“Go and make disciples of all nations!”World Youth Day 2013

In December, Cinema Catechism will be showing The Indispensible Men – Peter, Paul and the Missionary Adventure, Episode Five of Father Robert Barron's Catholicism series. As is especially emphasized in the New Evangelization, ours is not a faith that we are expected to selfishly keep to ourselves. Rather, we are called by Jesus to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in order to go and be His witnesses to the world (Acts 1:8), as happened with the Apostles at Pentecost and as happened with our own young people at Blessed Sacrament who received the Sacrament of Confirmation this past Monday.

This was the theme of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, and Pope Benedict has decided to revisit it for the upcoming World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro during the Year of Faith. During His ministry, the disciples of Jesus enthusiastically went out to preach that the Kingdom of God was at hand. (Lk 10:1-17) Yet when He was arrested, most of the Apostles ran and went into hiding, fearing that they too might be arrested and executed. Even after He rose, the Apostles largely remained inside, keeping a low profile. It was during this time after His Resurrection that Jesus called them to a certain mountain in Galilee.

When they saw Him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Mt 28:17-20)

They saw the Risen Christ, but still there was this measure of doubt, they still had this measure of fear that they had after His arrest and Passion -- they were not yet ready or prepared to fulfill their mission. Instead, after His ascension to heaven, they stayed in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, as Jesus had instructed them to do.

Yet despite this fear and doubt and hesitancy, once the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, once they received His graces, their hesitancy and doubt were gone, and Peter immediately went out into the street and began to fearlessly proclaim the Good News of the redemption of man by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, of which they were witnesses. And many were made disciples and baptized right there and then.

Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to the people . . . "Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it. . . . God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. . . .

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call." He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day. (Acts 2:14, 22-24, 32, 38-41)

Then and for the rest of his life Peter proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, the former Saul of Tarsus, a zealous persecutor of the Church, was converted to the Love and Truth of Jesus and he became instead a zealous promoter of the Christian faith. Peter and Paul each traveled extensively, preaching and making disciples of all nations before both coming to Rome, where they made the ultimate witness of Jesus Christ, the witness of the martyr.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses." "Go and make disciples of all nations."

These were not words directed only to the Apostles of 2,000 years ago, but they are directed to all the faithful of Jesus Christ, to all of His disciples. All of us have this duty -- this honor -- to be His servants in the work of salvation; all of us are called to be His witnesses to go and make disciples of all nations. Such a mission is not easy, but we take heart in knowing that, although ascended to heaven, Jesus is with us always, He walks with us along this journey, the Holy Spirit fills our hearts so that His Truth and Love might shine and act through us so that all men and women, boys and girls, might know Him.

"Go and make disciples of all nations!"
Message of Pope Benedict for World Youth Day 2013

Dear young friends,

I greet all of you with great joy and affection. I am sure that many of you returned from World Youth Day in Madrid all the more “planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). This year in our Dioceses we celebrated the joy of being Christians, taking as our theme: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). And now we are preparing for the next World Youth Day, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July 2013.

Before all else, I invite you once more to take part in this important event. The celebrated statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking that beautiful Brazilian city will be an eloquent symbol for us. Christ’s open arms are a sign of his willingness to embrace all those who come to him, and his heart represents his immense love for everyone and for each of you. Let yourselves be drawn to Christ! Experience this encounter along with all the other young people who will converge on Rio for the next World Youth Day! Accept Christ’s love and you will be the witnesses so needed by our world.

I invite you to prepare for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro by meditating even now on the theme of the meeting: “Go and make disciples of all nations!” (cf. Mt 28:19). This is the great missionary mandate that Christ gave the whole Church, and today, two thousand years later, it remains as urgent as ever. This mandate should resound powerfully in your hearts. The year of preparation for the gathering in Rio coincides with the Year of Faith, which began with the Synod of Bishops devoted to “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. I am happy that you too, dear young people, are involved in this missionary outreach on the part of the whole Church. To make Christ known is the most precious gift that you can give to others.

Her Immaculate Heart Will Triumph

Today is the 13th day of October, the day that Our Lady of Fatima made her final appearance to the humble shepherd children Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, the day that a reported 70,000 people witnessed the "Miracle of the Sun." At that time, 1917, the world was suffering horribly in the slaughter of so many millions of people in World War I and our Lady warned of even worse horrors and death in a war that was to follow. Nevertheless, with a call for prayer and penance, she promised that her Immaculate Heart would triumph in the end. This is a very important thing to keep in mind as we engage in the New Evangelization.

People have generally interpreted this warning of a greater war as referring to World War II, but since the "third secret" of Fatima was disclosed, we can understand the warning in even broader terms, that is, in long-term historical and eschatological terms, especially with respect to the Church and the faithful. Sister Lucia reports this third part of the vision, which had been revealed to her on July 13, 1917, in these words:

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'

And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions.

Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.
Tuy-3-1-1944

Blessed Pope John Paul II was shot, yet saved from death, on May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first apparition. He famously attributed his survival of the shooting to Our Lady of Fatima, saying that one hand fired the gun, but another one guided the bullet.

As with interpreting the warning of a greater war to mean World War II, people have generally interpreted John Paul II as being the bishop dressed in white who is shot. But again, we can understand it in a broader sense. "We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete," Pope Benedict said during a visit to Fatima on May 13, 2010. Rather, humanity will continue to endure great hardship and suffering, hence the urgent need of the Church to offer people hope and proclaim "Repent and believe the Good News" of Jesus Christ (Mk 1:15). The faithful of the Church especially will suffer hardships, persecutions, and even martyrdom in professing Christ, as promised by Jesus Himself and as made clear in the Book of Revelation.

