruit in our cities.
II. TEMPTATIONS FACED BY PASTORAL WORKERS
76. I feel tremendous gratitude to all those who are committed to working
in and for the Church. Here I do not wish to discuss at length the activities
of the different pastoral workers, from bishops down to those who provide the
most humble and hidden services. Rather, I would like to reflect on the
challenges that all of them must face in the context of our current globalized
culture. But in justice, I must say first that the contribution of the Church
in today’s world is enormous. The pain and the shame we feel at the sins of
some members of the Church, and at our own, must never make us forget how many
Christians are giving their lives in love. They help so many people to be
healed or to die in peace in makeshift hospitals. They are present to those
enslaved by different addictions in the poorest places on earth. They devote
themselves to the education of children and young people. They take care of the
elderly who have been forgotten by everyone else. They look for ways to
communicate values in hostile environments. They are dedicated in many other
ways to showing an immense love for humanity inspired by the God who became
man. I am grateful for the beautiful example given to me by so many Christians
who joyfully sacrifice their lives and their time. This witness comforts and
sustains me in my own effort to overcome selfishness and to give more fully of
myself.
77. As children of this age, though, all of us are in some way affected by
the present globalized culture which, while offering us values and new
possibilities, can also limit, condition and ultimately harm us. I am aware
that we need to create spaces where pastoral workers can be helped and healed,
“places where faith itself in the crucified and risen Jesus is renewed, where
the most profound questions and daily concerns are shared, where deeper
discernment about our experiences and life itself is undertaken in the light of
the Gospel, for the purpose of directing individual and social decisions towards
the good and beautiful”.[62] At
the same time, I would like to call attention to certain particular temptations
which affect pastoral workers.
Yes to the challenge of a missionary spirituality
78. Today we are seeing in many pastoral workers, including consecrated
men and women, an inordinate concern for their personal freedom and relaxation,
which leads them to see their work as a mere appendage to their life, as if it
were not part of their very identity. At the same time, the spiritual life
comes to be identified with a few religious exercises which can offer a certain
comfort but which do not encourage encounter with others, engagement with the
world or a passion for evangelization. As a result, one can observe in many
agents of evangelization, even though they pray, a heightened individualism, a
crisis of identity and a cooling of fervour. These are three evils which fuel
one another.
79. At times our media culture and some intellectual circles convey a
marked scepticism with regard to the Church’s message, along with a certain
cynicism. As a consequence, many pastoral workers, although they pray, develop
a sort of inferiority complex which leads them to relativize or conceal their
Christian identity and convictions. This produces a vicious circle. They end
up being unhappy with who they are and what they do; they do not identify with
their mission of evangelization and this weakens their commitment. They end up
stifling the joy of mission with a kind of obsession about being like everyone
else and possessing what everyone else possesses. Their work of evangelization
thus becomes forced, and they devote little energy and very limited time to it.
80. Pastoral workers can thus fall into a relativism which, whatever their
particular style of spirituality or way of thinking, proves even more dangerous
than doctrinal relativism. It has to do with the deepest and inmost decisions
that shape their way of life. This practical relativism consists in acting as
if God did not exist, making decisions as if the poor did not exist, setting
goals as if others did not exist, working as if people who have not received the
Gospel did not exist. It is striking that even some who clearly have solid
doctrinal and spiritual convictions frequently fall into a lifestyle which leads
to an attachment to financial security, or to a desire for power or human glory
at all cost, rather than giving their lives to others in mission. Let us not
allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary enthusiasm!
No to selfishness and spiritual sloth
81. At a time when we most need a missionary dynamism which will bring
salt and light to the world, many lay people fear that they may be asked to
undertake some apostolic work and they seek to avoid any responsibility that may
take away from their free time. For example, it has become very difficult today
to find trained parish catechists willing to persevere in this work for some
years. Something similar is also happening with priests who are obsessed with
protecting their free time. This is frequently due to the fact that people feel
an overbearing need to guard their personal freedom, as though the task of
evangelization was a dangerous poison rather than a joyful response to God’s
love which summons us to mission and makes us fulfilled and productive. Some
resist giving themselves over completely to mission and thus end up in a state
of paralysis and acedia.
82. The problem is not always an excess of activity, but rather activity
undertaken badly, without adequate motivation, without a spirituality which
would permeate it and make it pleasurable. As a result, work becomes more
tiring than necessary, even leading at times to illness. Far from a content and
happy tiredness, this is a tense, burdensome, dissatisfying and, in the end,
unbearable fatigue. This pastoral acedia can be caused by a number of things.
Some fall into it because they throw themselves into unrealistic projects and
are not satisfied simply to do what they reasonably can. Others, because they
lack the patience to allow processes to mature; they want everything to fall
from heaven. Others, because they are attached to a few projects or vain dreams
of success. Others, because they have lost real contract with people and so
depersonalize their work that they are more concerned with the road map than
with the journey itself. Others fall into acedia because they are unable to
wait; they want to dominate the rhythm of life. Today’s obsession with
immediate results makes it hard for pastoral workers to tolerate anything that
smacks of disagreement, possible failure, criticism, the cross.
83. And so the biggest threat of all gradually takes shape: “the gray
pragmatism of the daily life of the Church, in which all appears to proceed
normally, while in reality faith is wearing down and degenerating into
small-mindedness”.[63] A tomb
psychology thus develops and slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a
museum. Disillusioned with reality, with the Church and with themselves, they
experience a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy, lacking in
hope, which seizes the heart like “the most precious of the devil’s potions”.[64]
Called to radiate light and communicate life, in the end they are caught up in
things that generate only darkness and inner weariness, and slowly consume all
zeal for the apostolate. For all this, I repeat: Let us not allow ourselves to
be robbed of the joy of evangelization!
No to a sterile pessimism
84. The joy of the Gospel is such that it cannot be taken away from us by
anyone or anything (cf. Jn 16:22). The evils of our world – and those of
the Church – must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment and our
fervour. Let us look upon them as challenges which can help us to grow. With
the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit always radiates in
the midst of darkness, never forgetting that “where sin increased, grace has
abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). Our faith is challenged to discern
how wine can come from water and how wheat can grow in the midst of weeds.
Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, while distressed by the troubles
of our age and far from naive optimism, our greater realism must not mean any
less trust in the Spirit or less generosity. In this sense, we can once again
listen to the words of Blessed John XXIII on the memorable day of 11 October
1962: “At times we have to listen, much to our regret, to the voices of people
who, though burning with zeal, lack a sense of discretion and measure. In this
modern age they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin … We feel that we
must disagree with those prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster,
as though the end of the world were at hand. In our times, divine Providence is
leading us to a new order of human relations which, by human effort and even
beyond all expectations, are directed to the fulfilment of God’s superior and
inscrutable designs, in which everything, even human setbacks, leads to the
greater good of the Church”.[65]
85. One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is
a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists,
“sourpusses”. Nobody can go off to battle unless he is fully convinced of
victory beforehand. If we start without confidence, we have already lost half
the battle and we bury our talents. While painfully aware of our own frailties,
we have to march on without giving in, keeping in mind what the Lord said to
Saint Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Christian triumph is always a cross, yet a cross
which is at the same time a victorious banner borne with aggressive tenderness
against the assaults of evil. The evil spirit of defeatism is brother to the
temptation to separate, before its time, the wheat from the weeds; it is the
fruit of an anxious and self-centred lack of trust.
86. In some places a spiritual “desertification” has evidently come about,
as the result of attempts by some societies to build without God or to eliminate
their Christian roots. In those places “the Christian world is becoming
sterile, and it is depleting itself like an overexploited ground, which
transforms into a desert”.[66] In
other countries, violent opposition to Christianity forces Christians to hide
their faith in their own beloved homeland. This is another painful kind of
desert. But family and the workplace can also be a parched place where faith
nonetheless has to be preserved and communicated. Yet “it is starting from the
experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of
believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we
rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world
there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the
thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of
faith are needed who, by the example of their own lives, point out the way to
the Promised Land and keep hope alive”.[67]
In these situations we are called to be living sources of water from which
others can drink. At times, this becomes a heavy cross, but it was from the
cross, from his pierced side, that our Lord gave himself to us as a source of
living water. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!
Yes to the new relationships brought by Christ
87. Today, when the networks and means of human communication have made
unprecedented advances, we sense the challenge of finding and sharing a
“mystique” of living together, of mingling and encounter, of embracing and
supporting one another, of stepping into this flood tide which, while chaotic,
can become a genuine experience of fraternity, a caravan of solidarity, a sacred
pilgrimage. Greater possibilities for communication thus turn into greater
possibilities for encounter and solidarity for everyone. If we were able to
take this route, it would be so good, so soothing, so liberating and
hope-filled! To go out of ourselves and to join others is healthy for us. To
be self-enclosed is to taste the bitter poison of immanence, and humanity will
be worse for every selfish choice we make.
88. The Christian ideal will always be a summons to overcome suspicion,
habitual mistrust, fear of losing our privacy, all the defensive attitudes which
today’s world imposes on us. Many try to escape from others and take refuge in
the comfort of their privacy or in a small circle of close friends, renouncing
the realism of the social aspect of the Gospel. For just as some people want a
purely spiritual Christ, without flesh and without the cross, they also want
their interpersonal relationships provided by sophisticated equipment, by
screens and systems which can be turned on and off on command. Meanwhile, the
Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with
others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and
their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous
interaction. True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from
self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation
with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution
of tenderness.
89. Isolation, which is a version of immanentism, can find expression in a
false autonomy which has no place for God. But in the realm of religion it can
also take the form of a spiritual consumerism tailored to one’s own unhealthy
individualism. The return to the sacred and the quest for spirituality which
mark our own time are ambiguous phenomena. Today, our challenge is not so much
atheism as the need to respond adequately to many people’s thirst for God, lest
they try to satisfy it with alienating solutions or with a disembodied Jesus who
demands nothing of us with regard to others. Unless these people find in the
Church a spirituality which can offer healing and liberation, and fill them with
life and peace, while at the same time summoning them to fraternal communion and
missionary fruitfulness, they will end up by being taken in by solutions which
neither make life truly human nor give glory to God.
90. Genuine forms of popular religiosity are incarnate, since they are
born of the incarnation of Christian faith in popular culture. For this reason
they entail a personal relationship, not with vague spiritual energies or
powers, but with God, with Christ, with Mary, with the saints. These devotions
are fleshy, they have a face. They are capable of fostering relationships and
not just enabling escapism. In other parts of our society, we see the growing
attraction to various forms of a “spirituality of well-being” divorced from any
community life, or to a “theology of prosperity” detached from responsibility
for our brothers and sisters, or to depersonalized experiences which are nothing
more than a form of self-centredness.
91. One important challenge is to show that the solution will never be
found in fleeing from a personal and committed relationship with God which at
the same time commits us to serving others. This happens frequently nowadays,
as believers seek to hide or keep apart from others, or quietly flit from one
place to another or from one task to another, without creating deep and stable
bonds. “Imaginatio locorum et mutatio multos fefellit”.[68]
This is a false remedy which cripples the heart and at times the body as well.
We need to help others to realize that the only way is to learn how to encounter
others with the right attitude, which is to accept and esteem them as companions
along the way, without interior resistance. Better yet, it means learning to
find Jesus in the faces of others, in their voices, in their pleas. And
learning to suffer in the embrace of the crucified Jesus whenever we are
unjustly attacked or meet with ingratitude, never tiring of our decision to live
in fraternity.[69]
92. There indeed we find true healing, since the way to relate to others
which truly heals instead of debilitating us, is a mystical fraternity, a
contemplative fraternity. It is a fraternal love capable of seeing the sacred
grandeur of our neighbour, of finding God in every human being, of tolerating
the nuisances of life in common by clinging to the love of God, of opening the
heart to divine love and seeking the happiness of others just as their heavenly
Father does. Here and now, especially where we are a “little flock” (Lk
12:32), the Lord’s disciples are called to live as a community which is the salt
of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-16). We are called
to bear witness to a constantly new way of living together in fidelity to the
Gospel.[70] Let us not allow
ourselves to be robbed of community!
No to spiritual worldliness
93. Spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and
even love for the Church, consists in seeking not the Lord’s glory but human
glory and personal well-being. It is what the Lord reprimanded the Pharisees
for: “How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek
the glory that comes from the only God?” (Jn 5:44). It is a subtle way
of seeking one’s “own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Phil 2:21).
It takes on many forms, depending on the kinds of persons and groups into which
it seeps. Since it is based on carefully cultivated appearances, it is not
always linked to outward sin; from without, everything appears as it should be.
But if it were to seep into the Church, “it would be infinitely more disastrous
than any other worldliness which is simply moral”.[71]
94. This worldliness can be fuelled in two deeply interrelated ways. One
is the attraction of gnosticism, a purely subjective faith whose only interest
is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are
meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his
or her own thoughts and feelings. The other is the self-absorbed promethean
neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel
superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently
faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of
doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian
elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others,
and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in
inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus
Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism.
It is impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from
these adulterated forms of Christianity.
95. This insidious worldliness is evident in a number of attitudes which
appear opposed, yet all have the same pretence of “taking over the space of the
Church”. In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy,
for doctrine and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the
Gospel have a real impact on God’s faithful people and the concrete needs of the
present time. In this way, the life of the Church turns into a museum piece or
something which is the property of a select few. In others, this spiritual
worldliness lurks behind a fascination with social and political gain, or pride
in their ability to manage practical affairs, or an obsession with programmes of
self-help and self-realization. It can also translate into a concern to be
seen, into a social life full of appearances, meetings, dinners and receptions.
It can also lead to a business mentality, caught up with management, statistics,
plans and evaluations whose principal beneficiary is not God’s people but the
Church as an institution. The mark of Christ, incarnate, crucified and risen,
is not present; closed and elite groups are formed, and no effort is made to go
forth and seek out those who are distant or the immense multitudes who thirst
for Christ. Evangelical fervour is replaced by the empty pleasure of
complacency and self-indulgence.
96. This way of thinking also feeds the vainglory of those who are content
to have a modicum of power and would rather be the general of a defeated army
than a mere private in a unit which continues to fight. How often we dream up
vast apostolic projects, meticulously planned, just like defeated generals! But
this is to deny our history as a Church, which is glorious precisely because it
is a history of sacrifice, of hopes and daily struggles, of lives spent in
service and fidelity to work, tiring as it may be, for all work is “the sweat of
our brow”. Instead, we waste time talking about “what needs to be done” – in
Spanish we call this the sin of “habriaqueísmo” – like spiritual masters and
pastoral experts who give instructions from on high. We indulge in endless
fantasies and we lose contact with the real lives and difficulties of our
people.
97. Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and
afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters, they discredit
those who raise questions, they constantly point out the mistakes of others and
they are obsessed by appearances. Their hearts are open only to the limited
horizon of their own immanence and interests, and as a consequence they neither
learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness. This is a
tremendous corruption disguised as a good. We need to avoid it by making the
Church constantly go out from herself, keeping her mission focused on Jesus
Christ, and her commitment to the poor. God save us from a worldly Church with
superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings! This stifling worldliness can
only be healed by breathing in the pure air of the Holy Spirit who frees us from
self-centredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God. Let us not
allow ourselves to be robbed of the Gospel!
No to warring among ourselves
98. How many wars take place within the people of God and in our different
communities! In our neighbourhoods and in the workplace, how many wars are
caused by envy and jealousy, even among Christians! Spiritual worldliness leads
some Christians to war with other Christians who stand in the way of their quest
for power, prestige, pleasure and economic security. Some are even no longer
content to live as part of the greater Church community but stoke a spirit of
exclusivity, creating an “inner circle”. Instead of belonging to the whole
Church in all its rich variety, they belong to this or that group which thinks
itself different or special.
99. Our world is being torn apart by wars and violence, and wounded by a
widespread individualism which divides human beings, setting them against one
another as they pursue their own well-being. In various countries, conflicts
and old divisions from the past are re-emerging. I especially ask Christians in
communities throughout the world to offer a radiant and attractive witness of
fraternal communion. Let everyone admire how you care for one another, and how
you encourage and accompany one another: “By this everyone will know that you
are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). This was
Jesus’ heartfelt prayer to the Father: “That they may all be one... in us... so
that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). Beware of the temptation of
jealousy! We are all in the same boat and headed to the same port! Let us ask
for the grace to rejoice in the gifts of each, which belong to all.
100. Those wounded by historical divisions find it difficult to accept our
invitation to forgiveness and reconciliation, since they think that we are
ignoring their pain or are asking them to give up their memory and ideals. But
if they see the witness of authentically fraternal and reconciled communities,
they will find that witness luminous and attractive. It always pains me greatly
to discover how some Christian communities, and even consecrated persons, can
tolerate different forms of enmity, division, calumny, defamation, vendetta,
jealousy and the desire to impose certain ideas at all costs, even to
persecutions which appear as veritable witch hunts. Whom are we going to
evangelize if this is the way we act?
101. Let us ask the Lord to help us understand the law of love. How good it
is to have this law! How much good it does us to love one another, in spite of
everything. Yes, in spite of everything! Saint Paul’s exhortation is directed
to each of us: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom
12:21). And again: “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right” (Gal
6:9). We all have our likes and dislikes, and perhaps at this very moment we
are angry with someone. At least let us say to the Lord: “Lord, I am angry with
this person, with that person. I pray to you for him and for her”. To pray for
a person with whom I am irritated is a beautiful step forward in love, and an
act of evangelization. Let us do it today! Let us not allow ourselves to be
robbed of the ideal of fraternal love!
Other ecclesial challenges
102. Lay people are, put simply, the vast majority of the People of God.
The minority – ordained ministers – are at their service. There has been a
growing awareness of the identity and mission of the laity in the Church. We
can count on many lay persons, although still not nearly enough, who have a
deeply-rooted sense of community and great fidelity to the tasks of charity,
catechesis and the celebration of the faith. At the same time, a clear
awareness of this responsibility of the laity, grounded in their baptism and
confirmation, does not appear in the same way in all places. In some cases, it
is because lay persons have not been given the formation needed to take on
important responsibilities. In others, it is because in their particular
Churches room has not been made for them to speak and to act, due to an
excessive clericalism which keeps them away from decision-making. Even if many
are now involved in the lay ministries, this involvement is not reflected in a
greater penetration of Christian values in the social, political and economic
sectors. It often remains tied to tasks within the Church, without a real
commitment to applying the Gospel to the transformation of society. The
formation of the laity and the evangelization of professional and intellectual
life represent a significant pastoral challenge.
103. The Church acknowledges the indispensable contribution which women make
to society through the sensitivity, intuition and other distinctive skill sets
which they, more than men, tend to possess. I think, for example, of the
special concern which women show to others, which finds a particular, even if
not exclusive, expression in motherhood. I readily acknowledge that many women
share pastoral responsibilities with priests, helping to guide people, families
and groups and offering new contributions to theological reflection. But we
need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence
in the Church. Because “the feminine genius is needed in all expressions in the
life of society, the presence of women must also be guaranteed in the workplace”[72]
and in the various other settings where important decisions are made, both in
the Church and in social structures.
104. Demands that the legitimate rights of women be respected, based on the
firm conviction that men and women are equal in dignity, present the Church with
profound and challenging questions which cannot be lightly evaded. The
reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of Christ the Spouse who gives
himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to discussion, but it can prove
especially divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in
general. It must be remembered that when we speak of sacramental power “we are
in the realm of function, not that of dignity or holiness”.[73]
The ministerial priesthood is one means employed by Jesus for the service of his
people, yet our great dignity derives from baptism, which is accessible to all.
The configuration of the priest to Christ the head – namely, as the principal
source of grace – does not imply an exaltation which would set him above
others. In the Church, functions “do not favour the superiority of some
vis-à-vis the others”.[74] Indeed,
a woman, Mary, is more important than the bishops. Even when the function of
ministerial priesthood is considered “hierarchical”, it must be remembered that
“it is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members”.[75]
Its key and axis is not power understood as domination, but the power to
administer the sacrament of the Eucharist; this is the origin of its authority,
which is always a service to God’s people. This presents a great challenge for
pastors and theologians, who are in a position to recognize more fully what this
entails with regard to the possible role of women in decision-making in
different areas of the Church’s life.
