New Evangelization of our Faith

New Evangelization of our Faith

The theme of my Recollection talk is “New Evangelization of our Faith” therefore let us first understand what this New Evangelization means. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines evangelization as: “the proclamation of Christ and His Gospel by word and the testimony of life, in fulfillment of Christ’s command.” New Evangelization of our faith means deepening our relationship with Jesus through the Church, live like Jesus and inspire people to follow Jesus through the Catholic Church (Conversion), to revive the faith of prodigal Christians, bring them back to the church and finally to foster Gospel values in our society. The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel.

By faith, Mary accepted the Angel’s word and believed the message that she was to become the Mother of God in the obedience of her devotion (cf. Lk 1:38). By faith, the Apostles left everything to follow their Master (cf. Mk 10:28). By faith, they went out to the whole world, following the command to bring the Gospel to all creation (cf. Mk 16:15). By faith, the disciples formed the first community, gathered around the teaching of the Apostles, in prayer, in celebration of the Eucharist, holding their possessions in common so as to meet the needs of the brethren (cf. Acts 2:42-47). By faith, the martyrs gave their lives, bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel that had transformed them and made them capable of attaining to the greatest gift of love: the forgiveness of their persecutors. By faith, across the centuries, men and women of all ages, whose names are written in the Book of Life (cf. Rev 7:9, 13:8), have confessed the beauty of following the Lord Jesus wherever they were called to bear witness to the fact that they were Christian: in the family, in the workplace, in public life, in the exercise of the charisms and ministries to which they were called. (Apostolic Letter “Motu Proprio Data”, Porta Fidei of The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI)

The African impala antelope can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us. Faith is all about believes, believing in God, in the people and in nature.

The New Evangelization of faith invites all of us to ponder about our faith, practice our faith in our daily lives, introduce others to the faith, encourage others who have experienced crises of faith to live their faith with zest and zeal and proclaim the gospel of love to where you can reach. To make this year of Faith a meaningful year and to imbibe the spirit of the New Evangelization of Faith we have to allow ourselves to be transformed in different ways so that we can be means of transformation to the whole world. Some of the areas that we need to reflect and if necessary transform ourselves are;

a.      Retracing or retreating to the root or foundation

Go back to the root, recalled your baptism, first communion, confirmation, vows which you made and the feelings that you have towards God when you were small. In short find ways and means to balance your emotional life and help others in this regard.

b.      Communion with God

We need to open our hearts to the Word of God by reading the Bible, spend more time in prayer and reflection and take time off to contemplate about the baptism, ministries of Jesus, the passion and death, resurrection and thus participating with Jesus in the glory of the heavenly home. Renew your faith by going for confession, recite the rosary and visit the Blessed Sacrament. This is the moment when we try to re-connect with our creator in our spiritual journey and lead others to God.

c.        Rejuvenating our Intellectual and Physical life for service

The Porta Fidei writes, “Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt”. To share our faith with others we need to know something. So, the theme “The New Evangelization of our faith” invites us to know the Bible, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, read more spiritual books, life of saints and other books to enhance our intellectual life. In Porta Fidei, The Holy Father invites us to be Messenger of the Gospel. To be messenger we need to have good health of mind and body, therefore, we need to have proper care of ourselves so that we can help others.

d.      Set the world on fire

Pope Benedict XVI in Porta Fidei said “The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.” Pope Benedict XVI called for the re-proposing of the Gospel "to those regions awaiting the first evangelization and to those regions where the roots of Christianity are deep but who have experienced a serious crisis of faith due to secularization." Pray, help, love and share what you have with other people.

Be the change to the world. Let the social structure of our society be transformed because of you. Educate and empower the people especially the backward classes. Conscientise the people to share the wealth of the world so that all have their fill and no one goes hungry or homeless. Instill the idea of love, respect, care and concern for others. The more we share our resources better will be the society in which we live in. We should be messenger of peace, love, respect and hope in this world. Invite people to go for mass, start community activities, conduct Bible quiz competition, begin a Catholic club and organize prayer service to pray for the welfare of the community and for others. The Holy Father is entrusting us of leading those many people who are seeking it to the “door of faith.” Pope Benedict XVI said to the Jesuits to ‘reach the geographical and spiritual places where others do not reach or find it difficult to reach”.

e.       Igniting Love for nature

Raimundo Pannikar in his book ‘Invisible Harmony’ gives the notion that cosmos, anthropos and Theos ought to stay interconnected to exist in this world. Human being have used and abused nature therefore, in this Year of Faith we need to reconcile with nature. We ought to love and care for the nature so that we can trust in nature. If we neglect, exploit and destroy nature, nature will not keep up the faith we have in her. When nature is not in its proper shape, it will also behave in unnatural way. We have to reconcile with nature and strengthen our interconnectedness with nature. When we care for nature, we care ourselves, our parents, siblings, our near and dear ones and our future generation. Loving nature is loving ourselves, loving our fellow human beings and loving God.

There are lots of works to be done for the glory of God and the church calls all of us to for this mission of transformation. Will you accept this invitation? Pope Francis invites all religious to concentrate on the four fundamental pillars of religious life that is spiritual formation, the intellectual formation, the apostolic formation and the community formation. When a person is healthy in his life he/ she will be able to serve God through the people joyfully. Pope Francis said, “When you find a seminarian, a priest, a nun, a novice, with a long face, sad, one feels as though we have thrown a fully wet blanket on their lives”. People who have no joy, love, peace will not be able to be joyful and fruitful. In this Year of Faith and as we reflect on the theme “New Evangelization of our Faith” let us all pray that we deepen our faith in Jesus, inspire people to follow Jesus, encourage the lost sheep to come back to the same flock, be messenger of the gospel and of social transformation.

 “Go ahead, with joy, with consistency, always with the courage to tell the truth, the courage to get out of yourselves to encounter Jesus in prayer and go out of yourselves to encounter others and offer them the gospel. With the pastoral fertility!” (Discourse of Pope Francis to the Seminarians and novices on July 6, 2013).

Reference: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20111011_porta-fidei_en.html