Although the whole purpose of the New Evangelization is to try to find more effective ways to proclaim the Gospel and spread the faith, starting with ourselves, so that we might help the Lord in the work of salvation, converting repentent hearts to His Love and Truth, the fact is that the world is often resistant to the light of love and truth. We are often resistant to it ourselves. And many times the response to our proposal is not merely polite rejection, but persecution. So we ought not be discouraged if we are rebuffed, but instead expect that such things will happen, and we must avoid the temptation of looking for immediate "success" in large numbers.

If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, "No slave is greater than his master." If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (Jn 15:19-20)

They will hand you over to persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. And then many will be led into sin; they will betray and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. (Mt 24:9-13)

We ought to expect persecution in response to the New Evangelization. Indeed, hardships are already imposed upon the faithful throughout the world because of that faith -- the 20th century saw more Christian martyrs than any century before it -- and here in the United States, we might not be facing death, but most certainly we are afflicted with persecution of economic, legal, and political natures.

Yet, "blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of [Jesus]." (Mt 5:11) We have hope, real hope, which makes it possible to even rejoice in persecution and suffering.

Let us now examine more closely the single images [of the vision in the third secret of Fatima]. The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgment which looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword.

The vision then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction — the splendour of the Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the importance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image which the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed, the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. The purpose of the vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Theological Commentary on Fatima)

There is great hardship and suffering in the world. Yet, we do not despair because Jesus came to save us from death and destruction. Evil and suffering, while common throughout human history, will not have the last word. It is not set in stone that mankind will forever suffer. We have hope. Not the "hope" of wishes and grasping at straws, but of trustworthy confidence and assured expectation of salvation. (Spe Salvi)

We are asked to help Jesus in the work of salvation, which means enduring the Passion, it means embracing the Cross, but it is through the Passion and the Cross that suffering and death are transformed to joy and eternal life. In walking the way of the Cross with Him, taking upon ourselves what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ and suffering with Him (Col 1:24), we are comforted by being accompanied by our Blessed Mother, just as she accompanied her Son in sorrow. Mary points to her Son, exhorting people to pray and repent, to "do whatever He tells you" so that your hardship might be turned to joy. (Jn 2:5)

Let us now consider the individual images which follow in the text of the "secret." The place of the action is described in three symbols: a steep mountain, a great city reduced to ruins and finally a large rough-hewn cross. The mountain and city symbolize the arena of human history: history as an arduous ascent to the summit, history as the arena of human creativity and social harmony, but at the same time a place of destruction, where man actually destroys the fruits of his own work. The city can be the place of communion and progress, but also of danger and the most extreme menace. On the mountain stands the cross—the goal and guide of history. The cross transforms destruction into salvation; it stands as a sign of history's misery but also as a promise for history.

At this point human persons appear: the Bishop dressed in white ("we had the impression that it was the Holy Father" [Sister Lucia later said]), other Bishops, priests, men and women Religious, and men and women of different ranks and social positions. The Pope seems to precede the others, trembling and suffering because of all the horrors around him. Not only do the houses of the city lie half in ruins, but he makes his way among the corpses of the dead. The Church's path is thus described as a Via Crucis, as a journey through a time of violence, destruction and persecution. The history of an entire century can be seen represented in this image. Just as the places of the earth are synthetically described in the two images of the mountain and the city, and are directed towards the cross, so too time is presented in a compressed way. In the vision we can recognize the last century as a century of martyrs, a century of suffering and persecution for the Church, a century of World Wars and the many local wars which filled the last fifty years and have inflicted unprecedented forms of cruelty. In the “mirror” of this vision we see passing before us the witnesses of the faith decade by decade. . . .

In the vision, the Pope too is killed along with the martyrs. When, after the attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father [Pope John Paul] had the text of the third part of the "secret" brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words: "... it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death" (13 May 1994). That here "a mother's hand" had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.

The concluding part of the "secret" uses images which Lucia may have seen in devotional books and which draw their inspiration from long-standing intuitions of faith. It is a consoling vision, which seeks to open a history of blood and tears to the healing power of God. Beneath the arms of the cross, angels gather up the blood of the martyrs, and with it they give life to the souls making their way to God. Here, the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs are considered as one: the blood of the martyrs runs down from the arms of the cross. . . .

Therefore, the vision of the third part of the "secret," so distressing at first, concludes with an image of hope: no suffering is in vain, and it is a suffering Church, a Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for man in his search for God. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Theological Commentary on Fatima)

As in Revelation, the ultimate message of Fatima is this: Humanity will necessarily suffer great hardship in this world, but God has not abandoned us.

The Lady in white, clothed as with the sun, asks us to help her Son in the work of salvation, including prayer, penance, and redemptive suffering, not merely for ourselves, but for the salvation of others, for their conversion away from sin to embracing holiness. The faithful will suffer and even be hated and persecuted for this, but all this is beatitude (Mt. 5:3-10). We can expect a degree of suffering and persecution if we dare to engage with the world in the New Evangelization. Yet, in the end, notwithstanding all of the great evils that are thrust upon us, her Immaculate Heart will triumph.

The Immaculate Mother of God walks with us and with her pure Virgin heart, a heart full of the love and grace of God, she guides us to her Son. Our Lady of Fatima is Our Lady of hope, with her we have the comfort and assurance that good will prevail, that Love and Truth will triumph.

The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time.