105. Youth ministry, as traditionally organized, has also suffered the
impact of social changes. Young people often fail to find responses to their
concerns, needs, problems and hurts in the usual structures. As adults, we find
it hard to listen patiently to them, to appreciate their concerns and demands,
and to speak to them in a language they can understand. For the same reason,
our efforts in the field of education do not produce the results expected. The
rise and growth of associations and movements mostly made up of young people can
be seen as the work of the Holy Spirit, who blazes new trails to meet their
expectations and their search for a deep spirituality and a more real sense of
belonging. There remains a need, however, to ensure that these associations
actively participate in the Church’s overall pastoral efforts.[76]
106. Even if it is not always easy to approach young people, progress has
been made in two areas: the awareness that the entire community is called to
evangelize and educate the young, and the urgent need for the young to exercise
greater leadership. We should recognize that despite the present crisis of
commitment and communal relationships, many young people are making common cause
before the problems of our world and are taking up various forms of activism and
volunteer work. Some take part in the life of the Church as members of service
groups and various missionary initiatives in their own dioceses and in other
places. How beautiful it is to see that young people are “street preachers” (callejeros
de la fe), joyfully bringing Jesus to every street, every town square and
every corner of the earth!
107. Many places are experiencing a dearth of vocations to the priesthood
and consecrated life. This is often due to a lack of contagious apostolic
fervour in communities which results in a cooling of enthusiasm and
attractiveness. Wherever there is life, fervour and a desire to bring Christ to
others, genuine vocations will arise. Even in parishes where priests are not
particularly committed or joyful, the fraternal life and fervour of the
community can awaken in the young a desire to consecrate themselves completely
to God and to the preaching of the Gospel. This is particularly true if such a
living community prays insistently for vocations and courageously proposes to
its young people the path of special consecration. On the other hand, despite
the scarcity of vocations, today we are increasingly aware of the need for a
better process of selecting candidates to the priesthood. Seminaries cannot
accept candidates on the basis of any motivation whatsoever, especially if those
motivations have to do with affective insecurity or the pursuit of power, human
glory or economic well-being.
108. As I mentioned above, I have not sought to offer a complete diagnosis,
but I invite communities to complete and enrich these perspectives on the basis
of their awareness of the challenges facing them and their neighbours. It is my
hope that, in doing so, they will realize that whenever we attempt to read the
signs of the times it is helpful to listen to young people and the elderly.
Both represent a source of hope for every people. The elderly bring with them
memory and the wisdom of experience, which warns us not to foolishly repeat our
past mistakes. Young people call us to renewed and expansive hope, for they
represent new directions for humanity and open us up to the future, lest we
cling to a nostalgia for structures and customs which are no longer life-giving
in today’s world.
109. Challenges exist to be overcome! Let us be realists, but without
losing our joy, our boldness and our hope-filled commitment. Let us not allow
ourselves to be robbed of missionary vigour!
CHAPTER THREE
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL
110. After having considered some of the challenges of the present, I would
now like to speak of the task which bears upon us in every age and place, for
“there can be no true evangelization without the explicit proclamation of Jesus
as Lord”, and without “the primacy of the proclamation of Jesus Christ in all
evangelizing work”.[77]
Acknowledging the concerns of the Asian bishops, John Paul II told them that if
the Church “is to fulfil its providential destiny, evangelization as the joyful,
patient and progressive preaching of the saving death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ must be your absolute priority.”[78]
These words hold true for all of us.
I. THE ENTIRE PEOPLE OF GOD PROCLAIMS THE GOSPEL
111. Evangelization is the task of the Church. The Church, as the agent of
evangelization, is more than an organic and hierarchical institution; she is
first and foremost a people advancing on its pilgrim way towards God. She is
certainly a mystery rooted in the Trinity, yet she exists concretely in
history as a people of pilgrims and evangelizers, transcending any institutional
expression, however necessary. I would like to dwell briefly on this way of
understanding the Church, whose ultimate foundation is found in the free and
gracious initiative of God.
A people for everyone
112. The salvation which God offers us is the work of his mercy. No human
efforts, however good they may be, can enable us to merit so great a gift. God,
by his sheer grace, draws us to himself and makes us one with him.[79]
He sends his Spirit into our hearts to make us his children, transforming us and
enabling us to respond to his love by our lives. The Church is sent by Jesus
Christ as the sacrament of the salvation offered by God.[80]
Through her evangelizing activity, she cooperates as an instrument of that
divine grace which works unceasingly and inscrutably. Benedict XVI put it
nicely at the beginning of the Synod’s reflections: “It is important always to
know that the first word, the true initiative, the true activity comes from God
and only by inserting ourselves into the divine initiative, only begging for
this divine initiative, shall we too be able to become – with him and in him –
evangelizers”.[81] This principle
of the primacy of grace must be a beacon which constantly illuminates our
reflections on evangelization.
113. The salvation which God has wrought, and the Church joyfully proclaims,
is for everyone.[82] God has found
a way to unite himself to every human being in every age. He has chosen to call
them together as a people and not as isolated individuals.[83]
No one is saved by himself or herself, individually, or by his or her own
efforts. God attracts us by taking into account the complex interweaving of
personal relationships entailed in the life of a human community. This people
which God has chosen and called is the Church. Jesus did not tell the apostles
to form an exclusive and elite group. He said: “Go and make disciples of
all nations” (Mt 28:19). Saint Paul tells us in the people of God, in
the Church, “there is neither Jew or Greek... for you are all one in Christ
Jesus” (Gal 3:28). To those who feel far from God and the Church, to all
those who are fearful or indifferent, I would like to say this: the Lord, with
great respect and love, is also calling you to be a part of his people!
114. Being Church means being God’s people, in accordance with the great
plan of his fatherly love. This means that we are to be God’s leaven in the
midst of humanity. It means proclaiming and bringing God’s salvation into our
world, which often goes astray and needs to be encouraged, given hope and
strengthened on the way. The Church must be a place of mercy freely given,
where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the
good life of the Gospel.
A people of many faces
115. The People of God is incarnate in the peoples of the earth, each of
which has its own culture. The concept of culture is valuable for grasping the
various expressions of the Christian life present in God’s people. It has to do
with the lifestyle of a given society, the specific way in which its members
relate to one another, to other creatures and to God. Understood in this way,
culture embraces the totality of a people’s life.[84]
Each people in the course of its history develops its culture with legitimate
autonomy.[85] This is due to the
fact that the human person, “by nature stands completely in need of life in
society”[86] and always exists in
reference to society, finding there a concrete way of relating to reality. The
human person is always situated in a culture: “nature and culture are intimately
linked”.[87] Grace supposes
culture, and God’s gift becomes flesh in the culture of those who receive it.
116. In these first two Christian millennia, countless peoples have received
the grace of faith, brought it to flower in their daily lives and handed it on
in the language of their own culture. Whenever a community receives the message
of salvation, the Holy Spirit enriches its culture with the transforming power
of the Gospel. The history of the Church shows that Christianity does not have
simply one cultural expression, but rather, “remaining completely true to
itself, with unswerving fidelity to the proclamation of the Gospel and the
tradition of the Church, it will also reflect the different faces of the
cultures and peoples in which it is received and takes root”.[88]
In the diversity of peoples who experience the gift of God, each in accordance
with its own culture, the Church expresses her genuine catholicity and shows
forth the “beauty of her varied face”.[89]
In the Christian customs of an evangelized people, the Holy Spirit adorns the
Church, showing her new aspects of revelation and giving her a new face.
Through inculturation, the Church “introduces peoples, together with their
cultures, into her own community”,[90]
for “every culture offers positive values and forms which can enrich the way the
Gospel is preached, understood and lived”.[91]
In this way, the Church takes up the values of different cultures and becomes
sponsa ornata monilibus suis, “the bride bedecked with her jewels” (cf.
Is 61:10)”.[92]
117. When properly understood, cultural diversity is not a threat to Church
unity. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, transforms our hearts
and enables us to enter into the perfect communion of the blessed Trinity, where
all things find their unity. He builds up the communion and harmony of the
people of God. The same Spirit is that harmony, just as he is the bond of love
between the Father and the Son.[93]
It is he who brings forth a rich variety of gifts, while at the same time
creating a unity which is never uniformity but a multifaceted and inviting
harmony. Evangelization joyfully acknowledges these varied treasures which the
Holy Spirit pours out upon the Church. We would not do justice to the logic of
the incarnation if we thought of Christianity as monocultural and monotonous.
While it is true that some cultures have been closely associated with the
preaching of the Gospel and the development of Christian thought, the revealed
message is not identified with any of them; its content is transcultural. Hence
in the evangelization of new cultures, or cultures which have not received the
Christian message, it is not essential to impose a specific cultural form, no
matter how beautiful or ancient it may be, together with the Gospel. The
message that we proclaim always has a certain cultural dress, but we in the
Church can sometimes fall into a needless hallowing of our own culture, and thus
show more fanaticism than true evangelizing zeal.
118. The Bishops of Oceania asked that the Church “develop an understanding
and a presentation of the truth of Christ working from the traditions and
cultures of the region” and invited “all missionaries to work in harmony with
indigenous Christians so as to ensure that the faith and the life of the Church
be expressed in legitimate forms appropriate for each culture”.[94]
We cannot demand that peoples of every continent, in expressing their Christian
faith, imitate modes of expression which European nations developed at a
particular moment of their history, because the faith cannot be constricted to
the limits of understanding and expression of any one culture.[95]
It is an indisputable fact that no single culture can exhaust the mystery of our
redemption in Christ.
We are all missionary disciples
119. In all the baptized, from first to last, the sanctifying power of the
Spirit is at work, impelling us to evangelization. The people of God is holy
thanks to this anointing, which makes it infallible in credendo. This
means that it does not err in faith, even though it may not find words to
explain that faith. The Spirit guides it in truth and leads it to salvation.[96]
As part of his mysterious love for humanity, God furnishes the totality of the
faithful with an instinct of faith – sensus fidei – which helps
them to discern what is truly of God. The presence of the Spirit gives
Christians a certain connaturality with divine realities, and a wisdom which
enables them to grasp those realities intuitively, even when they lack the
wherewithal to give them precise expression.
120. In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have
become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever
their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are
agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of
evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful
would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal
involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is challenged,
here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has
truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training
to go out and proclaim that love. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent
that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say
that we are “disciples” and “missionaries”, but rather that we are always
“missionary disciples”. If we are not convinced, let us look at those first
disciples, who, immediately after encountering the gaze of Jesus, went forth to
proclaim him joyfully: “We have found the Messiah!” (Jn 1:41). The
Samaritan woman became a missionary immediately after speaking with Jesus and
many Samaritans come to believe in him “because of the woman’s testimony” (Jn
4:39). So too, Saint Paul, after his encounter with Jesus Christ, “immediately
proclaimed Jesus” (Acts 9:20; cf. 22:6-21). So what are we waiting for?
121. Of course, all of us are called to mature in our work as evangelizers.
We want to have better training, a deepening love and a clearer witness to the
Gospel. In this sense, we ought to let others be constantly evangelizing us.
But this does not mean that we should postpone the evangelizing mission; rather,
each of us should find ways to communicate Jesus wherever we are. All of us are
called to offer others an explicit witness to the saving love of the Lord, who
despite our imperfections offers us his closeness, his word and his strength,
and gives meaning to our lives. In your heart you know that it is not the same
to live without him; what you have come to realize, what has helped you to live
and given you hope, is what you also need to communicate to others. Our falling
short of perfection should be no excuse; on the contrary, mission is a constant
stimulus not to remain mired in mediocrity but to continue growing. The witness
of faith that each Christian is called to offer leads us to say with Saint Paul:
“Not that I have already obtained this, or am already perfect; but I press on to
make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own” (Phil 3:12-13).
The evangelizing power of popular piety
122. In the same way, we can see that the different peoples among whom the
Gospel has been inculturated are active collective subjects or agents of
evangelization. This is because each people is the creator of their own culture
and the protagonist of their own history. Culture is a dynamic reality which a
people constantly recreates; each generation passes on a whole series of ways of
approaching different existential situations to the next generation, which must
in turn reformulate it as it confronts its own challenges. Being human means
“being at the same time son and father of the culture to which one belongs”.[97]
Once the Gospel has been inculturated in a people, in their process of
transmitting their culture they also transmit the faith in ever new forms; hence
the importance of understanding evangelization as inculturation. Each portion
of the people of God, by translating the gift of God into its own life and in
accordance with its own genius, bears witness to the faith it has received and
enriches it with new and eloquent expressions. One can say that “a people
continuously evangelizes itself”.[98]
Herein lies the importance of popular piety, a true expression of the
spontaneous missionary activity of the people of God. This is an ongoing and
developing process, of which the Holy Spirit is the principal agent.[99]
123. Popular piety enables us to see how the faith, once received, becomes
embodied in a culture and is constantly passed on. Once looked down upon,
popular piety came to be appreciated once more in the decades following the
Council. In the Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI gave a
decisive impulse in this area. There he stated that popular piety “manifests a
thirst for God which only the poor and the simple can know”[100]
and that “it makes people capable of generosity and sacrifice even to the point of heroism,when it is a question of bearing witness to belief”.[101] Closer to our own time, Benedict XVI, speaking about Latin America, pointed
out that popular piety is “a precious treasure of the Catholic Church”, in which
“we see the soul of the Latin American peoples”.[102]
124. The Aparecida Document describes the riches which the Holy
Spirit pours forth in popular piety by his gratuitous initiative. On that
beloved continent, where many Christians express their faith through popular
piety, the bishops also refer to it as “popular spirituality” or “the people’s
mysticism”.[103] It is truly “a
spirituality incarnated in the culture of the lowly”.[104]
Nor is it devoid of content; rather it discovers and expresses that content more
by way of symbols than by discursive reasoning, and in the act of faith greater
accent is placed on credere in Deum than on credere Deum.[105]
It is “a legitimate way of living the faith, a way of feeling part of the Church
and a manner of being missionaries”;[106]
it brings with itself the grace of being a missionary, of coming out of oneself
and setting out on pilgrimage: “Journeying together to shrines and taking part
in other manifestations of popular piety, also by taking one’s children or
inviting others, is in itself an evangelizing gesture”.[107]
Let us not stifle or presume to control this missionary power!
125. To understand this reality we need to approach it with the gaze of the
Good Shepherd, who seeks not to judge but to love. Only from the affective
connaturality born of love can we appreciate the theological life present in the
piety of Christian peoples, especially among their poor. I think of the
steadfast faith of those mothers tending their sick children who, though perhaps
barely familiar with the articles of the creed, cling to a rosary; or of all the
hope poured into a candle lighted in a humble home with a prayer for help from
Mary, or in the gaze of tender love directed to Christ crucified. No one who
loves God’s holy people will view these actions as the expression of a purely
human search for the divine. They are the manifestation of a theological life
nourished by the working of the Holy Spirit who has been poured into our hearts
(cf. Rom 5:5).
126. Underlying popular piety, as a fruit of the inculturated Gospel, is an
active evangelizing power which we must not underestimate: to do so would be to
fail to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we are called to
promote and strengthen it, in order to deepen the never-ending process of
inculturation. Expressions of popular piety have much to teach us; for those
who are capable of reading them, they are a locus theologicus which
demands our attention, especially at a time when we are looking to the new
evangelization.
Person to person
127. Today, as the Church seeks to experience a profound missionary renewal,
there is a kind of preaching which falls to each of us as a daily
responsibility. It has to do with bringing the Gospel to the people we meet,
whether they be our neighbours or complete strangers. This is the informal
preaching which takes place in the middle of a conversation, something along the
lines of what a missionary does when visiting a home. Being a disciple means
being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others, and this can happen
unexpectedly and in any place: on the street, in a city square, during work, on
a journey.
128. In this preaching, which is always respectful and gentle, the first
step is personal dialogue, when the other person speaks and shares his or her
joys, hopes and concerns for loved ones, or so many other heartfelt needs. Only
afterwards is it possible to bring up God’s word, perhaps by reading a Bible
verse or relating a story, but always keeping in mind the fundamental message:
the personal love of God who became man, who gave himself up for us, who is
living and who offers us his salvation and his friendship. This message has to
be shared humbly as a testimony on the part of one who is always willing to
learn, in the awareness that the message is so rich and so deep that it always
exceeds our grasp. At times the message can be presented directly, at times by
way of a personal witness or gesture, or in a way which the Holy Spirit may
suggest in that particular situation. If it seems prudent and if the
circumstances are right, this fraternal and missionary encounter could end with
a brief prayer related to the concerns which the person may have expressed. In
this way they will have an experience of being listened to and understood; they
will know that their particular situation has been placed before God, and that
God’s word really speaks to their lives.
129. We should not think, however, that the Gospel message must always be
communicated by fixed formulations learned by heart or by specific words which
express an absolutely invariable content. This communication takes place in so
many different ways that it would be impossible to describe or catalogue them
all, and God’s people, with all their many gestures and signs, are its
collective subject. If the Gospel is embedded in a culture, the message is no
longer transmitted solely from person to person. In countries where
Christianity is a minority, then, along with encouraging each of the baptized to
proclaim the Gospel, particular Churches should actively promote at least
preliminary forms of inculturation. The ultimate aim should be that the Gospel,
as preached in categories proper to each culture, will create a new synthesis
with that particular culture. This is always a slow process and at we can be
overly fearful. But if we allow doubts and fears to dampen our courage, instead
of being creative we will remain comfortable and make no progress whatsoever.
In this case we will not take an active part in historical processes, but become
mere onlookers as the Church gradually stagnates.
Charisms at the service of a communion which evangelizes
130. The Holy Spirit also enriches the entire evangelizing Church with
different charisms. These gifts are meant to renew and build up the Church.[108]
They are not an inheritance, safely secured and entrusted to a small group for
safekeeping; rather they are gifts of the Spirit integrated into the body of the
Church, drawn to the centre which is Christ and then channelled into an
evangelizing impulse. A sure sign of the authenticity of a charism is its
ecclesial character, its ability to be integrated harmoniously into the life of
God’s holy and faithful people for the good of all. Something truly new brought
about by the Spirit need not overshadow other gifts and spiritualities in making
itself felt. To the extent that a charism is better directed to the heart of
the Gospel, its exercise will be more ecclesial. It is in communion, even when
this proves painful, that a charism is seen to be authentic and mysteriously
fruitful. On the basis of her response to this challenge, the Church can be a
model of peace in our world.
131. Differences between persons and communities can sometimes prove
uncomfortable, but the Holy Spirit, who is the source of that diversity, can
bring forth something good from all things and turn it into an attractive means
of evangelization. Diversity must always be reconciled by the help of the Holy
Spirit; he alone can raise up diversity, plurality and multiplicity while at the
same time bringing about unity. When we, for our part, aspire to diversity, we
become self-enclosed, exclusive and divisive; similarly, whenever we attempt to
create unity on the basis of our human calculations, we end up imposing a
monolithic uniformity. This is not helpful for the Church’s mission.
Culture, thought and education
132. Proclaiming the Gospel message to different cultures also involves
proclaiming it to professional, scientific and academic circles. This means an
encounter between faith, reason and the sciences with a view to developing new
approaches and arguments on the issue of credibility, a creative apologetics[109]
which would encourage greater openness to the Gospel on the part of all. When
certain categories of reason and the sciences are taken up into the proclamation
of the message, these categories then become tools of evangelization; water is
changed into wine. Whatever is taken up is not just redeemed, but becomes an
instrument of the Spirit for enlightening and renewing the world.
133. It is not enough that evangelizers be concerned to reach each person,
or that the Gospel be proclaimed to the cultures as a whole. A theology – and
not simply a pastoral theology – which is in dialogue with other sciences and
human experiences is most important for our discernment on how best to bring the
Gospel message to different cultural contexts and groups.[110]
The Church, in her commitment to evangelization, appreciates and encourages the
charism of theologians and their scholarly efforts to advance dialogue with the
world of cultures and sciences. I call on theologians to carry out this service
as part of the Church’s saving mission. In doing so, however, they must always
remember that the Church and theology exist to evangelize, and not be content
with a desk-bound theology.
134. Universities are outstanding environments for articulating and
developing this evangelizing commitment in an interdisciplinary and integrated
way. Catholic schools, which always strive to join their work of education with
the explicit proclamation of the Gospel, are a most valuable resource for the
evangelization of culture, even in those countries and cities where hostile
situations challenge us to greater creativity in our search for suitable
methods.[111]
II. THE HOMILY
135. Let us now look at preaching within the liturgy, which calls for
serious consideration by pastors. I will dwell in particular, and even somewhat
meticulously, on the homily and its preparation, since so many concerns have
been expressed about this important ministry and we cannot simply ignore them.
The homily is the touchstone for judging a pastor’s closeness and ability to
communicate to his people. We know that the faithful attach great importance to
it, and that both they and their ordained ministers suffer because of homilies:
the laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach
them! It is sad that this is the case. The homily can actually be an intense
and happy experience of the Spirit, a consoling encounter with God’s word, a
constant source of renewal and growth.
136. Let us renew our confidence in preaching, based on the conviction that
it is God who seeks to reach out to others through the preacher, and that he
displays his power through human words. Saint Paul speaks forcefully about the
need to preach, since the Lord desires to reach other people by means of our
word (cf. Rom 10:14-17). By his words our Lord won over the hearts of
the people; they came to hear him from all parts (cf. Mk 1:45); they were
amazed at his teachings (cf. Mk 6:2), and they sensed that he spoke to
them as one with authority (cf. Mk 1:27). By their words the apostles,
whom Christ established “to be with him and to be sent out to preach” (Mk
3:14), brought all nations to the bosom of the Church (cf. Mt 16:15.20).
The liturgical context
137. It is worthy remembering that “the liturgical proclamation of the word
of God, especially in the eucharistic assembly, is not so much a time for
meditation and catechesis as a dialogue between God and his people, a dialogue
in which the great deeds of salvation are proclaimed and the demands of the
covenant are continually restated”.[112]
The homily has special importance due to its eucharistic context: it surpasses
all forms of catechesis as the supreme moment in the dialogue between God and
his people which lead up to sacramental communion. The homily takes up once
more the dialogue which the Lord has already established with his people. The
preacher must know the heart of his community, in order to realize where its
desire for God is alive and ardent, as well as where that dialogue, once loving,
has been thwarted and is now barren.
138. The homily cannot be a form of entertainment like those presented by
the media, yet it does need to give life and meaning to the celebration. It is
a distinctive genre, since it is preaching which is situated within the
framework of a liturgical celebration; hence it should be brief and avoid
taking on the semblance of a speech or a lecture. A preacher may be able to
hold the attention of his listeners for a whole hour, but in this case his words
become more important than the celebration of faith. If the homily goes on too
long, it will affect two characteristic elements of the liturgical celebration:
its balance and its rhythm. When preaching takes place within the context of
the liturgy, it is part of the offering made to the Father and a mediation of
the grace which Christ pours out during the celebration. This context demands
that preaching should guide the assembly, and the preacher, to a life-changing
communion with Christ in the Eucharist. This means that the words of the
preacher must be measured, so that the Lord, more than his minister, will be the
centre of attention.
A mother’s conversation
139. We said that the people of God, by the constant inner working of the
Holy Spirit, is constantly evangelizing itself. What are the implications of
this principle for preachers? It reminds us that the Church is a mother, and
that she preaches in the same way that a mother speaks to her child, knowing
that the child trusts that what she is teaching is for his or her benefit, for
children know that they are loved. Moreover, a good mother can recognize
everything that God is bringing about in her children, she listens to their
concerns and learns from them. The spirit of love which reigns in a family
guides both mother and child in their conversations; therein they teach and
learn, experience correction and grow in appreciation of what is good.
Something similar happens in a homily. The same Spirit who inspired the Gospels
and who acts in the Church also inspires the preacher to hear the faith of the
God’s people and to find the right way to preach at each Eucharist. Christian
preaching thus finds in the heart of people and their culture a source of living
water, which helps the preacher to know what must be said and how to say it.
Just as all of us like to be spoken to in our mother tongue, so too in the faith
we like to be spoken to in our “mother culture,” our native language (cf. 2
Macc 7:21, 27), and our heart is better disposed to listen. This language
is a kind of music which inspires encouragement, strength and enthusiasm.
140. This setting, both maternal and ecclesial, in which the dialogue
between the Lord and his people takes place, should be encouraged by the
closeness of the preacher, the warmth of his tone of voice, the
unpretentiousness of his manner of speaking, the joy of his gestures. Even if
the homily at times may be somewhat tedious, if this maternal and ecclesial
spirit is present, it will always bear fruit, just as the tedious counsels of a
mother bear fruit, in due time, in the hearts of her children.
141. One cannot but admire the resources that the Lord used to dialogue with
his people, to reveal his mystery to all and to attract ordinary people by his
lofty teachings and demands. I believe that the secret lies in the way Jesus
looked at people, seeing beyond their weaknesses and failings: “Fear not little
flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk
12:32); Jesus preaches with that spirit. Full of joy in the Spirit, he blesses
the Father who draws the little ones to him: “I thank you Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and
revealed them to babes” (Lk 10:21). The Lord truly enjoys talking with
his people; the preacher should strive to communicate that same enjoyment to his
listeners.
Words which set hearts on fire
142. Dialogue is much more than the communication of a truth. It arises
from the enjoyment of speaking and it enriches those who express their love for
one another through the medium of words. This is an enrichment which does not
consist in objects but in persons who share themselves in dialogue. A preaching
which would be purely moralistic or doctrinaire, or one which turns into a
lecture on biblical exegesis, detracts from this heart-to-heart communication
which takes place in the homily and possesses a quasi-sacramental character:
“Faith come from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of
Christ” (Rom 10:17). In the homily, truth goes hand in hand with beauty
and goodness. Far from dealing with abstract truths or cold syllogisms, it
communicates the beauty of the images used by the Lord to encourage the practise
of good. The memory of the faithful, like that of Mary, should overflow with
the wondrous things done by God. Their hearts, growing in hope from the joyful
and practical exercise of the love which they have received, will sense that
each word of Scripture is a gift before it is a demand.
143. The challenge of an inculturated preaching consists in proclaiming a
synthesis, not ideas or detached values. Where your synthesis is, there lies
your heart. The difference between enlightening people with a synthesis and
doing so with detached ideas is like the difference between boredom and
heartfelt fervour. The preacher has the wonderful but difficult task of joining
loving hearts, the hearts of the Lord and his people. The dialogue between God
and his people further strengthens the covenant between them and consolidates
the bond of charity. In the course of the homily, the hearts of believers keep
silence and allow God to speak. The Lord and his people speak to one another in
a thousand ways directly, without intermediaries. But in the homily they want
someone to serve as an instrument and to express their feelings in such a way
that afterwards, each one may chose how he or she will continue the
conversation. The word is essentially a mediator and requires not just the two
who dialogue but also an intermediary who presents it for what it is, out of the
conviction that “what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with
ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor 4:5).
144. To speak from the heart means that our hearts must not just be on fire,
but also enlightened by the fullness of revelation and by the path travelled by
God’s word in the heart of the Church and our faithful people throughout
history. This Christian identity, as the baptismal embrace which the Father
gave us when we were little ones, makes us desire, as prodigal children – and
favourite children in Mary – yet another embrace, that of the merciful Father
who awaits us in glory. Helping our people to feel that they live in the midst
of these two embraces is the difficult but beautiful task of one who preaches
the Gospel.
III. PREPARING TO PREACH
145. Preparation for preaching is so important a task that a prolonged time
of study, prayer, reflection and pastoral creativity should be devoted to it.
With great affection I wish to stop for a moment and offer a method of preparing
homilies. Some may find these suggestions self-evident, but I consider it
helpful to offer them as a way of emphasizing the need to devote quality time to
this precious ministry. Some pastors argue that such preparation is not
possible given the vast number of tasks which they must perform; nonetheless, I
presume to ask that each week a sufficient portion of personal and community
time be dedicated to this task, even if less time has to be given to other
important activities. Trust in the Holy Spirit who is at work during the homily
is not merely passive but active and creative. It demands that we offer
ourselves and all our abilities as instruments (cf. Rom 12:1) which God
can use. A preacher who does not prepare is not “spiritual”; he is dishonest
and irresponsible with the gifts he has received.
Reverence for truth
146. The first step, after calling upon the Holy Spirit in prayer, is to
give our entire attention to the biblical text, which needs to be the basis of
our preaching. Whenever we stop and attempt to understand the message of a
particular text, we are practising “reverence for the truth”.[113]
This is the humility of heart which recognizes that the word is always beyond
us, that “we are neither its masters or owners, but its guardians, heralds and
servants”.[114] This attitude of
humble and awe-filled veneration of the word is expressed by taking the time to
study it with the greatest care and a holy fear lest we distort it. To
interpret a biblical text, we need to be patient, to put aside all other
concerns, and to give it our time, interest and undivided attention. We must
leave aside any other pressing concerns and create an environment of serene
concentration. It is useless to attempt to read a biblical text if all we are
looking for are quick, easy and immediate results. Preparation for preaching
requires love. We only devote periods of quiet time to the things or the people
whom we love; and here we are speaking of the God whom we love, a God who wishes
to speak to us. Because of this love, we can take as much time as we need, like
every true disciple: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam
3:9).
147. First of all, we need to be sure that we understand the meaning of the
words we read. I want to insist here on something which may seem
obvious, but which is not always taken into account: the biblical text which we
study is two or three thousand years old; its language is very different from
that which we speak today. Even if we think we understand the words translated
into our own language, this does not mean that we correctly understand what the
sacred author wished to say. The different tools provided by literary analysis
are well known: attention to words which are repeated or emphasized, recognition
of the structure and specific movement of a text, consideration of the role
played by the different characters, and so forth. But our own aim is not to
understand every little detail of a text; our most important goal is to discover
its principal message, the message which gives structure and unity to the text.
If the preacher does not make this effort, his preaching will quite likely have
neither unity nor order; what he has to say will be a mere accumulation of
various disjointed ideas incapable of inspiring others. The central message is
what the author primarily wanted to communicate; this calls for recognizing not
only the author’s ideas but the effect which he wanted to produce. If a text
was written to console, it should not be used to correct errors; if it was
written as an exhortation, it should not be employed to teach doctrine; if it
was written to teach something about God, it should not be used to expound
various theological opinions; if it was written as a summons to praise or
missionary outreach, let us not use it to talk about the latest news.
148. Certainly, to understand properly the meaning of the central message of
a text we need to relate it to the teaching of the entire Bible as handed on by
the Church. This is an important principle of biblical interpretation which
recognizes that the Holy Spirit has inspired not just a part of the Bible, but
the Bible as a whole, and that in some areas people have grown in their
understanding of God’s will on the basis of their personal experience. It also
prevents erroneous or partial interpretations which would contradict other
teachings of the same Scriptures. But it does not mean that we can weaken the
distinct and specific emphasis of a text which we are called to preach. One of
the defects of a tedious and ineffectual preaching is precisely its inability to
transmit the intrinsic power of the text which has been proclaimed.
Personalizing the word
149. The preacher “ought first of all to develop a great personal
familiarity with the word of God. Knowledge of its linguistic or exegetical
aspects, though certainly necessary, is not enough. He needs to approach the
word with a docile and prayerful heart so that it may deeply penetrate his
thoughts and feelings and bring about a new outlook in him”.[115]
It is good for us to renew our fervour each day and every Sunday as we prepare
the homily, examining ourselves to see if we have grown in love for the word
which we preach. Nor should we forget that “the greater or lesser degree of the
holiness of the minister has a real effect on the proclamation of the word”.[116]
As Saint Paul says, “we speak, not to please men, but to please God who tests
our hearts” (1 Th 2:4). If we have a lively desire to be the first to
hear the word which we must preach, this will surely be communicated to God’s
faithful people, for “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Mt
12:34). The Sunday readings will resonate in all their brilliance in the
hearts of the faithful if they have first done so in the heart of their pastor.
150. Jesus was angered by those supposed teachers who demanded much of
others, teaching God’s word but without being enlightened by it: “They bind
heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they
themselves will not lift a finger to move them” (Mt 23:4). The apostle
James exhorted: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brethren, for you
know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness” (Jas
3:1). Whoever wants to preach must be the first to let the word of God move him
deeply and become incarnate in his daily life. In this way preaching will
consist in that activity, so intense and fruitful, which is “communicating to
others what one has contemplated”.[117]
For all these reasons, before preparing what we will actually say when
preaching, we need to let ourselves be penetrated by that word which will also
penetrate others, for it is a living and active word, like a sword “which
pierces to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerns
the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). This has great
pastoral importance. Today too, people prefer to listen to witnesses: they
“thirst for authenticity” and “call for evangelizers to speak of a God whom they
themselves know and are familiar with, as if they were seeing him”.[118]
151. We are not asked to be flawless, but to keep growing and wanting to
grow as we advance along the path of the Gospel; our arms must never grow
slack. What is essential is that the preacher be certain that God loves him,
that Jesus Christ has saved him and that his love has always the last word.
Encountering such beauty, he will often feel that his life does not glorify God
as it should, and he will sincerely desire to respond more fully to so great a
love. Yet if he does not take time to hear God’s word with an open heart, if he
does not allow it to touch his life, to challenge him, to impel him, and if he
does not devote time to pray with that word, then he will indeed be a false
prophet, a fraud, a shallow impostor. But by acknowledging his poverty and
desiring to grow in his commitment, he will always be able to abandon himself to
Christ, saying in the words of Peter: “I have no silver and gold, but what I
have I give you” (Acts 3:6). The Lord wants to make use of us as living,
free and creative beings who let his word enter their own hearts before then
passing it on to others. Christ’s message must truly penetrate and possess the
preacher, not just intellectually but in his entire being. The Holy Spirit, who
inspired the word, “today, just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows
himself to be possessed and led by him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the
words which he could not find by himself”.[119]
Spiritual reading
152. There is one particular way of listening to what the Lord wishes to
tell us in his word and of letting ourselves be transformed by the Spirit. It
is what we call lectio divina. It consists of reading God’s word in a
moment of prayer and allowing it to enlighten and renew us. This prayerful
reading of the Bible is not something separate from the study undertaken by the
preacher to ascertain the central message of the text; on the contrary, it
should begin with that study and then go on to discern how that same message
speaks to his own life. The spiritual reading of a text must start with its
literal sense. Otherwise we can easily make the text say what we think is
convenient, useful for confirming us in our previous decisions, suited to our
own patterns of thought. Ultimately this would be tantamount to using something
sacred for our own benefit and then passing on this confusion to God’s people.
We must never forget that sometimes “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of
light” (2 Cor 11:14).
153. In the presence of God, during a recollected reading of the text, it is
good to ask, for example: “Lord, what does this text say to me? What is
it about my life that you want to change by this text? What troubles me about
this text? Why am I not interested in this? Or perhaps: What do I find
pleasant in this text? What is it about this word that moves me? What attracts
me? Why does it attract me?” When we make an effort to listen to the Lord,
temptations usually arise. One of them is simply to feel troubled or burdened,
and to turn away. Another common temptation is to think about what the text
means for other people, and so avoid applying it to our own life. It can also
happen that we look for excuses to water down the clear meaning of the text. Or
we can wonder if God is demanding too much of us, asking for a decision which we
are not yet prepared to make. This leads many people to stop taking pleasure in
the encounter with God’s word; but this would mean forgetting that no one is
more patient than God our Father, that no one is more understanding and willing
to wait. He always invites us to take a step forward, but does not demand a
full response if we are not yet ready. He simply asks that we sincerely look at
our life and present ourselves honestly before him, and that we be willing to
continue to grow, asking from him what we ourselves cannot as yet achieve.
An ear to the people
154. The preacher also needs to keep his ear to the people and to discover
what it is that the faithful need to hear. A preacher has to contemplate the
word, but he also has to contemplate his people. In this way he learns “of the aspirations, of riches and limitations, of ways of praying, of loving, of
looking at life and the world, which distinguish this or that human gathering,”
while paying attention “to actual people, to using their language, their signs
and symbols, to answering the questions they ask”.[120]
He needs to be able to link the message of a biblical text to a human situation,
to an experience which cries out for the light of God’s word. This interest has
nothing to do with shrewdness or calculation; it is profoundly religious and
pastoral. Fundamentally it is a “spiritual sensitivity for reading God’s
message in events”,[121] and this
is much more than simply finding something interesting to say. What we are
looking for is “what the Lord has to say in this or that particular
circumstance”.[122] Preparation
for preaching thus becomes an exercise in evangelical discernment, wherein we
strive to recognize – in the light of the Spirit – “a call which God causes to
resound in the historical situation itself. In this situation, and also through
it, God calls the believer.”[123]
155. In this effort we may need but think of some ordinary human experience
such as a joyful reunion, a moment of disappointment, the fear of being alone,
compassion at the sufferings of others, uncertainty about the future, concern
for a loved one, and so forth. But we need to develop a broad and profound
sensitivity to what really affects other people’s lives. Let us also keep in
mind that we should never respond to questions that nobody asks. Nor is it
fitting to talk about the latest news in order to awaken people’s interest; we
have television programmes for that. It is possible, however, to start with
some fact or story so that God’s word can forcefully resound in its call to
conversion, worship, commitment to fraternity and service, and so forth. Yet
there will always be some who readily listen to a preacher’s commentaries on
current affairs, while not letting themselves be challenged.
Homiletic resources
156. Some people think they can be good preachers because they know what
ought to be said, but they pay no attention to how it should be said,
that is, the concrete way of constructing a sermon. They complain when people
do not listen to or appreciate them, but perhaps they have never taken the
trouble to find the proper way of presenting their message. Let us remember
that “the obvious importance of the content of evangelization must not
overshadow the importance of its ways and means”.[124]
Concern for the way we preach is likewise a profoundly spiritual concern. It
entails responding to the love of God by putting all our talents and creativity
at the service of the mission which he has given us; at the same time, it shows
a fine, active love of neighbour by refusing to offer others a product of poor
quality. In the Bible, for example, we can find advice on how to prepare a
homily so as to best to reach people: “Speak concisely, say much in few words” (Sir
32:8).
157. Simply using a few examples, let us recall some practical resources
which can enrich our preaching and make it more attractive. One of the most
important things is to learn how to use images in preaching, how to appeal to
imagery. Sometimes examples are used to clarify a certain point, but these
examples usually appeal only to the mind; images, on the other hand, help people
better to appreciate and accept the message we wish to communicate. An
attractive image makes the message seem familiar, close to home, practical and
related to everyday life. A successful image can make people savour the
message, awaken a desire and move the will towards the Gospel. A good homily,
an old teacher once told me, should have “an idea, a sentiment, an image.”
158. Paul VI said that “the faithful… expect much from preaching, and will
greatly benefit from it, provided that it is simple, clear, direct,
well-adapted”.[125] Simplicity
has to do with the language we use. It must be one that people understand, lest
we risk speaking to a void. Preachers often use words learned during their
studies and in specialized settings which are not part of the ordinary language
of their hearers. These are words that are suitable in theology or catechesis,
but whose meaning is incomprehensible to the majority of Christians. The
greatest risk for a preacher is that he becomes so accustomed to his own
language that he thinks that everyone else naturally understands and uses it.
If we wish to adapt to people’s language and to reach them with God’s word, we
need to share in their lives and pay loving attention to them. Simplicity and
clarity are two different things. Our language may be simple but our preaching
not very clear. It can end up being incomprehensible because it is
disorganized, lacks logical progression or tries to deal with too many things at
one time. We need to ensure, then, that the homily has thematic unity, clear
order and correlation between sentences, so that people can follow the preacher
easily and grasp his line of argument.