The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: "In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise. (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Theological Commentary on Fatima)

The 13th Day (2009) a film by Ian and Dominic Higgins

In a world torn apart by persecution, war and oppression, 3 children were chosen to offer a message of hope to the world. Based on the memoirs of the oldest Seer, Lucia Santos, and many thousands of independent eye-witness accounts, The 13th Day dramatizes the TRUE story of three young shepherds who experienced six interactive apparitions with a “Lady from Heaven” between May and October 1917, which culminated into the final prophesized Miracle. . . . Stylistically beautiful and technically innovative, writer-directors Ian & Dominic Higgins use state-of-the-art digital effects to create stunning images of the visions and the final miracle that have never before been fully realized on screen. Shot on location in Portugal and in the UK, 13th Day Films worked with a cast of over 250 to re-create the scenes of the 70,000 strong crowds, and 3 Portuguese children play the iconic roles of the Seers. Witness the greatest miracle of the 20th Century, and experience the incredible, emotionally-charged and often harrowing world of three young children whose choice to remain loyal to their beliefs, even in the face of death, would inspire thousands.

Cardinal Wuerl: “The New Evangelization is the opportunity for everyone to speak on their love of Christ, to speak the message to everyone around them and to invite them back to the experience of Christ and His Church.”

One of the tasks of the Synod of Bishops is to determine exactly what is meant by "the New Evangelization." As noted in the posts below, the term has been used in slightly different ways through the years, but much of that difficulty, if there is a difficulty, is because so many of the various elements of the transmission of the faith are interrelated -- given the mission of the Church, to re-evangelize ourselves is necessarily to prepare us to evangelize to others, each having a greater or lesser degree of openness to the Good News. Cardinal Wuerl spoke on this preliminary question during his address at the opening session of the Synod and, thanks to the diligent efforts of Rocco Palmo, we have early access to his remarks.

Report of Donald Cardinal Wuerl
Relator General for the Synod on the New Evangelization
Opening Session, 8 October 2012

It is a great honor for me to serve as the Relator General at this Synod and I am grateful to our Holy Father for this privilege. As we begin our deliberations on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, I want to touch on a number of points that I hope will help focus our discussion and provide some themes for reflection. . . .

In my observations, I include the following points:
(1) What or Who it is we proclaim – the Word of God;
(2) recent resources to help us in our task;
(3) particular circumstances of our day that render this Synod necessary;
(4) elements of the New Evangelization;
(5) some theological principles for the New Evangelization;
(6) qualities of the new evangelizers; and finally,
(7) charisms of the Church today to assist in the task of the New Evangelization.

Pope Benedict Addresses the First Session of the Synod on the New Evangelization



Opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelization

Homily of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops
7 October 2012

With this solemn concelebration we open the thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. This theme reflects a programmatic direction for the life of the Church, its members, families, its communities and institutions. And this outline is reinforced by the fact that it coincides with the beginning of the Year of Faith, starting on 11 October, on the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. . . .

The readings for this Sunday’s Liturgy of the Word propose to us two principal points of reflection: the first on matrimony, which I will touch shortly; and the second on Jesus Christ, which I will discuss now. We do not have time to comment upon the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews but, at the beginning of this Synodal Assembly, we ought to welcome the invitation to fix our gaze upon the Lord Jesus, “crowned with glory and honour, because of the suffering of death (2:9). The word of God places us before the glorious One who was crucified, so that our whole lives, and in particular the commitment of this Synodal session, will take place in the sight of him and in the light of his mystery. In every time and place, evangelization always has as its starting and finishing points Jesus Christ, the Son of God (cf. Mk 1:1); and the Crucifix is the supremely distinctive sign of him who announces the Gospel: a sign of love and peace, a call to conversion and reconciliation. My dear Brother Bishops, starting with ourselves, let us fix our gaze upon him and let us be purified by his grace.

I would now like briefly to examine the new evangelization, and its relation to ordinary evangelization and the mission ad Gentes. The Church exists to evangelize. Faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ’s command, his disciples went out to the whole world to announce the Good News, spreading Christian communities everywhere. With time, these became well-organized churches with many faithful. At various times in history, divine providence has given birth to a renewed dynamism in Church’s evangelizing activity. We need only think of the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxon peoples or the Slavs, or the transmission of the faith on the continent of America, or the missionary undertakings among the peoples of Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Donald Cardinal Wuerl on the "Tsunami of Secularism" and the New Evangelization

Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, has been appointed to the very important position of Relator General for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. He explains, in the video above, what a synod is generally, and what the Church hopes to accomplish in the upcoming synod on the New Evangelization.

What is a relator? John Allen presents this useful summary:

In every synod, the key figure is the relator, or general secretary, who organizes the work, supervises preparation of all the documents, and delivers two key reports before and after the synod deliberations. The first one sets the tone, while the second sums everything up.

It's a much-watched job, in part because the last two popes in a row first came to prominence as a synod relator. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland held the job for the 1974 synod on evangelization, and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany did so for the 1980 synod on the family, a performance that sealed John Paul II's determination to bring him to Rome as his doctrinal czar.

This time around, the relator is Wuerl, 72, himself frequently mentioned as a candidate for a senior Vatican job. In 2010, Wuerl published a pastoral letter on the new evangelization said to have left a very positive impression on Benedict XVI.

Having a Parent-Child Relationship with God

Below we discuss Having a Spousal Relationship with Christ, borrowing heavily from Blessed Pope John Paul II's theology of the body. All of us -- men and women, those with a vocation to human married life, both those who have already married and those single people who have not yet married, those with a vocation to the religious life, and even those persons with a same sex attraction -- are called to have a spousal-type of love and relationship with the Lord, especially in the eschatological destiny of the faithful.

But what are some of the other relationships that we can have or should have with the Lord?

In addition to our having a personal spousal relationship with the Lord, individually and in communion with the whole Church as the Bride, since the other faithful have a spousal relationship with Him, we are also often described as wedding guests, where we rejoice at the nuptial union of the Lamb and His Bride.

One of the most obvious forms of relationship, of course, is the parent-child relationship, the relationship that Jesus invites us to have with God by calling Him "Father." Indeed, in the original Aramaic, Jesus uses the more affectionate and intimate word used by children of "Abba". Related to this very intimate paternal relationship is the more formal relationship of Creator and creature, the Omnipotent and the limited, dependent, and lowly. We are His children, His creation.

However, Jesus is the Son of God. So, if He is the Son and we are also children of God, then that would indicate a fraternal relationship with the Lord, one of brother-brother and brother-sister. Beyond the intimacy of a familial relationship, there is also the close relationship of friends, with Jesus famously teaching that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend. (Jn 15:13-15)

Then there are the other relationships described in scripture, such as master-servant, with we faithful being workers in the vineyard of the Lord. When He was not called "master," by the Apostles and other disciples, Jesus was often called "Rabbi," demonstrating a teacher-student relationship. At times, Jesus goes beyond mere teaching and instead He takes on the character of teaching with authority, that is, acting as lawgiver. This would also be related to the relationship of Judge and accused, whereby we will stand before Jesus in judgment of our lives, as well as Jesus being Christ the King, with us as His faithful subjects.

One of the obligations of a good sovereign king, of course, is the protection of the kingdom and the people, so we see also the relationship of Good Shepherd and His sheep. If we stray from the flock and become lost, then Jesus the Shepherd will come and find us. Related to His taking care of the sheep is the physician-patient relationship, whereby Jesus not only performed many medical healings during His ministry, but He seeks to heal us as well from our injuries and diseases of sin and suffering. As the Bread of Life and the Eternal Living Water (Jn 6:35 and 4:10-14), he sustains us who are hungry and thirsty.

So which of these is the relationship that we ought to have with Jesus? The right answer is all of them. Our relationship with Jesus Christ ought to encompass all good and right kinds of relationship. We can see this illustrated in our postures at Mass. At times, we stand as a sign of respect in our prayers. During the period of instruction, when listening to the scriptures and the homily, we sit (standing, of course, in respect for the Gospel). While Jesus is always present in Spirit, when He enters the Mass in the Blessed Sacrament, His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, it is right and proper that we should kneel. Each of these postures indicate the various types of relationship with Him, some of them rather close, some of them maintaining a respectful distance.

However, the Mass culminates with what kind of posture? Our receiving His Body into our own. A more intimate encounter you cannot describe, to have one person literally inside another. This is the kind of intimate touching that you see in only two relationships -- the spousal and the maternal.

Which brings us to the one other relationship that I would like to focus on in particular, and that is the parental-child relationship. By this I am not referring to the Father-children of God relationship, but the relationship that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, has with the Lord.

If you were to picture Jesus appearing before you right now, what would He look like? Most people who answer that question say that He would be rather muscular, with dark hair and a beard, some might say He looks suspiciously like Jim Caviezel. But most everyone always describes a fully-grown adult Jesus. Throughout the year, when we think of Christ, we invariably think of Him during His ministry, Passion, Resurrection, or reigning up there in heaven. A couple of times during Advent and Christmastime, we speak of "baby Jesus," but there is often still a disconnect -- we think that the "real" Jesus is the adult whose words we know.

But there is great value in reflecting upon Jesus the baby. Just as there is great value in reflecting upon Jesus as the God/Man, fully God, yet fully a man, there is also great value in reflecting upon Jesus as the God/Baby, fully God, yet fully a tiny, defenseless, needy baby.

And there is value in a pregnant woman looking down to see the baby in her own womb, or a man looking upon the womb of his wife, putting themselves in the places of Mary and Joseph, embracing the not-yet-born Jesus with their hands. And, later, holding the newborn Jesus in their loving arms.

Especially for the New Evangelization, this is the Jesus we should reflect upon, in addition to reflecting upon the usual waiting for the (adult) bridegroom/master/king to arrive. As all-powerful as the Creator of the Universe is, Jesus the God/Baby teaches us that it is part of His plan to need our help, that He is relying on us to help Him, to feed Him, to clothe Him, to protect Him, to love Him. This is implicit in the whole idea of the Church - whose mission is to help Him - but the Baby Jesus places it in stark, tangible form. The Almighty makes Himself a baby so that we might welcome Him and love Him, and thereby love others.

Likewise, it is appropriate and helpful to consider the Baby Jesus in the context of our new life in the Faith by virtue of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation, by which we receive the many graces we will need to engage in this work of evangelization. Whereas Baptism is about personal redemption and initiation into the Church, Confirmation is about sanctification and joining in the Church's mission of being a witness for Christ, that is, loving Him and helping Him. Having received the fullness of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, we are now better prepared to take the precious baby into our arms, to love and nurture Him and, like the shepherds and magi who will appear later, to make a gift to Him of ourselves.

And so, where do we see Christ at this moment? Yes, He is the King, but He is also the Baby. Right now, He is the baby in the womb, the God who is literally drawing on the human flesh and life of Mary for His own (human) survival. The baby who needs her, the baby who needs us.

As with the spousal relationship, which we are invited to now, but looks forward to our eschatological destiny in the New Jerusalem, we ought to focus our attention in the New Evangelization on a child-parent relationship, where we become like Mary and Joseph, allowing ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit so as to become pregnant with Jesus in the wombs of our hearts, and to thereafter carry Him in our arms wherever we go, so that others might come to know Him when we visit them, as so that they might hear Him speak to them, as Elizabeth and John the Baptist "heard" Jesus "speaking" from the womb of Mary at the Visitation.