159. Another feature of a good homily is that it is positive. It is not so
much concerned with pointing out what shouldn’t be done, but with suggesting
what we can do better. In any case, if it does draw attention to something
negative, it will also attempt to point to a positive and attractive value, lest
it remain mired in complaints, laments, criticisms and reproaches. Positive
preaching always offers hope, points to the future, does not leave us trapped in
negativity. How good it is when priests, deacons and the laity gather
periodically to discover resources which can make preaching more attractive!
IV. EVANGELIZATION AND THE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE KERYGMA
160. The Lord’s missionary mandate includes a call to growth in faith:
“Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:20). Hence
it is clear that that the first proclamation also calls for ongoing formation
and maturation. Evangelization aims at a process of growth which entails taking
seriously each person and God’s plan for his or her life. All of us need to
grow in Christ. Evangelization should stimulate a desire for this growth, so
that each of us can say wholeheartedly: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ
who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
161. It would not be right to see this call to growth exclusively or
primarily in terms of doctrinal formation. It has to do with “observing” all
that the Lord has shown us as the way of responding to his love. Along with the
virtues, this means above all the new commandment, the first and the greatest of
the commandments, and the one that best identifies us as Christ’s disciples:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn
15:12). Clearly, whenever the New Testament authors want to present the heart
of the Christian moral message, they present the essential requirement of love
for one’s neighbour: “The one who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the
whole law… therefore love of neighbour is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom
13:8, 10). These are the words of Saint Paul, for whom the commandment of love
not only sums up the law but constitutes its very heart and purpose: “For the
whole law is fulfilled in one word, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’”
(Gal 5:14). To his communities Paul presents the Christian life as a
journey of growth in love: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all” (1 Th 3:12). Saint James likewise exhorts
Christians to fulfil “the royal law according to the Scripture: You shall love
your neighbour as yourself” (2:8), in order not to fall short of any
commandment.
162. On the other hand this process of response and growth is always
preceded by God’s gift, since the Lord first says: “Baptize them in the name…” (Mt
28:19). The Father’s free gift which makes us his sons and daughters, and the
priority of the gift of his grace (cf. Eph 2:8-9; 1 Cor 4:7),
enable that constant sanctification which pleases God and gives him glory. In
this way, we allow ourselves to be transformed in Christ through a life lived
“according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:5).
Kerygmatic and mystagogical catechesis
163. Education and catechesis are at the service of this growth. We already
possess a number of magisterial documents and aids on catechesis issued by the
Holy See and by various episcopates. I think in particular of the Apostolic
Exhortation Catechesi Tradendae (1979), the General Catechetical
Directory (1997) and other documents whose contents need not be repeated
here. I would like to offer a few brief considerations which I believe to be of
particular significance.
164. In catechesis too, we have rediscovered the fundamental role of the
first announcement or kerygma, which needs to be the centre of all evangelizing
activity and all efforts at Church renewal. The kerygma is trinitarian. The
fire of the Spirit is given in the form of tongues and leads us to believe in
Jesus Christ who, by his death and resurrection, reveals and communicates to us
the Father’s infinite mercy. On the lips of the catechist the first
proclamation must ring out over and over: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his
life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten,
strengthen and free you.” This first proclamation is called “first” not because
it exists at the beginning and can then be forgotten or replaced by other more
important things. It is first in a qualitative sense because it is the
principal proclamation, the one which we must hear again and again in
different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the
process of catechesis, at every level and moment.[126]
For this reason too, “the priest – like every other member of the Church – ought
to grow in awareness that he himself is continually in need of being
evangelized”.[127]
165. We must not think that in catechesis the kerygma gives way to a
supposedly more “solid” formation. Nothing is more solid, profound, secure,
meaningful and wisdom-filled than that initial proclamation. All Christian
formation consists of entering more deeply into the kerygma, which is reflected
in and constantly illumines, the work of catechesis, thereby enabling us to
understand more fully the significance of every subject which the latter
treats. It is the message capable of responding to the desire for the infinite
which abides in every human heart. The centrality of the kerygma calls for
stressing those elements which are most needed today: it has to express God’s
saving love which precedes any moral and religious obligation on our part; it
should not impose the truth but appeal to freedom; it should be marked by joy,
encouragement, liveliness and a harmonious balance which will not reduce
preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than
evangelical. All this demands on the part of the evangelizer certain attitudes
which foster openness to the message: approachability, readiness for dialogue,
patience, a warmth and welcome which is non-judgmental.
166. Another aspect of catechesis which has developed in recent decades is
mystagogic initiation.[128]
This basically has to do with two things: a progressive experience of formation
involving the entire community and a renewed appreciation of the liturgical
signs of Christian initiation. Many manuals and programmes have not yet taken
sufficiently into account the need for a mystagogical renewal, one which would
assume very different forms based on each educational community’s discernment.
Catechesis is a proclamation of the word and is always centred on that word, yet
it also demands a suitable environment and an attractive presentation, the use
of eloquent symbols, insertion into a broader growth process and the integration
of every dimension of the person within a communal journey of hearing and
response.
167. Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the “way of beauty”
(via pulchritudinis).[129]
Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not
only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling
life with new splendour and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties.
Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an
encounter with the Lord Jesus. This has nothing to do with fostering an
aesthetic relativism[130] which
would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but
rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and
enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it. If,
as Saint Augustine says, we love only that which is beautiful,[131]
the incarnate Son, as the revelation of infinite beauty, is supremely lovable
and draws us to himself with bonds of love. So a formation in the via
pulchritudinis ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith. Each
particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization,
building on the treasures of the past but also drawing upon the wide variety of
contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new “language of
parables”.[132] We must be bold
enough to discover new signs and new symbols, new flesh to embody and
communicate the word, and different forms of beauty which are valued in
different cultural settings, including those unconventional modes of beauty
which may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove particularly attractive for
others.
168. As for the moral component of catechesis, which promotes growth in
fidelity to the Gospel way of life, it is helpful to stress again and again the
attractiveness and the ideal of a life of wisdom, self-fulfilment and
enrichment. In the light of that positive message, our rejection of the evils
which endanger that life can be better understood. Rather than experts in dire
predictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we
should appear as joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the
goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.
Personal accompaniment in processes of growth
169. In a culture paradoxically suffering from anonymity and at the same
time obsessed with the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly given over
to morbid curiosity, the Church must look more closely and sympathetically at
others whenever necessary. In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral
workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal
gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity
– into this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to remove our sandals before
the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5). The pace of this
accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our
compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the
Christian life.
170. Although it sounds obvious, spiritual accompaniment must lead others
ever closer to God, in whom we attain true freedom. Some people think they are
free if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain existentially
orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and become drifters,
flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere. To accompany them would
be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their
self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father.
171. Today more than ever we need men and women who, on the basis of their
experience of accompanying others, are familiar with processes which call for
prudence, understanding, patience and docility to the Spirit, so that they can
protect the sheep from wolves who would scatter the flock. We need to practice
the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in
communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness
without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur. Listening helps us to
find the right gesture and word which shows that we are more than simply
bystanders. Only through such respectful and compassionate listening can we
enter on the paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for the Christian ideal:
the desire to respond fully to God’s love and to bring to fruition what he has
sown in our lives. But this always demands the patience of one who knows full
well what Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us: that anyone can have grace and charity,
and yet falter in the exercise of the virtues because of persistent “contrary
inclinations”.[133] In other
words, the organic unity of the virtues always and necessarily exists in
habitu, even though forms of conditioning can hinder the operations
of those virtuous habits. Hence the need for “a pedagogy which will introduce
people step by step to the full appropriation of the mystery”.[134]
Reaching a level of maturity where individuals can make truly free and
responsible decisions calls for much time and patience. As Blessed Peter Faber
used to say: “Time is God’s messenger”.
172. One who accompanies others has to realize that each person’s situation
before God and their life in grace are mysteries which no one can fully know
from without. The Gospel tells us to correct others and to help them to grow on
the basis of a recognition of the objective evil of their actions (cf. Mt
18:15), but without making judgements about their responsibility and culpability
(cf. Mt 7:1; Lk 6:37). Someone good at such accompaniment does
not give in to frustrations or fears. He or she invites others to let
themselves be healed, to take up their mat, embrace the cross, leave all behind
and go forth ever anew to proclaim the Gospel. Our personal experience of being
accompanied and assisted, and of openness to those who accompany us, will teach
us to be patient and compassionate with others, and to find the right way to
gain their trust, their openness and their readiness to grow.
173. Genuine spiritual accompaniment always begins and flourishes in the
context of service to the mission of evangelization. Paul’s relationship with
Timothy and Titus provides an example of this accompaniment and formation which
takes place in the midst of apostolic activity. Entrusting them with the
mission of remaining in each city to “put in order what remains to be done” (Tit
1:5; cf. 1 Tim 1:3-5), Paul also gives them rules for their personal
lives and their pastoral activity. This is clearly distinct from every kind of
intrusive accompaniment or isolated self-realization. Missionary disciples
accompany missionary disciples.
Centred on the word of God
174. Not only the homily has to be nourished by the word of God. All
evangelization is based on that word, listened to, meditated upon, lived,
celebrated and witnessed to. The sacred Scriptures are the very source of
evangelization. Consequently, we need to be constantly trained in hearing the
word. The Church does not evangelize unless she constantly lets herself be
evangelized. It is indispensable that the word of God “be ever more fully at
the heart of every ecclesial activity”.[135]
God’s word, listened to and celebrated, above all in the Eucharist, nourishes
and inwardly strengthens Christians, enabling them to offer an authentic witness
to the Gospel in daily life. We have long since moved beyond that old
contraposition between word and sacrament. The preaching of the word, living
and effective, prepares for the reception of the sacrament, and in the sacrament
that word attains its maximum efficacy.
175. The study of the sacred Scriptures must be a door opened to every
believer.[136] It is essential
that the revealed word radically enrich our catechesis and all our efforts to
pass on the faith.[137]
Evangelization demands familiarity with God’s word, which calls for dioceses,
parishes and Catholic associations to provide for a serious, ongoing study of
the Bible, while encouraging its prayerful individual and communal reading.[138]
We do not blindly seek God, or wait for him to speak to us first, for “God has
already spoken, and there is nothing further that we need to know, which has not
been revealed to us”.[139] Let
us receive the sublime treasure of the revealed word.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF EVANGELIZATION
176. To evangelize is to make the kingdom of God present in our world. Yet
“any partial or fragmentary definition which attempts to render the reality of
evangelization in all its richness, complexity and dynamism does so only at the
risk of impoverishing it and even of distorting it”.[140]
I would now like to share my concerns about the social dimension of
evangelization, precisely because if this dimension is not properly brought out,
there is a constant risk of distorting the authentic and integral meaning of the
mission of evangelization.
I. COMMUNAL AND SOCIETAL REPERCUSSIONS OF THE KERYGMA
177. The kerygma has a clear social content: at the very heart of the Gospel
is life in community and engagement with others. The content of the first
proclamation has an immediate moral implication centred on charity.
Confession of faith and commitment to society
178. To believe in a Father who loves all men and women with an infinite
love means realizing that “he thereby confers upon them an infinite dignity”.[141]
To believe that the Son of God assumed our human flesh means that each human
person has been taken up into the very heart of God. To believe that Jesus shed
his blood for us removes any doubt about the boundless love which ennobles each
human being. Our redemption has a social dimension because “God, in Christ,
redeems not only the individual person, but also the social relations existing
between men”.[142] To believe
that the Holy Spirit is at work in everyone means realizing that he seeks to
penetrate every human situation and all social bonds: “The Holy Spirit can be
said to possess an infinite creativity, proper to the divine mind, which knows
how to loosen the knots of human affairs, even the most complex and
inscrutable”.[143]
Evangelization is meant to cooperate with this liberating work of the Spirit.
The very mystery of the Trinity reminds us that we have been created in the
image of that divine communion, and so we cannot achieve fulfilment or salvation
purely by our own efforts. From the heart of the Gospel we see the profound
connection between evangelization and human advancement, which must necessarily
find expression and develop in every work of evangelization. Accepting the
first proclamation, which invites us to receive God’s love and to love him in
return with the very love which is his gift, brings forth in our lives and
actions a primary and fundamental response: to desire, seek and protect the good
of others.
179. This inseparable bond between our acceptance of the message of
salvation and genuine fraternal love appears in several scriptural texts which
we would do well to meditate upon, in order to appreciate all their
consequences. The message is one which we often take for granted, and can
repeat almost mechanically, without necessarily ensuring that it has a real
effect on our lives and in our communities. How dangerous and harmful this is,
for it makes us lose our amazement, our excitement and our zeal for living the
Gospel of fraternity and justice! God’s word teaches that our brothers and
sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation for each of us: “As you did it
to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).
The way we treat others has a transcendent dimension: “the measure you give will
be the measure you get” (Mt 7:2). It corresponds to the mercy which God
has shown us: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and
you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive,
and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you… For the measure
you give will be the measure you get back” (Lk 6:36-38). What these
passages make clear is the absolute priority of “going forth from ourselves
towards our brothers and sisters” as one of the two great commandments which
ground every moral norm and as the clearest sign for discerning spiritual growth
in response to God’s completely free gift. For this reason, “the service of
charity is also a constituent element of the Church’s mission and an
indispensable expression of her very being”.[144]
By her very nature the Church is missionary; she abounds in effective charity
and a compassion which understands, assists and promotes.
The kingdom and its challenge
180. Reading the Scriptures also makes it clear that the Gospel is not
merely about our personal relationship with God. Nor should our loving response
to God be seen simply as an accumulation of small personal gestures to
individuals in need, a kind of “charity à la carte”, or a series of acts aimed
solely at easing our conscience. The Gospel is about the kingdom of God
(cf. Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the
extent that he reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for
universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christian preaching and
life, then, are meant to have an impact on society. We are seeking God’s
kingdom: “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well” (Mt 6:33). Jesus’ mission is to inaugurate
the kingdom of his Father; he commands his disciples to proclaim the good news
that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 10:7).
181. The kingdom, already present and growing in our midst, engages us at
every level of our being and reminds us of the principle of discernment which
Pope Paul VI applied to true development: it must be directed to “all men and
the whole man”.[145] We know
that “evangelization would not be complete if it did not take account of the
unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man’s concrete life, both personal and
social”.[146] This is the
principle of universality intrinsic to the Gospel, for the Father desires the
salvation of every man and woman, and his saving plan consists in “gathering up
all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph 1:10).
Our mandate is to “go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole
creation” (Mk 16:15), for “the creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19). Here, “the creation”
refers to every aspect of human life; consequently, “the mission of proclaiming
the good news of Jesus Christ has a universal destination. Its mandate of
charity encompasses all dimensions of existence, all individuals, all areas of
community life, and all peoples. Nothing human can be alien to it”.[147]
True Christian hope, which seeks the eschatological kingdom, always generates
history.
The Church’s teaching on social questions
182. The Church’s teachings concerning contingent situations are subject to
new and further developments and can be open to discussion, yet we cannot help
but be concrete – without presuming to enter into details – lest the great
social principles remain mere generalities which challenge no one. There is a
need to draw practical conclusions, so that they “will have greater impact on
the complexities of current situations”.[148]
The Church’s pastors, taking into account the contributions of the different
sciences, have the right to offer opinions on all that affects people’s lives,
since the task of evangelization implies and demands the integral promotion of
each human being. It is no longer possible to claim that religion should be
restricted to the private sphere and that it exists only to prepare souls for
heaven. We know that God wants his children to be happy in this world too, even
though they are called to fulfilment in eternity, for he has created all things
“for our enjoyment” (1 Tim 6:17), the enjoyment of everyone. It
follows that Christian conversion demands reviewing especially those areas and
aspects of life “related to the social order and the pursuit of the common
good”.[149]
183. Consequently, no one can demand that religion should be relegated to
the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national
life, without concern for the soundness of civil institutions, without a right
to offer an opinion on events affecting society. Who would claim to lock up in
a church and silence the message of Saint Francis of Assisi or Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta? They themselves would have found this unacceptable. An authentic
faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal – always involves a
deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow
better that we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put
us, and we love the human family which dwells here, with all its tragedies and
struggles, its hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. The earth
is our common home and all of us are brothers and sisters. If indeed “the just
ordering of society and of the state is a central responsibility of politics”,
the Church “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for
justice”.[150] All Christians,
their pastors included, are called to show concern for the building of a better
world. This is essential, for the Church’s social thought is primarily
positive: it offers proposals, it works for change and in this sense it
constantly points to the hope born of the loving heart of Jesus Christ. At the
same time, it unites “its own commitment to that made in the social field by
other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, whether at the level of doctrinal
reflection or at the practical level”.[151]
184. This is not the time or the place to examine in detail the many grave
social questions affecting today’s world, some of which I have dealt with in the
second chapter. This Exhortation is not a social document, and for reflection
on those different themes we have a most suitable tool in the Compendium of
the Social Doctrine of the Church, whose use and study I heartily
recommend. Furthermore, neither the Pope nor the Church have a monopoly on the
interpretation of social realities or the proposal of solutions to contemporary
problems. Here I can repeat the insightful observation of Pope Paul VI: “In the
face of such widely varying situations, it is difficult for us to utter a
unified message and to put forward a solution which has universal validity.
This is not our ambition, nor is it our mission. It is up to the Christian
communities to analyze with objectivity the situation which is proper to their
own country”.[152]
185. In what follows I intend to concentrate on two great issues which
strike me as fundamental at this time in history. I will treat them more fully
because I believe that they will shape the future of humanity. These issues are
first, the inclusion of the poor in society, and second, peace and social
dialogue.
II. THE INCLUSION OF THE POOR IN SOCIETY
186. Our faith in Christ, who became poor, and was always close to the poor
and the outcast, is the basis of our concern for the integral development of
society’s most neglected members.
In union with God, we hear a plea
187. Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an
instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling
them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and
attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid. A mere glance at the
Scriptures is enough to make us see how our gracious Father wants to hear the
cry of the poor: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I
have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their
sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them… so I will send you…” (Ex
3:7-8, 10). We also see how he is concerned for their needs: “When the
Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliverer” (Jg
3:15). If we, who are God’s means of hearing the poor, turn deaf ears to this
plea, we oppose the Father’s will and his plan; that poor person “might cry to
the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt” (Dt 15:9). A lack of
solidarity towards his or her needs will directly affect our relationship with
God: “For if in bitterness of soul he calls down a curse upon you, his Creator
will hear his prayer” (Sir 4:6). The old question always returns: “How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods, and sees a brother or
sister in need and yet refuses help?” (1 Jn 3:17). Let us recall also
how bluntly the apostle James speaks of the cry of the oppressed: “The wages of
the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and
the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (5:4).
188. The Church has realized that the need to heed this plea is itself born
of the liberating action of grace within each of us, and thus it is not a
question of a mission reserved only to a few: “The Church, guided by the Gospel
of mercy and by love for mankind, hears the cry for justice and intends
to respond to it with all her might”.[153]
In this context we can understand Jesus’ command to his disciples: “You
yourselves give them something to eat!” (Mk 6:37): it means working to
eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral
development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting
the real needs which we encounter. The word “solidarity” is a little worn and
at times poorly understood, but it refers to something more than a few sporadic
acts of generosity. It presumes the creation of a new mindset which thinks in
terms of community and the priority of the life of all over the appropriation of
goods by a few.
189. Solidarity is a spontaneous reaction by those who recognize that the
social function of property and the universal destination of goods are realities
which come before private property. The private ownership of goods is justified
by the need to protect and increase them, so that they can better serve the
common good; for this reason, solidarity must be lived as the decision to
restore to the poor what belongs to them. These convictions and habits of
solidarity, when they are put into practice, open the way to other structural
transformations and make them possible. Changing structures without generating
new convictions and attitudes will only ensure that those same structures will
become, sooner or later, corrupt, oppressive and ineffectual.