God Comes to Us as a Baby in Need of Our Help
Homily of Pope Benedict XVI
Midnight Mass, Christmas 2006

“Be not afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you glad tidings of great joy that will be for all the people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk 2:10-11)

Nothing miraculous, nothing extraordinary, nothing magnificent is given to the shepherds as a sign. All they will see is a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, one who, like all children, needs a mother’s care; a child born in a stable, who therefore lies not in a cradle but in a manger. God’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. . . .

God’s sign is simplicity. God’s sign is the baby. God’s sign is that He makes Himself small for us. This is how He reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendor. He comes as a baby, defenseless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with His strength. He takes away our fear of His greatness. He asks for our love: so He makes Himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into His feelings, His thoughts and His will – we learn to live with Him and to practice with Him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made Himself small so that we could understand Him, welcome Him, and love Him. . . .

"God made His Word short, He abbreviated it" (Is 10:23; Rom 9:28). The Fathers of the early Church interpreted this in two ways. The Son Himself is the Word, the Logos; the eternal Word became small – small enough to fit into a manger. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way He teaches us to love the weak. . . .

And so we come to the second meaning . . . The Word which God speaks to us in Sacred Scripture had become long in the course of the centuries. It became long and complex, not just for the simple and unlettered, but even more so for those versed in Sacred Scripture . . . Jesus "abbreviated" the Word – He showed us once more its deeper simplicity and unity. Everything taught by the Law and the Prophets is summed up, He says, in the command: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind… You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:37-40). This is everything – the whole faith is contained in this one act of love which embraces God and humanity. . .

God is no longer distant. He is no longer unknown. He is no longer beyond the reach of our heart. He has become a child for us, and in so doing He has dispelled all doubt. He has become our neighbor, restoring in this way the image of man, whom we often find so hard to love. For us, God has become a gift. He has given Himself. He has entered time for us. He who is the Eternal One, above time, He has assumed our time and raised it to himself on high. . . .

And so, finally, we find yet a third meaning in the saying that the Word became "brief" and "small". . . . Man, in order to live, needs bread, the fruit of the earth and of his labor. But he does not live by bread alone. He needs nourishment for his soul: he needs meaning that can fill his life. Thus, for the Fathers, the manger of the animals became the symbol of the altar, on which lies the Bread which is Christ Himself: the true food for our hearts. Once again we see how He became small: in the humble appearance of the host, in a small piece of bread, He gives us Himself.

Fr. Barron on Seven Great Qualities of a New Evangelist

Preview of the Upcoming Synod on the New Evangelization

Pope Benedict: "Evangelization, in fact, is not the work of some specialists, but of the entire People of God"

In preparing for the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization, certain questions arise:

Who should be the ones to perform this mission? Shouldn't we leave this work to the bishops and priests, the other professionals, experts, and specialists who have degrees in theology and communications? Aren't they the ones who are qualified for the work while we should simply be concerned with our own issues, making ourselves better and more holy people?

In fact, notwithstanding the fact that I myself have been certified by the Diocese of Arlington as a Master Catechist, and although we are each different parts of the Body, all of us are called to join in this mission to spread the Faith. In the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, we are all called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and help Him in the work of salvation, reconciling mankind to God. As Pope Benedict emphasized just last week,

Evangelization, in fact, is not the work of some specialists, but of the entire People of God, under the guidance of the Pastors. Each believer, in and with the ecclesial community should feel responsible for announcing and witnessing to the Gospel.

(Address of Pope Benedict to Newly Appointed Bishops, 20 September 2012) (emphasis added).

Most especially in the New Evangelization, which, among other things, seeks to find more effective ways to communicate that message of Light to a dark world, it is often the non-experts, the non-specialists who are the best and most effective proclaimers of the Good News because of their varied and diverse experiences and life situations.

[T]he lay faithful "live in the world, that is, in every one of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very fabric of their existence is woven." They are persons who live an ordinary life in the world: they study, they work, they form relationships as friends, professionals, members of society, cultures, etc. . . .

In the apostolate exercised by the individual, great riches are waiting to be discovered through an intensification of the missionary effort of each of the lay faithful. Such an individual form of apostolate can contribute greatly to a more extensive spreading of the Gospel, indeed it can reach as many places as there are daily lives of individual members of the lay faithful. . . . the spread of the gospel will be particularly incisive, because in sharing fully in the unique conditions of the life, work, difficulties and hopes of their sisters and brothers, the lay faithful will be able to reach the hearts of their neighbors, friends, and colleagues, opening them to a full sense of human existence, that is, to communion with God and with all people.

(Christifideles Laici 15, 28, quoting Lumen Gentium 31, see also Redemptoris Missio 44). Conversely, for all its benefits, often that very specialization narrows the focus and understanding of the expert such that he or she is not always the most effective messenger to everyday people. Specialization often means, by its very nature, thinking "within the box" of the specialty, whereas the non-specialist person, because of his or her diverse background, is better able to consider all of the situations and factors of everyday life in the world and, thus, think "outside the box."

With respect to his own evangelization efforts interacting with many different kinds of people in different lands, the Apostle Paul said,

I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law--though I myself am not under the law--to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law--though I am not outside God's law but within the law of Christ--to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. (1 Cor. 9:19-23) (emphasis added)

As with the world-traveling Paul, for us to be successful in evangelization, we cannot be overly-narrow in our thoughts and approaches, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work, we need to be able to understand and appreciate people in their unique everyday living situations and have the ability to adjust our message appropriately.

Pope Benedict has repeated this idea often, that the spread of the Faith is not a task for only the specialists and experts of theology and communications, but for all of the faithful and, indeed, often it is the everyday person who can best perform that task. In meetings with young people, the Pope frequently says to them, as he did for World Youth Day 2008, that these non-specialists are often the best people to spread the faith to their contemporaries.