190. Sometimes it is a matter of hearing the cry of entire peoples, the
poorest peoples of the earth, since “peace is founded not only on respect for
human rights, but also on respect for the rights of peoples”.[154]
Sadly, even human rights can be used as a justification for an inordinate
defense of individual rights or the rights of the richer peoples. With due
respect for the autonomy and culture of every nation, we must never forget that
the planet belongs to all mankind and is meant for all mankind; the mere fact
that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less development
does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity. It must be
reiterated that “the more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as
to place their goods more generously at the service of others”.[155]
To speak properly of our own rights, we need to broaden our perspective and to
hear the plea of other peoples and other regions than those of our own country.
We need to grow in a solidarity which “would allow all peoples to become the
artisans of their destiny”,[156]
since “every person is called to self-fulfilment”.[157]
191. In all places and circumstances, Christians, with the help of their
pastors, are called to hear the cry of the poor. This has been eloquently
stated by the bishops of Brazil: “We wish to take up daily the joys and hopes,
the difficulties and sorrows of the Brazilian people, especially of those living
in the barrios and the countryside – landless, homeless, lacking food and health
care – to the detriment of their rights. Seeing their poverty, hearing their
cries and knowing their sufferings, we are scandalized because we know that
there is enough food for everyone and that hunger is the result of a poor
distribution of goods and income. The problem is made worse by the generalized
practice of wastefulness”.[158]
192. Yet we desire even more than this; our dream soars higher. We are not
simply talking about ensuring nourishment or a “dignified sustenance” for all
people, but also their “general temporal welfare and prosperity”.[159]
This means education, access to health care, and above all employment, for it is
through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive labour that human
beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives. A just wage enables them
to have adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our common
use.
Fidelity to the Gospel, lest we run in vain
193. We incarnate the duty of hearing the cry of the poor when we are deeply
moved by the suffering of others. Let us listen to what God’s word teaches us
about mercy, and allow that word to resound in the life of the Church. The
Gospel tells us: “Blessed are the merciful, because they shall obtain mercy” (Mt
5:7). The apostle James teaches that our mercy to others will vindicate us
on the day of God’s judgement: “So speak and so act as those who are to be
judged under the law of liberty. For judgement is without mercy to one who has
shown no mercy, yet mercy triumphs over judgement” (Jas 2:12-13). Here
James is faithful to the finest tradition of post-exilic Jewish spirituality,
which attributed a particular salutary value to mercy: “Break off your sins by
practising righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed,
that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your tranquillity” (Dan
4:27). The wisdom literature sees almsgiving as a concrete exercise of mercy
towards those in need: “Almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away
every sin” (Tob 12:9). The idea is expressed even more graphically by
Sirach: “Water extinguishes blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin” (Sir
3:30). The same synthesis appears in the New Testament: “Maintain constant
love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).
This truth greatly influenced the thinking of the Fathers of the Church and
helped create a prophetic, counter-cultural resistance to the self-centred
hedonism of paganism. We can recall a single example: “If we were in peril from
fire, we would certainly run to water in order to extinguish the fire… in the
same way, if a spark of sin flares up from our straw, and we are troubled on
that account, whenever we have an opportunity to perform a work of mercy, we
should rejoice, as if a fountain opened before so that the fire might be
extinguished”.[160]
194. This message is so clear and direct, so simple and eloquent, that no
ecclesial interpretation has the right to relativize it. The Church’s
reflection on these texts ought not to obscure or weaken their force, but urge
us to accept their exhortations with courage and zeal. Why complicate something
so simple? Conceptual tools exist to heighten contact with the realities they
seek to explain, not to distance us from them. This is especially the case with
those biblical exhortations which summon us so forcefully to brotherly love, to
humble and generous service, to justice and mercy towards the poor. Jesus
taught us this way of looking at others by his words and his actions. So why
cloud something so clear? We should not be concerned simply about falling into
doctrinal error, but about remaining faithful to this light-filled path of life
and wisdom. For “defenders of orthodoxy are sometimes accused of passivity,
indulgence, or culpable complicity regarding the intolerable situations of
injustice and the political regimes which prolong them”.[161]
195. When Saint Paul approached the apostles in Jerusalem to discern whether
he was “running or had run in vain” (Gal 2:2), the key criterion of
authenticity which they presented was that he should not forget the poor
(cf. Gal 2:10). This important principle, namely that the Pauline
communities should not succumb to the self-centred lifestyle of the pagans,
remains timely today, when a new self-centred paganism is growing. We may not
always be able to reflect adequately the beauty of the Gospel, but there is one
sign which we should never lack: the option for those who are least, those whom
society discards.
196. Sometimes we prove hard of heart and mind; we are forgetful, distracted
and carried away by the limitless possibilities for consumption and distraction
offered by contemporary society. This leads to a kind of alienation at every
level, for “a society becomes alienated when its forms of social organization,
production and consumption make it more difficult to offer the gift of self and
to establish solidarity between people”.[162]
The special place of the poor in God’s people
197. God’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so that he
himself “became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). The entire history of our redemption
is marked by the presence of the poor. Salvation came to us from the “yes”
uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire.
The Saviour was born in a manger, in the midst of animals, like children of poor
families; he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the
offering made by those who could not afford a lamb (cf. Lk 2:24; Lev
5:7); he was raised in a home of ordinary workers and worked with his own
hands to earn his bread. When he began to preach the Kingdom, crowds of the
dispossessed followed him, illustrating his words: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Lk
4:18). He assured those burdened by sorrow and crushed by poverty that God has
a special place for them in his heart: “Blessed are you poor, yours is the
kingdom of God” (Lk 6:20); he made himself one of them: “I was hungry and
you gave me food to eat”, and he taught them that mercy towards all of these is
the key to heaven (cf. Mt 25:5ff.).
198. For the Church, the option for the poor is primarily a theological
category rather than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one.
God shows the poor “his first mercy”.[163]
This divine preference has consequences for the faith life of all Christians,
since we are called to have “this mind… which was in Jesus Christ” (Phil
2:5). Inspired by this, the Church has made an option for the poor which is
understood as a “special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity,
to which the whole tradition of the Church bears witness”.[164]
This option – as Benedict XVI has taught – “is implicit in our Christian faith
in a God who became poor for us, so as to enrich us with his poverty”.[165]
This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to
teach us. Not only do they share in the sensus fidei, but in their
difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be
evangelized by them. The new evangelization is an invitation to acknowledge the
saving power at work in their lives and to put them at the centre of the
Church’s pilgrim way. We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice
to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for
them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us
through them.
199. Our commitment does not consist exclusively in activities or programmes
of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit mobilizes is not an unruly
activism, but above all an attentiveness which considers the other “in a certain
sense as one with ourselves”.[166]
This loving attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their person
which inspires me effectively to seek their good. This entails appreciating the
poor in their goodness, in their experience of life, in their culture, and in
their ways of living the faith. True love is always contemplative, and permits
us to serve the other not out of necessity or vanity, but rather because he or
she is beautiful above and beyond mere appearances: “The love by which we find
the other pleasing leads us to offer him something freely”.[167]
The poor person, when loved, “is esteemed as of great value”,[168]
and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ from any other
ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own personal or
political interest. Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness
can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation. Only this will
ensure that “in every Christian community the poor feel at home. Would not this
approach be the greatest and most effective presentation of the good news of the
kingdom?”[169] Without the
preferential option for the poor, “the proclamation of the Gospel, which is
itself the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the
ocean of words which daily engulfs us in today’s society of mass
communications”.[170]
200. Since this Exhortation is addressed to members of the Catholic Church,
I want to say, with regret, that the worst discrimination which the poor suffer
is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special
openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his
friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a
journey of growth and maturity in the faith. Our preferential option for the
poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious
care.
201. No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own
lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly
heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While
it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is
to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by
the Gospel,[171] none of us can
think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice: “Spiritual
conversion, the intensity of the love of God and neighbour, zeal for justice and
peace, the Gospel meaning of the poor and of poverty, are required of everyone”.[172]
I fear that these words too may give rise to commentary or discussion
with no real practical effect. That being said, I trust in the openness and
readiness of all Christians, and I ask you to seek, as a community, creative
ways of accepting this renewed call.
The economy and the distribution of income
202. The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed,
not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society,
but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and
frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. Welfare projects, which
meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary responses. As
long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the
absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the
structural causes of inequality,[173]
no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any
problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.
203. The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are
concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. At times, however, they
seem to be a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill out a
political discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and integral
development. How many words prove irksome to this system! It is irksome when
the question of ethics is raised, when global solidarity is invoked, when the
distribution of goods is mentioned, when reference in made to protecting labour
and defending the dignity of the powerless, when allusion is made to a God who
demands a commitment to justice. At other times these issues are exploited by a
rhetoric which cheapens them. Casual indifference in the face of such questions
empties our lives and our words of all meaning. Business is a vocation, and a
noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a
greater meaning in life; this will enable them truly to serve the common good by
striving to increase the goods of this world and to make them more accessible to
all.
204. We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of
the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while
presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and
processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation
of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond
a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism,
but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as
attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to
the ranks of the excluded.
205. I ask God to give us more politicians capable of sincere and effective
dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots – and not simply the appearances –
of the evils in our world! Politics, though often denigrated, remains a lofty
vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the
common good.[174] We need to be
convinced that charity “is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with
friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of
macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)”.[175]
I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the
state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital that
government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons,
working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and
healthcare. Why not turn to God and ask him to inspire their plans? I am
firmly convinced that openness to the transcendent can bring about a new
political and economic mindset which would help to break down the wall of
separation between the economy and the common good of society.
206. Economy, as the very word indicates, should be the art of achieving a
fitting management of our common home, which is the world as a whole. Each
meaningful economic decision made in one part of the world has repercussions
everywhere else; consequently, no government can act without regard for shared
responsibility. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find
local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with
difficulties to resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy,
what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of
interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures
the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.
207. Any Church community, if it thinks it can comfortably go its own way
without creative concern and effective cooperation in helping the poor to live
with dignity and reaching out to everyone, will also risk breaking down, however
much it may talk about social issues or criticize governments. It will easily
drift into a spiritual worldliness camouflaged by religious practices,
unproductive meetings and empty talk.
208. If anyone feels offended by my words, I would respond that I speak them
with affection and with the best of intentions, quite apart from any personal
interest or political ideology. My words are not those of a foe or an
opponent. I am interested only in helping those who are in thrall to an
individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality to be freed from those
unworthy chains and to attain a way of living and thinking which is more humane,
noble and fruitful, and which will bring dignity to their presence on this
earth.
Concern for the vulnerable
209. Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in person,
identifies especially with the little ones (cf. Mt 25:40). This reminds
us Christians that we are called to care for the vulnerable of the earth. But
the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not
appear to favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less
talented to find opportunities in life.
210. It is essential to draw near to new forms of poverty and vulnerability,
in which we are called to recognize the suffering Christ, even if this appears
to bring us no tangible and immediate benefits. I think of the homeless, the
addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly
isolated and abandoned, and many others. Migrants present a particular
challenge for me, since I am the pastor of a Church without frontiers, a Church
which considers herself mother to all. For this reason, I exhort all countries
to a generous openness which, rather than fearing the loss of local identity,
will prove capable of creating new forms of cultural synthesis. How beautiful
are those cities which overcome paralysing mistrust, integrate those who are
different and make this very integration a new factor of development! How
attractive are those cities which, even in their architectural design, are full
of spaces which connect, relate and favour the recognition of others!
211. I have always been distressed at the lot of those who are victims of
various kinds of human trafficking. How I wish that all of us would hear God’s
cry: “Where is your brother?” (Gen 4:9). Where is your brother or sister
who is enslaved? Where is the brother and sister whom you are killing
each day in clandestine warehouses, in rings of prostitution, in children used
for begging, in exploiting undocumented labour. Let us not look the other way.
There is greater complicity than we think. The issue involves everyone! This
infamous network of crime is now well established in our cities, and many people
have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable and silent
complicity.
212. Doubly poor are those women who endure situations of exclusion,
mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less able to defend their
rights. Even so, we constantly witness among them impressive examples of daily
heroism in defending and protecting their vulnerable families.
213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular
love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among
us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with
them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone
from standing in the way of this. Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the
Church’s effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position
as ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defence of unborn life
is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human right. It
involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in
any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in
themselves and never a means of resolving other problems. Once this conviction
disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defence of human rights,
which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be.
Reason alone is sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single
human life, but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith,
“every violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in
vengeance to God and is an offence against the creator of the individual”.[176]
214. Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message
about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her
position on this question. I want to be completely honest in this regard. This
is not something subject to alleged reforms or “modernizations”. It is not
“progressive” to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life. On the
other hand, it is also true that we have done little to adequately accompany
women in very difficult situations, where abortion appears as a quick solution
to their profound anguish, especially when the life developing within them is
the result of rape or a situation of extreme poverty. Who can remain unmoved
before such painful situations?
215. There are other weak and defenceless beings who are frequently at the
mercy of economic interests or indiscriminate exploitation. I am speaking of
creation as a whole. We human beings are not only the beneficiaries but also
the stewards of other creatures. Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so
closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil
almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful
disfigurement. Let us not leave in our wake a swath of destruction and death
which will affect our own lives and those of future generations.[177]
Here I would make my own the touching and prophetic lament voiced some years ago
by the bishops of the Philippines: “An incredible variety of insects lived in
the forest and were busy with all kinds of tasks… Birds flew through the air,
their bright plumes and varying calls adding color and song to the green of the
forests… God intended this land for us, his special creatures, but not so that
we might destroy it and turn it into a wasteland… After a single night’s rain,
look at the chocolate brown rivers in your locality and remember that they are
carrying the life blood of the land into the sea… How can fish swim in sewers
like the Pasig and so many more rivers which we have polluted? Who has turned
the wonderworld of the seas into underwater cemeteries bereft of color and
life?”[178]
216. Small yet strong in the love of God, like Saint Francis of Assisi, all
of us, as Christians, are called to watch over and protect the fragile world in
which we live, and all its peoples.
III. THE COMMON GOOD AND PEACE IN SOCIETY
217. We have spoken at length about joy and love, but the word of God also
speaks about the fruit of peace (cf. Gal 5:22).
218. Peace in society cannot be understood as pacification or the mere
absence of violence resulting from the domination of one part of society over
others. Nor does true peace act as a pretext for justifying a social structure
which silences or appeases the poor, so that the more affluent can placidly
support their lifestyle while others have to make do as they can. Demands
involving the distribution of wealth, concern for the poor and human rights
cannot be suppressed under the guise of creating a consensus on paper or a
transient peace for a contented minority. The dignity of the human person and
the common good rank higher than the comfort of those who refuse to renounce
their privileges. When these values are threatened, a prophetic voice must be
raised.
219. Nor is peace “simply the absence of warfare, based on a precarious
balance of power; it is fashioned by efforts directed day after day towards the
establishment of the ordered universe willed by God, with a more perfect justice
among men”.[179] In the end, a
peace which is not the result of integral development will be doomed; it will
always spawn new conflicts and various forms of violence.
220. People in every nation enhance the social dimension of their lives by
acting as committed and responsible citizens, not as a mob swayed by the powers
that be. Let us not forget that “responsible citizenship is a virtue, and
participation in political life is a moral obligation”.[180]
Yet becoming a people demands something more. It is an ongoing process
in which every new generation must take part: a slow and arduous effort calling
for a desire for integration and a willingness to achieve this through the
growth of a peaceful and multifaceted culture of encounter.
221. Progress in building a people in peace, justice and fraternity depends
on four principles related to constant tensions present in every social
reality. These derive from the pillars of the Church’s social doctrine, which
serve as “primary and fundamental parameters of reference for interpreting and
evaluating social phenomena”.[181]
In their light I would now like to set forth these four specific principles
which can guide the development of life in society and the building of a people
where differences are harmonized within a shared pursuit. I do so out of the
conviction that their application can be a genuine path to peace within each
nation and in the entire world.
Time is greater than space
222. A constant tension exists between fullness and limitation. Fullness
evokes the desire for complete possession, while limitation is a wall set before
us. Broadly speaking, “time” has to do with fullness as an expression of the
horizon which constantly opens before us, while each individual moment has to do
with limitation as an expression of enclosure. People live poised between each
individual moment and the greater, brighter horizon of the utopian future as the
final cause which draws us to itself. Here we see a first principle for
progress in building a people: time is greater than space.
223. This principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being
obsessed with immediate results. It helps us patiently to endure difficult and
adverse situations, or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept
the tension between fullness and limitation, and to give a priority to time.
One of the faults which we occasionally observe in sociopolitical activity is
that spaces and power are preferred to time and processes. Giving priority to
space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the present, trying
to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion; it is to crystallize
processes and presume to hold them back. Giving priority to time means being
concerned about initiating processes rather than possessing spaces. Time
governs spaces, illumines them and makes them links in a constantly expanding
chain, with no possibility of return. What we need, then, is to give priority
to actions which generate new processes in society and engage other persons and
groups who can develop them to the point where they bear fruit in significant
historical events. Without anxiety, but with clear convictions and tenacity.
224. Sometimes I wonder if there are people in today’s world who are really
concerned about generating processes of people-building, as opposed to obtaining
immediate results which yield easy, quick short-term political gains, but do not
enhance human fullness. History will perhaps judge the latter with the
criterion set forth by Romano Guardini: “The only measure for properly
evaluating an age is to ask to what extent it fosters the development and
attainment of a full and authentically meaningful human existence, in accordance
with the peculiar character and the capacities of that age”.[182]
225. This criterion also applies to evangelization, which calls for
attention to the bigger picture, openness to suitable processes and concern for
the long run. The Lord himself, during his earthly life, often warned his
disciples that there were things they could not yet understand and that they
would have to await the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 16:12-13). The parable of
the weeds among the wheat (cf. Mt 13:24-30) graphically illustrates an
important aspect of evangelization: the enemy can intrude upon the kingdom and
sow harm, but ultimately he is defeated by the goodness of the wheat.
Unity prevails over conflict
226. Conflict cannot be ignored or concealed. It has to be faced. But if
we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and
reality itself begins to fall apart. In the midst of conflict, we lose our
sense of the profound unity of reality.
227. When conflict arises, some people simply look at it and go their way as
if nothing happened; they wash their hands of it and get on with their lives.
Others embrace it in such a way that they become its prisoners; they lose their
bearings, project onto institutions their own confusion and dissatisfaction and
thus make unity impossible. But there is also a third way, and it is the best
way to deal with conflict. It is the willingness to face conflict head on, to
resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new process. “Blessed are
the peacemakers!” (Mt 5:9).
228. In this way it becomes possible to build communion amid disagreement,
but this can only be achieved by those great persons who are willing to go
beyond the surface of the conflict and to see others in their deepest dignity.
This requires acknowledging a principle indispensable to the building of
friendship in society: namely, that unity is greater than conflict. Solidarity,
in its deepest and most challenging sense, thus becomes a way of making history
in a life setting where conflicts, tensions and oppositions can achieve a
diversified and life-giving unity. This is not to opt for a kind of syncretism,
or for the absorption of one into the other, but rather for a resolution which
takes place on higher plane and preserves what is valid and useful on both
sides.
229. This principle, drawn from the Gospel, reminds us that Christ has made
all things one in himself: heaven and earth, God and man, time and eternity,
flesh and spirit, person and society. The sign of this unity and reconciliation
of all things in him is peace. Christ “is our peace” (Eph 2:14). The
Gospel message always begins with a greeting of peace, and peace at all times
crowns and confirms the relations between the disciples. Peace is possible
because the Lord has overcome the world and its constant conflict “by making
peace through the blood of his cross” (Col 1:20). But if we look more
closely at these biblical texts, we find that the locus of this reconciliation
of differences is within ourselves, in our own lives, ever threatened as they
are by fragmentation and breakdown.[183]
If hearts are shattered in thousands of pieces, it is not easy to create
authentic peace in society.
230. The message of peace is not about a negotiated settlement but rather
the conviction that the unity brought by the Spirit can harmonize every
diversity. It overcomes every conflict by creating a new and promising
synthesis. Diversity is a beautiful thing when it can constantly enter into a
process of reconciliation and seal a sort of cultural covenant resulting in a
“reconciled diversity”. As the bishops of the Congo have put it: “Our ethnic
diversity is our wealth… It is only in unity, through conversion of hearts and
reconciliation, that we will be able to help our country to develop on all
levels”.[184]
Realities are more important than ideas
231. There also exists a constant tension between ideas and realities.
Realities simply are, whereas ideas are worked out. There has to be continuous
dialogue between the two, lest ideas become detached from realities. It is
dangerous to dwell in the realm of words alone, of images and rhetoric. So a
third principle comes into play: realities are greater than ideas. This calls
for rejecting the various means of masking reality: angelic forms of purity,
dictatorships of relativism, empty rhetoric, objectives more ideal than real,
brands of ahistorical fundamentalism, ethical systems bereft of kindness,
intellectual discourse bereft of wisdom.
232. Ideas – conceptual elaborations – are at the service of communication,
understanding, and praxis. Ideas disconnected from realities give rise to
ineffectual forms of idealism and nominalism, capable at most of classifying and
defining, but certainly not calling to action. What calls us to action are
realities illuminated by reason. Formal nominalism has to give way to
harmonious objectivity. Otherwise, the truth is manipulated, cosmetics take the
place of real care for our bodies.[185]
We have politicians – and even religious leaders – who wonder why people do not
understand and follow them, since their proposals are so clear and logical.
Perhaps it is because they are stuck in the realm of pure ideas and end up
reducing politics or faith to rhetoric. Others have left simplicity behind and
have imported a rationality foreign to most people.
233. Realities are greater than ideas. This principle has to do with
incarnation of the word and its being put into practice: “By this you know the
Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is from God” (1 Jn 4:2). The principle of reality, of a word
already made flesh and constantly striving to take flesh anew, is essential to
evangelization. It helps us to see that the Church’s history is a history of
salvation, to be mindful of those saints who inculturated the Gospel in the life
of our peoples and to reap the fruits of the Church’s rich bimillennial
tradition, without pretending to come up with a system of thought detached from
this treasury, as if we wanted to reinvent the Gospel. At the same time, this
principle impels us to put the word into practice, to perform works of justice
and charity which make that word fruitful. Not to put the word into practice,
not to make it reality, is to build on sand, to remain in the realm of pure
ideas and to end up in a lifeless and unfruitful self-centredness and
gnosticism.
The whole is greater than the part
234. An innate tension also exists between globalization and localization.
We need to pay attention to the global so as to avoid narrowness and banality.
Yet we also need to look to the local, which keeps our feet on the ground.
Together, the two prevent us from falling into one of two extremes. In the
first, people get caught up in an abstract, globalized universe, falling into
step behind everyone else, admiring the glitter of other people’s world, gaping
and applauding at all the right times. At the other extreme, they turn into a
museum of local folklore, a world apart, doomed to doing the same things over
and over, and incapable of being challenged by novelty or appreciating the
beauty which God bestows beyond their borders.
235. The whole is greater than the part, but it is also greater than the sum
of its parts. There is no need, then, to be overly obsessed with limited and
particular questions. We constantly have to broaden our horizons and see the
greater good which will benefit us all. But this has to be done without evasion
or uprooting. We need to sink our roots deeper into the fertile soil and
history of our native place, which is a gift of God. We can work on a small
scale, in our own neighbourhood, but with a larger perspective. Nor do people
who wholeheartedly enter into the life of a community need to lose their
individualism or hide their identity; instead, they receive new impulses to
personal growth. The global need not stifle, nor the particular prove barren.
236. Here our model is not the sphere, which is no greater than its parts,
where every point is equidistant from the centre, and there are no differences
between them. Instead, it is the polyhedron, which reflects the convergence of
all its parts, each of which preserves its distinctiveness. Pastoral and
political activity alike seek to gather in this polyhedron the best of each.
There is a place for the poor and their culture, their aspirations and their
potential. Even people who can be considered dubious on account of their errors
have something to offer which must not be overlooked. It is the convergence of
peoples who, within the universal order, maintain their own individuality; it is
the sum total of persons within a society which pursues the common good, which
truly has a place for everyone.
237. To Christians, this principle also evokes the totality or integrity of
the Gospel which the Church passes down to us and sends us forth to proclaim.
Its fullness and richness embrace scholars and workers, businessmen and artists,
in a word, everyone. The genius of each people receives in its own way the
entire Gospel and embodies it in expressions of prayer, fraternity, justice,
struggle and celebration. The good news is the joy of the Father who desires
that none of his little ones be lost, the joy of the Good Shepherd who finds the
lost sheep and brings it back to the flock. The Gospel is the leaven which
causes the dough to rise and the city on the hill whose light illumines all
peoples. The Gospel has an intrinsic principle of totality: it will always
remain good news until it has been proclaimed to all people, until it has healed
and strengthened every aspect of humanity, until it has brought all men and
women together at table in God’s kingdom. The whole is greater than the part.
IV. SOCIAL DIALOGUE AS A CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE
238. Evangelization also involves the path of dialogue. For the Church
today, three areas of dialogue stand out where she needs to be present in order
to promote full human development and to pursue the common good: dialogue with
states, dialogue with society – including dialogue with cultures and the
sciences – and dialogue with other believers who are not part of the Catholic
Church. In each case, “the Church speaks from the light which faith offers”,[186]
contributing her two thousand year experience and keeping ever in mind the life
and sufferings of human beings. This light transcends human reason, yet it can
also prove meaningful and enriching to those who are not believers and it
stimulates reason to broaden its perspectives.
239. The Church proclaims “the Gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15) and she
wishes to cooperate with all national and international authorities in
safeguarding this immense universal good. By preaching Jesus Christ, who is
himself peace (cf. Eph 2:14), the new evangelization calls on every
baptized person to be a peacemaker and a credible witness to a reconciled life.[187]
In a culture which privileges dialogue as a form of encounter, it is time to
devise a means for building consensus and agreement while seeking the goal of a
just, responsive and inclusive society. The principal author, the historic
subject of this process, is the people as a whole and their culture, and not a
single class, minority, group or elite. We do not need plans drawn up by a few
for the few, or an enlightened or outspoken minority which claims to speak for
everyone. It is about agreeing to live together, a social and cultural pact.
240. It is the responsibility of the State to safeguard and promote the
common good of society.[188]
Based on the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, and fully committed to
political dialogue and consensus building, it plays a fundamental role, one
which cannot be delegated, in working for the integral development of all. This
role, at present, calls for profound social humility.
241. In her dialogue with the State and with society, the Church does not
have solutions for every particular issue. Together with the various sectors of
society, she supports those programmes which best respond to the dignity of each
person and the common good. In doing this, she proposes in a clear way the
fundamental values of human life and convictions which can then find expression
in political activity.
Dialogue between faith, reason and science
242. Dialogue between science and faith also belongs to the work of
evangelization at the service of peace.[189]
Whereas positivism and scientism “refuse to admit the validity of forms of
knowledge other than those of the positive sciences”,[190]
the Church proposes another path, which calls for a synthesis between the
responsible use of methods proper to the empirical sciences and other areas of
knowledge such as philosophy, theology, as well as faith itself, which elevates
us to the mystery transcending nature and human intelligence. Faith is not
fearful of reason; on the contrary, it seeks and trusts reason, since “the light
of reason and the light of faith both come from God”[191]
and cannot contradict each other. Evangelization is attentive to scientific
advances and wishes to shed on them the light of faith and the natural law so
that they will remain respectful of the centrality and supreme value of the
human person at every stage of life. All of society can be enriched thanks to
this dialogue, which opens up new horizons for thought and expands the
possibilities of reason. This too is a path of harmony and peace.
243. The Church has no wish to hold back the marvellous progress of
science. On the contrary, she rejoices and even delights in acknowledging the
enormous potential that God has given to the human mind. Whenever the sciences
– rigorously focused on their specific field of inquiry – arrive at a conclusion
which reason cannot refute, faith does not contradict it. Neither can believers
claim that a scientific opinion which is attractive but not sufficiently
verified has the same weight as a dogma of faith. At times some scientists have
exceeded the limits of their scientific competence by making certain statements
or claims. But here the problem is not with reason itself, but with the
promotion of a particular ideology which blocks the path to authentic, serene
and productive dialogue.
Ecumenical dialogue
244. Commitment to ecumenism responds to the prayer of the Lord Jesus that
“they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). The credibility of the Christian
message would be much greater if Christians could overcome their divisions and
the Church could realize “the fullness of catholicity proper to her in those of
her children who, though joined to her by baptism, are yet separated from full
communion with her”.[192] We
must never forget that we are pilgrims journeying alongside one another. This
means that we must have sincere trust in our fellow pilgrims, putting aside all
suspicion or mistrust, and turn our gaze to what we are all seeking: the radiant
peace of God’s face. Trusting others is an art and peace is an art. Jesus told
us: “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt 5:9). In taking up this task, also
among ourselves, we fulfil the ancient prophecy: “They shall beat their swords
into ploughshares” (Is 2:4).
245. In this perspective, ecumenism can be seen as a contribution to the
unity of the human family. At the Synod, the presence of the Patriarch of
Constantinople, His Holiness Bartholomaios I, and the Archbishop of Canterbury,
His Grace Rowan Williams, was a true gift from God and a precious Christian
witness.[193]
246. Given the seriousness of the counter-witness of division among
Christians, particularly in Asia and Africa, the search for paths to unity
becomes all the more urgent. Missionaries on those continents often mention the
criticisms, complaints and ridicule to which the scandal of divided Christians
gives rise. If we concentrate on the convictions we share, and if we keep in
mind the principle of the hierarchy of truths, we will be able to progress
decidedly towards common expressions of proclamation, service and witness. The
immense numbers of people who have not received the Gospel of Jesus Christ
cannot leave us indifferent. Consequently, commitment to a unity which helps
them to accept Jesus Christ can no longer be a matter of mere diplomacy or
forced compliance, but rather an indispensable path to evangelization. Signs of
division between Christians in countries ravaged by violence add further causes
of conflict on the part of those who should instead be a leaven of peace. How
many important things unite us! If we really believe in the abundantly free
working of the Holy Spirit, we can learn so much from one another! It is not
just about being better informed about others, but rather about reaping what the
Spirit has sown in them, which is also meant to be a gift for us. To give but
one example, in the dialogue with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, we
Catholics have the opportunity to learn more about the meaning of episcopal
collegiality and their experience of synodality. Through an exchange of gifts,
the Spirit can lead us ever more fully into truth and goodness.
Relations with Judaism
247. We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with
God has never been revoked, for “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable”
(Rom 11:29). The Church, which shares with Jews an important part of the
sacred Scriptures, looks upon the people of the covenant and their faith as one
of the sacred roots of her own Christian identity (cf. Rom 11:16-18). As
Christians, we cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion; nor do we include
the Jews among those called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf.
1 Thes 1:9). With them, we believe in the one God who acts in history, and
with them we accept his revealed word.
248. Dialogue and friendship with the children of Israel are part of the
life of Jesus’ disciples. The friendship which has grown between us makes us
bitterly and sincerely regret the terrible persecutions which they have endured,
and continue to endure, especially those that have involved Christians.
249. God continues to work among the people of the Old Covenant and to bring
forth treasures of wisdom which flow from their encounter with his word. For
this reason, the Church also is enriched when she receives the values of
Judaism. While it is true that certain Christian beliefs are unacceptable to
Judaism, and that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and
Messiah, there exists as well a rich complementarity which allows us to read the
texts of the Hebrew Scriptures together and to help one another to mine the
riches of God’s word. We can also share many ethical convictions and a common
concern for justice and the development of peoples.
Interreligious dialogue
250. An attitude of openness in truth and in love must characterize the
dialogue with the followers of non-Christian religions, in spite of various
obstacles and difficulties, especially forms of fundamentalism on both sides.
Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the world, and so
it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious communities. This
dialogue is in first place a conversation about human existence or simply, as
the bishops of India have put it, a matter of “being open to them, sharing their
joys and sorrows”.[194] In this
way we learn to accept others and their different ways of living, thinking and
speaking. We can then join one another in taking up the duty of serving justice
and peace, which should become a basic principle of all our exchanges. A
dialogue which seeks social peace and justice is in itself, beyond all merely
practical considerations, an ethical commitment which brings about a new social
situation. Efforts made in dealing with a specific theme can become a process
in which, by mutual listening, both parts can be purified and enriched. These
efforts, therefore, can also express love for truth.
251. In this dialogue, ever friendly and sincere, attention must always be
paid to the essential bond between dialogue and proclamation, which leads the
Church to maintain and intensify her relationship with non-Christians.[195]
A facile syncretism would ultimately be a totalitarian gesture on the part of
those who would ignore greater values of which they are not the masters. True
openness involves remaining steadfast in one’s deepest convictions, clear and
joyful in one’s own identity, while at the same time being “open to
understanding those of the other party” and “knowing that dialogue can enrich
each side”.[196] What is not
helpful is a diplomatic openness which says “yes” to everything in order to
avoid problems, for this would be a way of deceiving others and denying them the
good which we have been given to share generously with others. Evangelization
and interreligious dialogue, far from being opposed, mutually support and
nourish one another.[197]
252. Our relationship with the followers of Islam has taken on great
importance, since they are now significantly present in many traditionally
Christian countries, where they can freely worship and become fully a part of
society. We must never forget that they “profess to hold the faith of Abraham,
and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity
on the last day”.[198] The
sacred writings of Islam have retained some Christian teachings; Jesus and Mary
receive profound veneration and it is admirable to see how Muslims both young
and old, men and women, make time for daily prayer and faithfully take part in
religious services. Many of them also have a deep conviction that their life,
in its entirety, is from God and for God. They also acknowledge the need to
respond to God with an ethical commitment and with mercy towards those most in
need.
253. In order to sustain dialogue with Islam, suitable training is essential
for all involved, not only so that they can be solidly and joyfully grounded in
their own identity, but so that they can also acknowledge the values of others,
appreciate the concerns underlying their demands and shed light on shared
beliefs. We Christians should embrace with affection and respect Muslim
immigrants to our countries in the same way that we hope and ask to be received
and respected in countries of Islamic tradition. I ask and I humbly entreat
those countries to grant Christians freedom to worship and to practice their
faith, in light of the freedom which followers of Islam enjoy in Western
countries! Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our
respect for true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful
generalisations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are
opposed to every form of violence.
254. Non-Christians, by God’s gracious initiative, when they are faithful to
their own consciences, can live “justified by the grace of God”,[199]
and thus be “associated to the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ”.[200]
But due to the sacramental dimension of sanctifying grace, God’s working in them
tends to produce signs and rites, sacred expressions which in turn bring others
to a communitarian experience of journeying towards God.[201]
While these lack the meaning and efficacy of the sacraments instituted by
Christ, they can be channels which the Holy Spirit raises up in order to
liberate non-Christians from atheistic immanentism or from purely individual
religious experiences. The same Spirit everywhere brings forth various
forms of practical wisdom which help people to bear suffering and to live in
greater peace and harmony. As Christians, we can also benefit from these
treasures built up over many centuries, which can help us better to live our own
beliefs.
Social dialogue in a context of religious freedom
255. The Synod Fathers spoke of the importance of respect for religious
freedom, viewed as a fundamental human right.[202]
This includes “the freedom to choose the religion which one judges to be true
and to manifest one’s beliefs in public”.[203]
A healthy pluralism, one which genuinely respects differences and values them
as such, does not entail privatizing religions in an attempt to reduce them to
the quiet obscurity of the individual’s conscience or to relegate them to the
enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or mosques. This would represent,
in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism. The respect due
to the agnostic or non-believing minority should not be arbitrarily imposed in a
way that silences the convictions of the believing majority or ignores the
wealth of religious traditions. In the long run, this would feed resentment
rather than tolerance and peace.
256. When considering the effect of religion on public life, one must
distinguish the different ways in which it is practiced. Intellectuals and
serious journalists frequently descend to crude and superficial generalizations
in speaking of the shortcomings of religion, and often prove incapable of
realizing that not all believers – or religious leaders – are the same. Some
politicians take advantage of this confusion to justify acts of discrimination.
At other times, contempt is shown for writings which reflect religious
convictions, overlooking the fact that religious classics can prove meaningful
in every age; they have an enduring power to open new horizons, to stimulate
thought, to expand the mind and the heart. This contempt is due to the myopia
of a certain rationalism. Is it reasonable and enlightened to dismiss certain
writings simply because they arose in a context of religious belief? These
writings include principles which are profoundly humanistic and, albeit tinged
with religious symbols and teachings, they have a certain value for reason.
257. As believers, we also feel close to those who do not consider
themselves part of any religious tradition, yet sincerely seek the truth,
goodness and beauty which we believe have their highest expression and source in
God. We consider them as precious allies in the commitment to defending human
dignity, in building peaceful coexistence between peoples and in protecting
creation. A special place of encounter is offered by new Areopagi such as the
Court of the Gentiles, where “believers and non-believers are able to engage in
dialogue about fundamental issues of ethics, art and science, and about the
search for transcendence”.[204]
This too is a path to peace in our troubled world.
258. Starting from certain social issues of great importance for the future
of humanity, I have tried to make explicit once again the inescapable social
dimension of the Gospel message and to encourage all Christians to demonstrate
it by their words, attitudes and deeds.
CHAPTER FIVE
SPIRIT-FILLED EVANGELIZERS
259. Spirit-filled evangelizers means evangelizers fearlessly open to the
working of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Spirit made the apostles
go forth from themselves and turned them into heralds of God’s wondrous deeds,
capable of speaking to each person in his or her own language. The Holy Spirit
also grants the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness (parrhesía)
in every time and place, even when it meets with opposition. Let us call upon
him today, firmly rooted in prayer, for without prayer all our activity risks
being fruitless and our message empty. Jesus wants evangelizers who proclaim
the good news not only with words, but above all by a life transfigured by God’s
presence.
260. In this final chapter, I do not intend to offer a synthesis of
Christian spirituality, or to explore great themes like prayer, Eucharistic
adoration or the liturgical celebration of the faith. For all these we already
have valuable texts of the magisterium and celebrated writings by great
authors. I do not claim to replace or improve upon these treasures. I simply
wish to offer some thoughts about the spirit of the new evangelization.
261. Whenever we say that something is “spirited”, it usually refers to some
interior impulse which encourages, motivates, nourishes and gives meaning to our
individual and communal activity. Spirit-filled evangelization is not the same
as a set of tasks dutifully carried out despite one’s own personal inclinations
and wishes. How I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new
chapter of evangelization full of fervour, joy, generosity, courage, boundless
love and attraction! Yet I realize that no words of encouragement will be
enough unless the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts. A spirit-filled
evangelization is one guided by the Holy Spirit, for he is the soul of the
Church called to proclaim the Gospel. Before offering some spiritual
motivations and suggestions, I once more invoke the Holy Spirit. I implore him
to come and renew the Church, to stir and impel her to go forth boldly to
evangelize all peoples.
I. REASONS FOR A RENEWED MISSIONARY IMPULSE
262. Spirit-filled evangelizers are evangelizers who pray and work.
Mystical notions without a solid social and missionary outreach are of no help
to evangelization, nor are dissertations or social or pastoral practices which
lack a spirituality which can change hearts. These unilateral and incomplete
proposals only reach a few groups and prove incapable of radiating beyond them
because they curtail the Gospel. What is needed is the ability to cultivate an
interior space which can give a Christian meaning to commitment and activity.[205]
Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of
sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose
energy as a result of weariness and difficulties, and our fervour dies out. The
Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer, and to my great joy groups
devoted to prayer and intercession, the prayerful reading of God’s word and the
perpetual adoration of the Eucharist are growing at every level of ecclesial
life. Even so, “we must reject the temptation to offer a privatized and
individualistic spirituality which ill accords with the demands of charity, to
say nothing of the implications of the incarnation”.[206]
There is always the risk that some moments of prayer can become an excuse for
not offering one’s life in mission; a privatized lifestyle can lead Christians
to take refuge in some false forms of spirituality.