Today too there is a need for disciples of Christ who give unstintingly of their time and energy to serve the Gospel. There is a need for young people who will allow God’s love to burn within them and who will respond generously to his urgent call, just as many young blesseds and saints did in the past and also in more recent times.

In particular, I assure you that the Spirit of Jesus today is inviting you young people to be bearers of the good news of Jesus to your contemporaries. The difficulty that adults undoubtedly find in approaching the sphere of youth in a comprehensible and convincing way could be a sign with which the Spirit is urging you young people to take this task upon yourselves. You know the ideals, the language, and also the wounds, the expectations, and at the same time the desire for goodness felt by your contemporaries. This opens up the vast world of young people’s emotions, work, education, expectations, and suffering.

Each one of you must have the courage to promise the Holy Spirit that you will bring one young person to Jesus Christ in the way you consider best, knowing how to “give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but [to] do it with gentleness and reverence” (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).

(Message for World Youth Day 2008)

Some measure of learning and knowledge in the Faith is essential, of course. To speak of Jesus, we must know Jesus. Part of the New Evangelization is the conversion and evangelization of self, to have knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Faith, most especially the knowledge of the heart, but to be effective and successful in a diverse world, we need to not only speak of Jesus, but speak the way our listeners speak. The spread of the Faith cannot be just the work of the degree-carrying "specialists." Rather, it is the work of all the faithful in prayerful communion and collaboration with pastors, the Magisterium, and most especially, the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of evangelization and mission (Evangelii Nuntiandi 75, and Redemptoris Missio 21, 71 et seq.).

In past centuries, thanks to the generous testimony of so many baptized ones who spent their lives to educate new generations in the faith, to heal the sick and help the poor, the Christian community announced the Gospel to the residents of Rome. This same mission is entrusted to us today, in different situations, in a city where not a few baptized Christians have lost the way to the Church, while non-Christians do not know the beauty of our faith. . . .

The mandate of evangelization does not only concern some, but all baptized Christians. . . . This requires a change in mentality particularly among laymen, who must pass from considering themselves "collaborators" of the clergy to recognize that they are really "co-responsible" for what the Church is and how it acts, thus promoting the consolidation of a mature and committed laity.

(Address of Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome, Opening of the Ecclesial Convention of the Diocese of Rome, 26 May 2009)

What is needed, what is essential if we are to succeed in the New Evangelization is to understand that effective communication is not a one-way proposition requiring only that the speaker know the words to speak; effective communication requires that the speaker, in addition to knowing the words to speak, knows the words that the listener understands in his own particular situtation. For this, we need those who are not merely degree-carrying specialists in communications, theology, and other aspects of the Faith, but we need those experienced in society and culture, the good and the bad, those experienced in the lives of everyday people, faithful and sinners alike. In this, we mean not only parents being the primary religious educators of their children, rather than abdicating this responsibility to Catholic schools and CCD teachers, for example, but spreading the Faith to the world at-large.

All the lay faithful are summoned to labor in the vineyard of the Lord, especially with respect to interaction with the modern world.

The lay faithful, in fact, "are called by God so that they, led by the spirit of the Gospel, might contribute to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven, by fulfilling their own particular duties. Thus, especially in this way of life, resplendent in faith, hope and charity they manifest Christ to others."

(Christifideles Laici 15, quoting Lumen Gentium 31)

Who should be the ones to perform this mission? Shouldn't we leave this work to the experts, the professionals and specialists who have degrees in theology and communications?

No, we should not leave it all for others to do. In the New Evangelization, the lay faithful, the everyday person, is not a passive bystander. He or she is called to become an active participant in the mission of the Church as part of our Confirmation duty, but as re-emphasized now in the New Evangelization, this work by the non-specialist everyday person who can speak to the problems and concerns of other everyday people is crucial to its success.

The New Evangelization: Announcing God Who Responds to Our Reason

From the "found while looking for other things" file --

Remarks of Pope Benedict XVI
Press Conference en route to Mexico
March 23, 2012

The path of the New Evangelization started with the [Second Vatican] Council - this was a fundamental intention of Pope John XXIII, which was underscored by John Paul II. The need for it in a world that is undergoing great changes has become even more evident.

The Gospel must be expressed in new ways - new words that can cut through the difficulty of orienting oneself today. The common condition in the world today is secularization - the absence of God, the difficulty of finding him, and of putting him in the center, to see him as a reality who affects my life.

On the other hand, there are also specific dangers. . . . We must start with what we have in common: In our modern rationality, we can rediscover God, as a fundamental orientation for our life, the foundation of those values which can truly build a society, and the way we can best consider the specificities of diverse situations.

So first, I think it is important to announce God who responds to our reason - we see the rationality of the cosmos, we see that there must be something behind it all, and we also see how near God is, the synthesis of greatness and majesty who is close to us and orients us to the values of truth. He is the nucleus of evangelization, the fundamental nucleus we need in order to live with all the problems of our time.

On the other hand, we must consider concrete realities. In Latin America, generally, I would say that it is very important that Christianity was never so much a matter of reason but of the heart. The Virgin of Guadalupe is known and loved by everyone because they understand that she is the Mother of all. She has been present almost from the very beginning in this new America shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards. They know intuitively that she exists to love us and to help us.

But this, let us say, intuition of the heart, must be linked to the rationality of faith and to the profundity of faith that goes beyond reason. We must seek not to lose this intuition of the heart but to link heart and reason, so that man may be whole, and as a whole man, promote the new evangelization.

(originally posted at Vita Nostra in Ecclesia)(Translation courtesy of Benedetto XVI Forum)

Be Bold Heralds of the New Evangelization

Address of Pope Benedict to Newly Appointed Bishops
September 20, 2012

It is the eve of the Year of Faith, of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and of the Thirteenth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme: "New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian faith." These events, to which the twentieth anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church must be added, are an opportunity to strengthen the faith of which, my dear Brothers, you are teachers and heralds (cf. Lumen Gentium, 25). . . .