263. We do well to keep in mind the early Christians and our many brothers
and sisters throughout history who were filled with joy, unflagging courage and
zeal in proclaiming the Gospel. Some people nowadays console themselves by
saying that things are not as easy as they used to be, yet we know that the
Roman empire was not conducive to the Gospel message, the struggle for justice,
or the defence of human dignity. Every period of history is marked by the
presence of human weakness, self-absorption, complacency and selfishness, to say
nothing of the concupiscence which preys upon us all. These things are ever
present under one guise or another; they are due to our human limits rather than
particular situations. Let us not say, then, that things are harder today; they
are simply different. But let us learn also from the saints who have gone
before us, who confronted the difficulties of their own day. So I propose that
we pause to rediscover some of the reasons which can help us to
imitate them today.[207]
Personal encounter with the saving love of Jesus
264. The primary reason for evangelizing is the love of Jesus which we have
received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of
him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to
point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share
this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts.
We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake
up our lukewarm and superficial existence. Standing before him with open
hearts, letting him look at us, we see that gaze of love which Nathaniel
glimpsed on the day when Jesus said to him: “I saw you under the fig tree” (Jn
1:48). How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before
the Blessed Sacrament, and simply to be in his presence! How much good it does
us when he once more touches our lives and impels us to share his new life!
What then happens is that “we speak of what we have seen and heard” (1 Jn
1:3). The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes from contemplating it
with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with the heart. If we
approach it in this way, its beauty will amaze and constantly excite us. But if
this is to come about, we need to recover a contemplative spirit which can help
us to realize ever anew that we have been entrusted with a treasure which makes
us more human and helps us to lead a new life. There is nothing more precious
which we can give to others.
265. Jesus’ whole life, his way of dealing with the poor, his actions, his
integrity, his simple daily acts of generosity, and finally his complete
self-giving, is precious and reveals the mystery of his divine life. Whenever
we encounter this anew, we become convinced that it is exactly what others need,
even though they may not recognize it: “What therefore you worship as unknown,
this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). Sometimes we lose our enthusiasm
for mission because we forget that the Gospel responds to our deepest needs,
since we were created for what the Gospel offers us: friendship with Jesus and
love of our brothers and sisters. If we succeed in expressing adequately and
with beauty the essential content of the Gospel, surely this message will speak
to the deepest yearnings of people’s hearts: “The missionary is convinced that,
through the working of the Spirit, there already exists in individuals and
peoples an expectation, even if an unconscious one, of knowing the truth about
God, about man, and about how we are to be set free from sin and death. The
missionary’s enthusiasm in proclaiming Christ comes from the conviction that he
is responding to that expectation”.[208]
Enthusiasm for evangelization is based on this conviction. We have a treasure
of life and love which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or
disappoint. It penetrates to the depths of our hearts, sustaining and ennobling
us. It is a truth which is never out of date because it reaches that part of us
which nothing else can reach. Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an
infinite love.
266. But this conviction has to be sustained by our own constantly renewed
experience of savouring Christ’s friendship and his message. It is impossible
to persevere in a fervent evangelization unless we are convinced from personal
experience that it is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have
known him, not the same thing to walk with him as to walk blindly, not the same
thing to hear his word as not to know it, and not the same thing to contemplate
him, to worship him, to find our peace in him, as not to. It is not the same
thing to try to build the world with his Gospel as to try to do so by our own
lights. We know well that with Jesus life becomes richer and that with
him it is easier to find meaning in everything. This is why we evangelize. A
true missionary, who never ceases to be a disciple, knows that Jesus walks with
him, speaks to him, breathes with him, works with him. He senses Jesus alive
with him in the midst of the missionary enterprise. Unless we see him
present at the heart of our missionary commitment, our enthusiasm soon wanes and
we are no longer sure of what it is that we are handing on; we lack vigour and
passion. A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will
convince nobody.
267. In union with Jesus, we seek what he seeks and we love what he loves.
In the end, what we are seeking is the glory of the Father; we live and act “for
the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph 1:6). If we wish to commit
ourselves fully and perseveringly, we need to leave behind every other
motivation. This is our definitive, deepest and greatest motivation, the
ultimate reason and meaning behind all we do: the glory of the Father which
Jesus sought at every moment of his life. As the Son, he rejoices eternally to
be “close to the Father’s heart” (Jn 1:18). If we are
missionaries, it is primarily because Jesus told us that “by this my Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit” (Jn 15:8). Beyond all our own
preferences and interests, our knowledge and motivations, we evangelize for the
greater glory of the Father who loves us.
The spiritual savour of being a people
268. The word of God also invites us to recognise that we are a people:
“Once you were no people but now you are God’s people” (1 Pet 2:10). To
be evangelizers of souls, we need to develop a spiritual taste for being close
to people’s lives and to discover that this is itself a source of greater joy.
Mission is at once a passion for Jesus and a passion for his people. When we
stand before Jesus crucified, we see the depth of his love which exalts and
sustains us, but at the same time, unless we are blind, we begin to realize that
Jesus’ gaze, burning with love, expands to embrace all his people. We realize
once more that he wants to make use of us to draw closer to his beloved people.
He takes us from the midst of his people and he sends us to his people; without
this sense of belonging we cannot understand our deepest identity.
269. Jesus himself is the model of this method of evangelization which
brings us to the very heart of his people. How good it is for us to contemplate
the closeness which he shows to everyone! If he speaks to someone, he looks
into their eyes with deep love and concern: “Jesus, looking upon him, loved him”
(Mk 10:21). We see how accessible he is, as he draws near the blind man
(cf. Mk 10:46-52) and eats and drinks with sinners (cf. Mk 2:16)
without worrying about being thought a glutton and a drunkard himself (cf. Mt
11:19). We see his sensitivity in allowing a sinful woman to anoint his
feet (cf. Lk 7:36-50) and in receiving Nicodemus by night (cf. Jn
3:1-15). Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is nothing else than the culmination of
the way he lived his entire life. Moved by his example, we want to enter fully
into the fabric of society, sharing the lives of all, listening to their
concerns, helping them materially and spiritually in their needs, rejoicing with
those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep; arm in arm with others, we are
committed to building a new world. But we do so not from a sense of obligation,
not as a burdensome duty, but as the result of a personal decision which brings
us joy and gives meaning to our lives.
270. Sometimes we are tempted to be that kind of Christian who keeps the
Lord’s wounds at arm’s length. Yet Jesus wants us to touch human misery, to
touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop looking for
those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human
misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know
the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully
complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of
a people.
271. It is true that in our dealings with the world, we are told to give
reasons for our hope, but not as an enemy who critiques and condemns. We are
told quite clearly: “do so with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet 3:15)
and “if possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all” (Rom
12:18). We are also told to overcome “evil with good” (Rom 12:21)
and to “work for the good of all” (Gal 6:10). Far from trying to appear
better than others, we should “in humility count others better” than ourselves (Phil
2:3). The Lord’s apostles themselves enjoyed “favour with all the people” (Acts
2:47; 4:21, 33; 5:13). Clearly Jesus does not want us to be grandees who
look down upon others, but men and women of the people. This is not an idea of
the Pope, or one pastoral option among others; they are injunctions contained in
the word of God which are so clear, direct and convincing that they need
no interpretations which might diminish their power to challenge us. Let us
live them sine glossa, without commentaries. By so doing we will know
the missionary joy of sharing life with God’s faithful people as we strive to
light a fire in the heart of the world.
272. Loving others is a spiritual force drawing us to union with God;
indeed, one who does not love others “walks in the darkness” (1 Jn 2:11),
“remains in death” (1 Jn 3:14) and “does not know God” (1 Jn
4:8). Benedict XVI has said that “closing our eyes to our neighbour also blinds
us to God”,[209] and that love
is, in the end, the only light which “can always illuminate a world grown
dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working”.[210]
When we live out a spirituality of drawing nearer to others and seeking their
welfare, our hearts are opened wide to the Lord’s greatest and most beautiful
gifts. Whenever we encounter another person in love, we learn something new
about God. Whenever our eyes are opened to acknowledge the other, we grow in
the light of faith and knowledge of God. If we want to advance in the spiritual
life, then, we must constantly be missionaries. The work of evangelization
enriches the mind and the heart; it opens up spiritual horizons; it makes us
more and more sensitive to the workings of the Holy Spirit, and it takes us
beyond our limited spiritual constructs. A committed missionary knows the joy
of being a spring which spills over and refreshes others. Only the person who
feels happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness, can
be a missionary. This openness of the heart is a source of joy, since “it is
more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). We do not live
better when we flee, hide, refuse to share, stop giving and lock ourselves up in
own comforts. Such a life is nothing less than slow suicide.
273. My mission of being in the heart of the people is not just a part of my
life or a badge I can take off; it is not an “extra” or just another moment in
life. Instead, it is something I cannot uproot from my being without destroying
my very self. I am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am
here in this world. We have to regard ourselves as sealed, even branded, by
this mission of bringing light, blessing, enlivening, raising up, healing and
freeing. All around us we begin to see nurses with soul, teachers with soul,
politicians with soul, people who have chosen deep down to be with others and
for others. But once we separate our work from our private lives, everything
turns grey and we will always be seeking recognition or asserting our needs. We
stop being a people.
274. If we are to share our lives with others and generously give of
ourselves, we also have to realize that every person is worthy of our giving.
Not for their physical appearance, their abilities, their language, their way of
thinking, or for any satisfaction that we might receive, but rather because they
are God’s handiwork, his creation. God created that person in his image, and he
or she reflects something of God’s glory. Every human being is the object of
God’s infinite tenderness, and he himself is present in their lives.
Jesus offered his precious blood on the cross for that person. Appearances
notwithstanding, every person is immensely holy and deserves our love.
Consequently, if I can help at least one person to have a better life, that
already justifies the offering of my life. It is a wonderful thing to be God’s
faithful people. We achieve fulfilment when we break down walls and our heart
is filled with faces and names!
The mysterious working of the risen Christ and his Spirit
275. In the second chapter, we reflected on that lack of deep spirituality
which turns into pessimism, fatalism, and mistrust. Some people do not commit
themselves to mission because they think that nothing will change and that it is
useless to make the effort. They think: “Why should I deny myself my comforts
and pleasures if I won’t see any significant result?” This attitude makes it
impossible to be a missionary. It is only a malicious excuse for remaining
caught up in comfort, laziness, vague dissatisfaction and empty selfishness. It
is a self-destructive attitude, for “man cannot live without hope: life would
become meaningless and unbearable”.[211]
If we think that things are not going to change, we need to recall that Jesus
Christ has triumphed over sin and death and is now almighty. Jesus Christ truly
lives. Put another way, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching
is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). The Gospel tells us that when the first
disciples went forth to preach, “the Lord worked with them and confirmed
the message” (Mk 16:20). The same thing happens today. We are invited
to discover this, to experience it. Christ, risen and glorified, is the
wellspring of our hope, and he will not deprive us of the help we need to carry
out the mission which he has entrusted to us.
276. Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital
power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the
resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems
that God does not exist: all around us we see persistent injustice, evil,
indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness
something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit. On
razed land life breaks through, stubbornly yet invincibly. However dark things
are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world beauty is
born anew, it rises transformed through the storms of history. Values always
tend to reappear under new guises, and human beings have arisen time after time
from situations that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the resurrection, and
all who evangelize are instruments of that power.
277. At the same time, new difficulties are constantly surfacing:
experiences of failure and the human weaknesses which bring so much pain. We
all know from experience that sometimes a task does not bring the satisfaction
we seek, results are few and changes are slow, and we are tempted to grow
weary. Yet lowering our arms momentarily out of weariness is not the same as
lowering them for good, overcome by chronic discontent and by a listlessness
that parches the soul. It also happens that our hearts can tire of the struggle
because in the end we are caught up in ourselves, in a careerism which thirsts
for recognition, applause, rewards and status. In this case we do not lower our
arms, but we no longer grasp what we seek, the resurrection is not there.
In cases like these, the Gospel, the most beautiful message that this world can
offer, is buried under a pile of excuses.
278. Faith also means believing in God, believing that he truly loves us,
that he is alive, that he is mysteriously capable of intervening, that he does
not abandon us and that he brings good out of evil by his power and his infinite
creativity. It means believing that he marches triumphantly in history with
those who “are called and chosen and faithful” (Rev 17:14). Let us
believe the Gospel when it tells us that the kingdom of God is already present
in this world and is growing, here and there, and in different ways: like the
small seed which grows into a great tree (cf. Mt 13:31-32), like the
measure of leaven that makes the dough rise (cf. Mt 13:33) and
like the good seed that grows amid the weeds (cf. Mt 13, 24-30) and can
always pleasantly surprise us. The kingdom is here, it returns, it struggles to
flourish anew. Christ’s resurrection everywhere calls forth seeds of that new
world; even if they are cut back, they grow again, for the resurrection is
already secretly woven into the fabric of this history, for Jesus did not rise
in vain. May we never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope!
279. Because we do not always see these seeds growing, we need an interior
certainty, a conviction that God is able to act in every situation, even amid
apparent setbacks: “we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor
4:7). This certainty is often called “a sense of mystery”. It involves knowing
with certitude that all those who entrust themselves to God in love will bear
good fruit (cf. Jn 15:5). This fruitfulness is often invisible, elusive
and unquantifiable. We can know quite well that our lives will be fruitful,
without claiming to know how, or where, or when. We may be sure that none of
our acts of love will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere concern for
others. No single act of love for God will be lost, no generous effort is
meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted. All of these encircle our world
like a vital force. Sometimes it seems that our work is fruitless, but mission
is not like a business transaction or investment, or even a humanitarian
activity. It is not a show where we count how many people come as a result of
our publicity; it is something much deeper, which escapes all
measurement. It may be that the Lord uses our sacrifices to shower blessings in
another part of the world which we will never visit. The Holy Spirit works as
he wills, when he wills and where he wills; we entrust ourselves without
pretending to see striking results. We know only that our commitment is
necessary. Let us learn to rest in the tenderness of the arms of the Father
amid our creative and generous commitment. Let us keep marching forward; let us
give him everything, allowing him to make our efforts bear fruit in his good
time.
280. Keeping our missionary fervour alive calls for firm trust in the Holy
Spirit, for it is he who “helps us in our weakness” (Rom 8:26). But this
generous trust has to be nourished, and so we need to invoke the Spirit
constantly. He can heal whatever causes us to flag in the missionary
endeavour. It is true that this trust in the unseen can cause us to feel
disoriented: it is like being plunged into the deep and not knowing what we will
find. I myself have frequently experienced this. Yet there is no greater
freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit,
renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and
instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he
wills. The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This
is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful!
The missionary power of intercessory prayer
281. One form of prayer moves us particularly to take up the task of
evangelization and to seek the good of others: it is the prayer of
intercession. Let us peer for a moment into the heart of Saint Paul, to see
what his prayer was like. It was full of people: “…I constantly pray with you
in every one of my prayers for all of you… because I hold you in my heart” (Phil
1:4, 7). Here we see that intercessory prayer does not divert us from true
contemplation, since authentic contemplation always has a place for others.
282. This attitude becomes a prayer of gratitude to God for others. “First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you” (Rom 1:8). It is
constant thankfulness: “I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace
of God which was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 1:4); “I thank my God
in all my remembrance of you” (Phil 1:3). Far from being suspicious,
negative and despairing, it is a spiritual gaze born of deep faith which
acknowledges what God is doing in the lives of others. At the same time, it is
the gratitude which flows from a heart attentive to others. When evangelizers
rise from prayer, their hearts are more open; freed of self-absorption, they are
desirous of doing good and sharing their lives with others.
283. The great men and women of God were great intercessors. Intercession
is like “a leaven in the heart of the Trinity”. It is a way of penetrating the
Father’s heart and discovering new dimensions which can shed light on concrete
situations and change them. We can say that God’s heart is touched by our
intercession, yet in reality he is always there first. What our intercession
achieves is that his power, his love and his faithfulness are shown ever more
clearly in the midst of the people.
II. MARY, MOTHER OF EVANGELIZATION
284. With the Holy Spirit, Mary is always present in the midst of the
people. She joined the disciples in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts
1:14) and thus made possible the missionary outburst which took place at
Pentecost. She is the Mother of the Church which evangelizes, and without her
we could never truly understand the spirit of the new evangelization.
Jesus’ gift to his people
285. On the cross, when Jesus endured in his own flesh the dramatic
encounter of the sin of the world and God’s mercy, he could feel at his feet the
consoling presence of his mother and his friend. At that crucial moment, before
fully accomplishing the work which his Father had entrusted to him, Jesus said
to Mary: “Woman, here is your son”. Then he said to his beloved friend: “Here
is your mother” (Jn 19:26-27). These words of the dying Jesus are not
chiefly the expression of his devotion and concern for his mother; rather, they
are a revelatory formula which manifests the mystery of a special saving
mission. Jesus left us his mother to be our mother. Only after doing so did
Jesus know that “all was now finished” (Jn 19:28). At the foot of
the cross, at the supreme hour of the new creation, Christ led us to Mary. He
brought us to her because he did not want us to journey without a mother, and
our people read in this maternal image all the mysteries of the Gospel. The
Lord did not want to leave the Church without this icon of womanhood. Mary, who
brought him into the world with great faith, also accompanies “the rest of her
offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” (Rev
12:17). The close connection between Mary, the Church and each member of
the faithful, based on the fact that each in his or her own way brings forth
Christ, has been beautifully expressed by Blessed Isaac of Stella: “In the
inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal sense of the virgin mother, the
Church, is understood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary... In a way,
every Christian is also believed to be a bride of God’s word, a mother of
Christ, his daughter and sister, at once virginal and fruitful... Christ dwelt
for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of
the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell forever in the
knowledge and love of each faithful soul”.[212]
286. Mary was able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus, with poor
swaddling clothes and an abundance of love. She is the handmaid of the Father
who sings his praises. She is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be
lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and
who understands all our pain. As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for
peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice. She is the missionary who draws
near to us and accompanies us throughout life, opening our hearts to faith by
her maternal love. As a true mother, she walks at our side, she shares
our struggles and she constantly surrounds us with God’s love. Through her many
titles, often linked to her shrines, Mary shares the history of each people
which has received the Gospel and she becomes a part of their historic
identity. Many Christian parents ask that their children be baptized in a
Marian shrine, as a sign of their faith in her motherhood which brings forth new
children for God. There, in these many shrines, we can see how Mary brings
together her children who with great effort come as pilgrims to see her and to
be seen by her. Here they find strength from God to bear the weariness and the
suffering in their lives. As she did with Juan Diego, Mary offers them maternal
comfort and love, and whispers in their ear: “Let your heart not be troubled…
Am I not here, who am your Mother?”[213]
Star of the new evangelization
287. We ask the Mother of the living Gospel to intercede that this
invitation to a new phase of evangelization will be accepted by the entire
ecclesial community. Mary is the woman of faith, who lives and advances in
faith,[214] and “her exceptional
pilgrimage of faith represents a constant point of reference for the Church”.[215]
Mary let herself be guided by the Holy Spirit on a journey of faith towards a
destiny of service and fruitfulness. Today we look to her and ask her to help
us proclaim the message of salvation to all and to enable new disciples to
become evangelizers in turn.[216]
Along this journey of evangelization we will have our moments of aridity,
darkness and even fatigue. Mary herself experienced these things during the
years of Jesus’ childhood in Nazareth: “This is the beginning of the Gospel, the
joyful good news. However, it is not difficult to see in that beginning a
particular heaviness of heart, linked with a sort of night of faith – to use the
words of Saint John of the Cross – a kind of ‘veil’ through which one has to
draw near to the Invisible One and to live in intimacy with the mystery. And
this is the way that Mary, for many years, lived in intimacy with the mystery of
her Son, and went forward in her pilgrimage of faith”.[217]
288. There is a Marian “style” to the Church’s work of evangelization.
Whenever we look to Mary, we come to believe once again in the revolutionary
nature of love and tenderness. In her we see that humility and tenderness are
not virtues of the weak but of the strong who need not treat others poorly in
order to feel important themselves. Contemplating Mary, we realize that she who
praised God for “bringing down the mighty from their thrones” and “sending the
rich away empty” (Lk 1:52-53) is also the one who brings a homely warmth
to our pursuit of justice. She is also the one who carefully keeps “all
these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Mary is
able to recognize the traces of God’s Spirit in events great and small. She
constantly contemplates the mystery of God in our world, in human history and in
our daily lives. She is the woman of prayer and work in Nazareth, and she is
also Our Lady of Help, who sets out from her town “with haste” (Lk 1:39)
to be of service to others. This interplay of justice and tenderness, of
contemplation and concern for others, is what makes the ecclesial community look
to Mary as a model of evangelization. We implore her maternal intercession that
the Church may become a home for many peoples, a mother for all peoples, and
that the way may be opened to the birth of a new world. It is the Risen Christ
who tells us, with a power that fills us with confidence and unshakeable hope:
“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). With Mary we advance
confidently towards the fulfilment of this promise, and to her we pray:
Mary, Virgin and Mother,
you who, moved by the Holy Spirit,
welcomed the word of life
in the depths of your humble faith:
as you gave yourself completely to the Eternal One,
help us to say our own “yes”
to the urgent call, as pressing as ever,
to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
Filled with Christ’s presence,
you brought joy to John the Baptist,
making him exult in the womb of his mother.
Brimming over with joy,
you sang of the great things done by God.
Standing at the foot of the cross
with unyielding faith,
you received the joyful comfort of the resurrection,
and joined the disciples in awaiting the Spirit
so that the evangelizing Church might be born.
Obtain for us now a new ardour born of the resurrection,
that we may bring to all the Gospel of life
which triumphs over death.
Give us a holy courage to seek new paths,
that the gift of unfading beauty
may reach every man and woman.
Virgin of listening and contemplation,
Mother of love, Bride of the eternal wedding feast,
pray for the Church, whose pure icon you are,
that she may never be closed in on herself
or lose her passion for establishing God’s kingdom.
Star of the new evangelisation,
help us to bear radiant witness to communion,
service, ardent and generous faith,
justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the Gospel
may reach to the ends of the earth,
illuminating even the fringes of our world.
Mother of the living Gospel,
wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones,
pray for us.
Amen. Alleluia!
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 24 November, the solemnity of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and the conclusion of the Year of
Faith, in the year 2013, the first of my Pontificate.
FRANCISCUS
[1] PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete in Domino (9 May 1975), 22:
AAS 67 (1975), 297.
[2] Ibid. 8: AAS 67 (1975), 292.
[3] Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est (25 December 2005), 1: AAS 98 (2006),
217.
[4] FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 360.
[6] PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December
1975), 80: AAS 68 (1976), 75.
[7] Spiritual Canticle, 36, 10.
[8] Adversus Haereses, IV, c. 34, n. 1: PG 7, pars prior, 1083: “Omnem novitatem attulit,
semetipsum afferens”.
[9]
PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December
1975), 7: AAS 68 (1976), 9.
[11] BENEDICT XVI, Homily at Mass for the Conclusion of the Synod of Bishops
(28 October 2012): AAS 104 (2102), 890.
[13] BENEDICT XVI, Homily at Mass for the Opening of the Fifth General
Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops (13 May 2007), Aparecida,
Brazil: AAS 99 (2007), 437.
[14] Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris Missio (7 December 1990), 34: AAS 83
(1991), 280.
[15] Ibid., 40: AAS 83 (1991), 287.
[16] Ibid., 86: AAS 83 (1991), 333.
[17] FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 548.
[20] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30
December 1988), 32: AAS 81 (1989) 451.
[21] FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 201.
[23] PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Suam (6 August 1964), 9, 10,
11: AAS 56 (1964), 611-612.
[24]SECOND ECUMENICAL VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio,
6.
[25] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania (22
November 2001), 19: AAS 94 (2002), 390.
[26] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30
September 1988), 26: AAS 81 (1989), 438.
[31] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops
Christus Dominus, 11.
[32] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Address for the Fortieth Anniversary of the Decree Ad
Gentes (11 March 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 337.
[34] Cf. Canons 460-468; 492-502; 511-514; 536-537.
[35] Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint (25 May 1995), 95: AAS 87 (1995), 977-978.
[36] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIl, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen
Gentium, 23.
[37] JOHN PAUL II, Motu Proprio Apostolos Suos (21 May 1998): AAS 90 (1998),
641-658.
[38] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 11.
[39] Cf. S. Th., I-II, q. 66, a. 4-6.
[40] S. Th., I-II, q. 108, a. 1.
[41] S. Th., II-II, q. 30, a. 4: “We do not worship God with sacrifices and exterior gifts
for him, but rather for us and for our neighbour. He has no need of our
sacrifices, but he does ask that these be offered by us as devotion and for the
benefit of our neighbour. For him, mercy, which overcomes the defects of our
devotion and sacrifice, is the sacrifice which is most pleasing, because it is
mercy which above all seeks the good of one’s neighbour” (S. Th., II-II,
q. 30, a. 4, ad 1).
[42] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation Dei Verbum, 12.
[43] Motu Proprio Socialium Scientiarum (1 January 1994): AAS 86 (1994),
209.
[44] Saint Thomas Aquinas noted that the multiplicity and variety “were the
intention of the first agent”, who wished that “what each individual thing
lacked in order to reflect the divine goodness would be made up for by other
things”, since the Creator’s goodness “could not be fittingly reflected by just
one creature” (S. Th., I, q. 47, a. 1). Consequently, we need to grasp
the variety of things in their multiple relationships (cf. S. Th., I, q.
47, a. 2, ad 1; q. 47, a. 3). By analogy, we need to listen to and complement
one another in our partial reception of reality and the Gospel.
[45] JOHN XXIII, Address for the Opening of the Second Vatican Council (11
October 1962): AAS 54 (1962), 792: “Est enim aliud ipsum depositum fidei, seu
veritates, quae veneranda doctrina nostra continentur, aliud modus, quo eaedem
enuntiantur”.
[46] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint (25 May 1995), 19: AAS
87 (1995), 933.
[47] S. Th., I-II, q. 107, a. 4.
[50] Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris
Consortio (22 November 1981), 34: AAS 74 (1982), 123.
[51] Cf. SAINT AMBROSE, De Sacramentis, IV, 6, 28: PL 16, 464: “I must
receive it always, so that it may always forgive my sins. If I sin continually,
I must always have a remedy”; ID., op. cit., IV, 5, 24: PL 16, 463: “Those who
ate manna died; those who eat this body will obtain the forgiveness of their
sins”; SAINT CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, In Joh. Evang., IV, 2: PG 73, 584-585:
“I examined myself and I found myself unworthy. To those who speak thus I say:
when will you be worthy? When at last you present yourself before Christ? And
if your sins prevent you from drawing nigh, and you never cease to fall – for,
as the Psalm says, ‘what man knows his faults?’ – will you remain without
partaking of the sanctification that gives life for eternity?”
[52] BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Brazilian Bishops in the Cathedral of São
Paulo, Brazil (11 May 2007), 3: AAS 99 (2007), 428.
[53] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25
March 1992), 10: AAS 84 (1992), 673.
[54] PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Suam (6 August 1964), 19: AAS
56 (1964), 609.
[55] SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, De Lazaro Concio, II, 6: PG 48, 992D.
[57] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa (14
September 1995), 52: AAS 88 (1996), 32-33; ID., Encyclical Letter
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 22: AAS 80 (1988), 539.
[58] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia (6 November
1999), 7: AAS 92 (2000), 458.
[59] UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS, Ministry to Persons with
a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care (2006), 17.
[60] CONFÉRENCE DES ÉVÊQUES DE FRANCE, Conseil Famille et Société, Élargir
le mariage aux personnes de même sexe? Ouvrons le débat! (28 September
2012).
[62]
AZIONE CATTOLICA ITALIANA, Messaggio della XIV Assemblea Nazionale
alla Chiesa ed al Paese (8 May 2011).
[63] J. RATZINGER, The Current Situation of Faith and Theology.
Conference given at the Meeting of Presidents of Latin American Episcopal
Commissions for the Doctrine of the Faith, Guadalajara, Mexico, 1996.
Translation in L’Osservatore Romano, English Language Edition, 6 November
1996. Cf. FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 12.
[64] G. BERNANOS, Journal d’un curé de campagne, Paris, 1974, 135.
[65] Address for the Opening of the Second Vatican Council (11 October 1962):
4, 2-4: AAS 54 (1962), 789.
[66] J.H. NEWMAN, Letter of 26 January 1833, in The Letters and Diaries of
John Henry Newman, vol. III, Oxford 1979, 204.
[67] BENEDICT XVI, Homily at Mass for the Opening of the Year of Faith (11
October 2012): AAS 104 (2012), 881.
[68] THOMAS À KEMPIS, De Imitatione Christi, Lib. I, IX, 5: “Dreaming of
different places, and moving from one to another, has misled many”.
[69] We can benefit from the testimony of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who speaks
of one particular Sister whom she found especially disagreeable, where an
interior experience had a decisive impact: “One winter afternoon I was engaged
as usual in my little task. It was cold and growing dark… Suddenly I heard in
the distance the harmonious sounds of a musical instrument. I began to imagine
a well-lit room, draped in gold, and in it, elegantly dressed young ladies
exchanging worldly compliments and courtesies. Then I looked at the poor sick
woman whom I was attending. In place of a melody, I heard her occasional groans
and sighs… I cannot express what took place in my soul. All that I do know is
that the Lord illumined it with the rays of truth which so surpassed the
flickering glow of earthly revels, that I could scarcely believe my happiness”
(Ms. C, 29v-30r, in Oeuvres Complètes, Paris, 1992, 274-275).
[71] H. DE LUBAC, Méditation sur l’Église, Paris, 1968, 321.
[72] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church, 295.
[73] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici
(30 December 1988), 51: AAS 81 (1989), 413.
[74] CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Declaration Inter
Insigniores on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial
Priesthood (15 October 1976): AAS 68 (1977) 115, cited in JOHN PAUL II,
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (30 December
1988), note 190: AAS 81 (1989), 493.
[75] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August
1988), 27: AAS 80 (1988), 1718.
[77] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia
(6 November 1999), 19: AAS 92 (2000), 478.
[78] Ibid, 2: AAS 92 (2000), 451.
[80] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
Lumen Gentium, 1.
[81] Meditation during the First General Congregation of the XIII Ordinary
General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (8 October 2012): AAS 104 (2012), 897.
[82] Cf. Propositio 6; SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.
[83] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
Lumen Gentium, 9.
[84] Cf. THIRD GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Puebla Document, 23 March 1979, Nos. 386-387.
[85] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church
in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 36.
[88] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (6 January
2001), 40: AAS 93 (2001), 295.
[90] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio (7 December
1990), 52: AAS 83 (1991), 300; cf. Apostolic Exhortation Catechesi Tradendae
(16 October 1979) 53: AAS 71 (1979), 1321.
[91] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania
(22 November 2001), 16: AAS 94 (2002), 383.
[92] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa
(14 September 1995), 61: AAS 88 (1996), 39.
[93] SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, S. Th. I, q. 39, a. 8 cons. 2: “Without the
Holy Spirit who is the bond of both, one cannot understand the connecting unity
between the Father and the Son”; cf. I, q. 37, a. 1, ad 3.
[94] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania
(22 November 2001), 17: AAS 94 (2002), 385.
[95] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia
(6 November 1999), 20: AAS 92 (2000), 478-482.
[96] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
Lumen Gentium, 12.
[97] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998), 71:
AAS 91 (1999), 60.
[98] THIRD GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS, Puebla
Document, 23 March 1979, 450; cf. FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN
AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS, Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 264.
[99] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia
(6 November 1999), 21: AAS 92 (2000), 482-484.
[100] No. 48: AAS 68 (1976), 38.
[102] Opening Address of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and
Caribbean Bishops (13 May 2007), 1: AAS 90 (2007), 446.
[103] FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 262.
[105] Cf. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, S. Th., II-II, q. 2, a. 2.
[106] FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 264.
[108] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
Lumen Gentium, 12.
[112] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Dies Domini (31 May 1998), 41: AAS 90
(1998), 738-739.
[113] PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December
1975), 78: AAS 68 (1976), 71.
[115] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25
March 1992), 26: AAS 84 (1992), 698.
[116] Ibid., 25: AAS 84 (1992), 696.
[117] SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, S. Th. II-II, q. 188, a. 6.
[118] PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December
1975), 76: AAS 68 (1976), 68.
[119] Ibid., 75: AAS 68 (1976), 65.
[120] Ibid., 63: AAS 68 (1976), 53
[121] Ibid., 43: AAS 68 (1976), 33
[123] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25
March 1992), 10: AAS 84 (1992), 672.
[124] PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December
1975), 40: AAS 68 (1976), 31.
[125] Ibid., 43: AAS 68 (1976), 33.
[127] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25
March 1992), 26: AAS 84 (1992), 698.
[130] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIl, Decree on the Means of Social
Communication Inter Mirifica, 6.
[131] Cf.
De Musica, VI, 13, 38: PL 32, 1183-1184; Confessiones, IV,
13.20: PL 32, 701.
[132] BENEDICT XVI, Address for the Screening of the Documentary “Art and Faith” –
Via Pulchritudinis (25 October 2012): L’Osservatore Romano (27
October 2012), 7.
[133] S. Th., I-II, q. 65, a. 3, ad 2: “propter aliquas dispositiones contrarias”.
[134] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia (6
November 1999), 20: AAS 92 (2000), 481.
[135] BENEDICT XVI , Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (30
September 2010), 1: AAS 102 (2010), 682.
[137] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation Dei Verbum, 21-22.
[138] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (30
September 2010), 86-87: AAS 102 (2010), 757-760.
[139] BENEDICT XVI, Address during the First General Congregation of the Synod of
Bishops (8 October 2012): AAS 104 (2012), 896.
[140] PAUL VI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8
December 1975), 17: AAS 68 (1976), 17.
[141] JOHN PAUL II, Message to the Handicapped, Angelus (16 November 1980):
Insegnamenti, 3/2 (1980), 1232.
[142] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church, 52.
[143] JOHN PAUL II, Catechesis (24 April 1991): Insegnamenti, 14/1 (1991), 853.
[144] BENEDICT
XVI, Motu Proprio Intima Ecclesiae Natura (11 November 2012): AAS
104 (2012), 996.
[145] Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio (16 March 1967), 14: AAS 59
(1967), 264.
[146] PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December
1075), 29: AAS 68 (1976), 25.
[147] FIFTH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN BISHOPS,
Aparecida Document, 29 June 2007, 380.
[148] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church, 9.
[149] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America
(22 January 1999), 27: AAS 91 (1999), 762.
[150] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est (25 December 2005), 28:
AAS 98 (2006), 239-240.
[151] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church, 12.
[152] Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens (14 May 1971), 4: AAS 63 (1971),
403.
[153] CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction Libertatis Nuntius
(6 August 1984), XI, 1: AAS 76 (1984), 903.
[154] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church, 157.
[155] PAUL VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens (14 May 1971), 23: AAS 63
(1971), 418.
[156] PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio (26 March 1967), 65: AAS
59 (1967), 289.
[157] Ibid., 15: AAS 59 (1967), 265.
[158]
CONFERÊNCIA NACIONAL DOS BISPOS DO BRAZIL, Exigências evangélicas e
éticas de superação da miséria e da fome” (April 2002),
Introduction, 2.
[159]JOHN XIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra (15 May 1961), 3: AAS 53
(1961), 402.
[160] SAINT AUGUSTINE, De Catechizandis Rudibus, I, XIX, 22: PL
40, 327.
[161] CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction Libertatis
Nuntius (6 August 1984), XI, 18: AAS 76 (1984), 907-908.
[162] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 41:
AAS 83 (1991), 844-845.
[163] JOHN PAUL II, Homily at Mass for the Evangelization of Peoples in Santo
Domingo (11 October 1984), 5: AAS 77 (1985), 358.
[164] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30
December 1987), 42: AAS 80 (1988), 572.
[165] Address at the Inaugural Session of the Fifth General Conference of the
Latin American and Caribbean Bishops (13 May 2007), 3: AAS 99 (2007), 450.
[166] SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, S. Th., II-II, q. 27, a. 2.
[167] Ibid., I-II, q. 110, a. 1.
[168] Ibid., I-II, q. 26, a. 3.
[169] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (6 January
2001), 50: AAS 93 (2001), 303.
[172] CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction Libertatis
Nuntius (6 August 1984), XI, 18: AAS 76 (1984), 908.
[173] This implies a commitment to “eliminate the structural causes of global
economic dysfunction”: BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Diplomatic Corps (8
January 2007): AAS 99 (2007), 73.
[174] Cf. COMMISSION SOCIALE DE L’ÉPISCOPAT FRANÇAIS, Réhabiliter la
politique (17 February 1999); cf. PIUS XI, Message of 18 December 1927.
[175] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009),
2: AAS 101 (2009), 642.
[176] JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici
(30 December 1988), 37: AAS 81 (1989), 461.
[178] CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Pastoral Letter What is
Happening to our Beautiful Land? (29 January 1988).
[179] PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio (26 March 1967), 76: AAS
59 (1967), 294-295.
[180] UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS, Pastoral Letter Forming
Conscience for Faithful Citizenship (November 2007), 13.
[181] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine
of the Church, 161.
[182] Das
Ende der Neuzeit, Würzburg, 1965, 30-31.
[183]
Cf. I. QUILES, S.J., Filosofía de la educación personalista,
Buenos Aires, 1981, 46-53.
[184]
COMITÉ PERMANENT DE LA CONFÉRENCE ÉPISCOPALE NATIONALE DU CONGO,
Message sur la situation sécuritaire dans le pays (5 December 2012),
11.
[185]
Cf. PLATO, Gorgias, 465.
[186] BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (21 December 2012): AAS 105
(2013), 51.
[188] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1910; PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR
JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 168.
[190] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998), 88:
AAS 91 (1999), 74.
[191] SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa contra Gentiles, I, 7; cf. JOHN PAUL
II, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998), 43: AAS 91
(1999), 39.
[192] SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio,
4.
[194] INDIAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE, Final Declaration of the XXX Assembly: The
Role of the Church for a Better India (8 March 2013), 8.9.
[196] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio (7 December
1990), 56: AAS 83 (1991), 304.
[197] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (21 December 2012):
AAS 105 (2006), 51; SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Decree on the Missionary
Activity of the Church Ad Gentes, 9; Catechism of the Catholic Church,
856.
[198] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
Lumen Gentium, 16.
[199] INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION, Christianity and the World
Religions (1996), 72: Enchiridion Vaticanum 15, No. 1061.
[201] Cf. ibid., 81-87: Enchiridion Vaticanum 15, Nos. 1070-1076.
[203] BENEDICT XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio
Oriente (14 September 2012), 26: AAS 104 (2012), 762.
[206] JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (6 January
2001), 52: AAS 93 (2001), 304.
[207] Cf.
V.M. FERNÁNDEZ, “Espiritualidad para la esperanza activa. Discurso en la
apertura del I Congreso Nacional de Doctrina Social de la Iglesia
(Rosario 2011)”, in UCActualidad, 142 (2011), 16.
[208] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio (7 December
1990), 45: AAS 83 (1991), 292.
[209] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est (25 December
2005), 16: AAS 98 (2006), 230.
[210] Ibid., 39: AAS 98 (2006), 250.
[211] SECOND SPECIAL ASSEMBLY FOR EUROPE OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS, Final Message,
1: L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly English-language edition, 27 October
1999, 5.
[212] ISAAC OF STELLA, Sermo 51: PL 194, 1863, 1865.
[213] Nican Mopohua, 118-119.
[214] Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
Lumen Gentium, 52-69.
[215] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987),
6: AAS 79 (1987), 366-367.
[217] JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987),
17: AAS 79 (1987), 381.
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