Your primary concern must be to promote and support "a more determined commitment of the Church in favor of the new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy in believing and find the enthusiasm to communicate the faith" (Porta fidei, 7). Here too you are called to encourage and foster communion and collaboration between all the realities of your dioceses.

Evangelization, in fact, is not the work of some specialists, but of the entire People of God, under the guidance of the Pastors. Each believer, in and with the ecclesial community should feel responsible for announcing and witnessing to the Gospel. Blessed John XXIII, opening the great assembly of Vatican II envisaged "a leap forward toward a doctrinal penetration and a formation of consciences," and for this reason - he added - "it is necessary that this certain and unchangeable doctrine, which must be faithfully respected, be both deepened and presented in a way that meets the needs of our time." (Address at the Opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, October 11, 1962)

We could say that the new evangelization began precisely with the Council, which Blessed John XXIII saw as a new Pentecost that would see the Church flourish through its inner wealth and maternally extend to all fields of human activity (cf. Address at the closing of the first session of the Council, December 8, 1962). The effects of the new Pentecost, despite the difficulties of the times, spread to reach the life of the Church in all its forms: from the institutional to the spiritual, from the participation of the lay faithful in the Church to the charismatic flowering and holiness. In this regard, we cannot but think of both Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II, as well as the many figures of bishops, priests, religious and lay people who have rendered the face of the Church beautiful in our time. . . .

On Shrinking, Growing, and Smaller but Purer

Over at the Archdiocese of Washington blog, our friend Monsignor Charles Pope asks, "What of the 'Smaller but Purer' Vision of the Church?" This follows a prior post asking "What do we learn when an Archdiocese chooses to close more than half its parishes?"

It is indeed troubling to see a progressive process of people leaving the Church in favor of other venues or secularization and, of course, addressing that is part of what the New Evangelization is all about. But we should pay attention to the words of Cardinal Ratzinger in a talk he gave in 2000 to a group of catechists, where he warns against the temptation of impatience.

Yet another temptation lies hidden beneath this — the temptation of impatience, the temptation of immediately finding the great success, in finding large numbers. But this is not God’s way. For the Kingdom of God as well as for evangelization, the instrument and vehicle of the Kingdom of God, the parable of the grain of mustard seed is always valid (see Mark 4:31-32).

The Kingdom of God always starts anew under this sign. New evangelization cannot mean: immediately attracting the large masses that have distanced themselves from the Church by using new and more refined methods. No—this is not what new evangelization promises.

New evangelization means: never being satisfied with the fact that from the grain of mustard seed, the great tree of the Universal Church grew; never thinking that the fact that different birds may find place among its branches can suffice—rather, it means to dare, once again and with the humility of the small grain, to leave up to God the when and how it will grow (Mark 4:26-29).

Yes, there is a temptation to look at things and panic at all the empty seats and the thought of "we could do so much more if more people contributed more money and time," etc.

It is a temptation we should overcome and realize that we don't have to do everything all by ourselves, we can let God do some of the work too. That doesn't mean our kicking back and not doing anything, making God do ALL the work, as all too often we might do, but it does mean, with respect to evangelization, re-evangelization, catechesis, etc., doing what Augustine suggested with respect to our own lives and grace -- do what you can, as much as you can, and then ask God for help (grace) to do the rest.

But aside from that, I suggest that it is also a matter of perspective. Without being overly optimistic with wishful thinking, we need to look at things with a broader and more precise view in how we "count the numbers." We might have more than we realize.

It is not a matter of the Church being composed of only those faithful sitting in the pews, with "the world" out there being filled fully with pagans and idol worshipers and nonbelievers and anti-believers. Rather, the outside world is, if not believing Christian, then it is a society that is Christianized -- both areas that seem to be post-Christian, where the Faith seems to have lost ground to secularism (such as Europe and the United States), and those areas which never had many professing Christians. In both of these areas, even if they no longer profess Christ, still they are imbued with Christian ideals, Christian ethics, a Christian worldview. Here in the United States, even many of the atheists are Christianized in that their values are implicitly Christian.

The fundamental ideas of good and evil, right and wrong, helping the sick and oppressed, a desire for social unity, the inherent dignity of the human person, peaceful harmony amongst people. One of those ideas is the idea of forgiveness and mercy, even in war, such that, instead of entire populations being wiped out in genocidal retaliation in war, humanity has survived. Without getting into the debate of the morality of dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we might even suggest that without Christian morality, the world would have erupted into planet-killing nuclear war long ago. All of these are Christian ideals, they are not universal ideals. Indeed, we need only go to some areas of the world to see where these concepts have been rejected.

So, notwithstanding the fact that it appears in many places that we have returned to pre-Christian Rome, a culture of hedonism and violence, the numbers may not necessarily be as bleak as they might seem. There may not be as many Mass-attending and parish-active Catholics (and that is a valid concern), but there are many out there in the world who nevertheless have the embers of Catholicism still glowing within them, and there are many others who, although non-Catholic or non-Christian, are yet Christianized with Christian ideals and ethics, a Christianity without Christ I suppose, and these even include not a few agnostics and atheists.

The question is -- How to reach them? How to bring them the rest of the way? How to appeal to them in words they will listen to and can understand? What is the right hook to use to catch them and reel them in? How to act in ways they find to be admirable and worthy of emulating?

"Be prepared in season and out of season," counsels Paul (2 Tim 4:2). OK, if direct evangelization is not in season, if people will not listen or are unable to understand even if they do hear, then perhaps we need to resort to "pre-evangelization" during this out-of-season time. If they will immediately reject and run-away at the mention of the words "God" or "Jesus" or "heaven" or "hell" or "sin," perhaps we need to speak to them in their own language, that language of the residual Catholicism/Christianity of those who have become secularized, and the language of those Christianized ideals and ethics of right and wrong, helping one another, etc.

We need to make use of these pre-existing elements and use them as a way to get in the door, rather than have the door slammed in our face. We need to be surreptitious, we need to go around their pre-built defenses against us and our message if we are to succeed. Speak of Jesus without words, and in the words we do use, let them come to know Him without using that particular word "Jesus" just yet. We need to prepare the soil by:

(1) Encouraging them in the search for truth, encourage them merely to seek truth (the mention of "Jesus" can wait for a bit here, after all, God Himself waited thousands of years to prepare people to receive Him), which is what St. Augustine went through. During that search, his mother Monica had asked a bishop to speak to him and set him straight, but the bishop refused to do so. At that point, Augustine was not ready, he was "unripe for instruction," and to speak to him then might have only pushed him further away. Instead, difficult as it was for Monica (and Augustine), he had to struggle a little bit more before he would be ready, before the iron was hot enough for striking.
(2) Encouraging them in love, explain and help them to understand what authentic true love is (where the longing for the other is directed toward, not selfish gratification, but toward a gift of self, again, without scaring them off with the mention of "Jesus" or "the Church"), rather than the counterfeit that so many know today, and how the real thing brings so much more joy than the transitory superficial counterfeit that leaves so many broken people behind.
(3) In love and truth, disabusing people of the many falsehoods and mischaracterizations of so many things. Protect and defend the truth as pertains to the inherent dignity of the human person, of the living humanity of the entity in the womb, respecting the inherent dignity of woman in her fertility as being the true pro-woman stance, rather than the true anti-woman stance which seeks to suppress and destroy that which is unique to woman.
(4) Be a light of Christ by allowing Him to shine through you in your actions, exposing people to Him even if you have not yet said His name. This was often the approach of Mother Teresa.

It is this kind of pre-evangelization of appealing to those pre-existing Christianized elements of right and wrong, justice, help for the downtrodden, etc., that might be necessary -- both for those who have never believed and those who stopped believing (or stopped practicing) in favor of secular, worldly things -- before we can succeed in the new evangelization. Again, God in Salvation History and Jesus during His ministry did exactly that, often drawing people in by revealing God without directly mentioning Him, and only later being more direct. We must get people to drop their defenses, to open up their ears and open up their hearts ("Ephphatha") before we can proclaim to them the Good News of Jesus Christ, and that what is even more hopeful and joyous and life-affirming than mere believing in those philosophical and ethical ideals is to fully embrace He who is Love and Truth in relationship with Him.

And, as part of this, it is essential to clear out the rocks and weeds in preparation of the soil, we need to correct the many misunderstandings and misconceptions about the Church and the Faith, that we are anti-woman, anti-gay, a bunch of child molesters, full of greed for money and power, that our history is nothing but gleefully torturing heretics and suppressing science by locking up Galileo, etc. I am convinced that many of the stumbling blocks, if not THE NUMBER ONE stumbling block to people embracing the Catholic Church and Faith is this false understanding that they have. As Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen famously said, "Not one hundred in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is."

Part of clearing away the rocks and weeds of misconception is to remember that we are in the business of joy, and not complaining and moaning about how bad this is or that is. We proclaim GOOD NEWS, GLAD TIDINGS, REJOICE. We must go about our service in a positive manner, not a negative one.

All too often were a drifted-away Catholic or a fallen-away Catholic, or a non-Catholic to see and read what Catholics themselves say about the Church, about how this is bad, that is bad, they would run away and never look back. And rightly so. Why would anyone want to revert or convert after reading such stuff?

If all that people ever hear, from the progressive side or from the traditional side, is how awful and lousy this aspect of the Church is or that aspect of it is -- or we present Church teachings unenthusiastically or with a wink-and-a-nod that signals that we disagree with them -- then we are essentially locking the front door and pushing people out the back door. And then we wonder where everyone is.

Now, none of this calling people back home with the Lord, or inviting them to meet Him in the first place, will be easy. It will be hard and arduous work. It is work that will take the rest of our lives. Finding the right hook and the right time to go fishing is a task that will require a more dynamic approach than we might have engaged in before. And because we are all different, it is not a one-size-fits-all program that will work, but a case-by-case, one-on-one approach. We must be like Paul discovered that he needed to be -- "become all things to all" (1 Cor. 9:19-23). Perhaps beginning with ourselves, renewing and re-evangelizing ourselves. But it is not the work of drudgery, even if at times frustrating, but is the work of joy and hope.

And if we do it the right way, if we begin the work with prayer, with asking God to help us and accompany us along the journey, it will be even more joyful and quite a bit fruitful. Because, as we should tell people after preparing them, after getting them to drop their defenses, that truth and love which they seek and desire and need are not merely nice ideas, Love and Truth are a reality, Love and Truth are a Living Being, such that we do not simply have to agree with or believe in them, we can allow ourselves to become one with Love, one with Truth, and thereby realize the fullness of our potential and attain that happy life, that life of beatitude which all people seek.

(cross-posted at the ADW blog site)

Pope Benedict on the New Evangelization

The method of the New Evangelization is necessarily one of flexibility and, while respecting the need to proclaim only the truth in the faith, is one left largely to our own prudent judgment. To be sure, Pope Benedict counseled a wide range of latitude in saying to youth, "Each one of you must have the courage to promise the Holy Spirit that you will bring one young person to Jesus Christ in the way you consider best." (emphasis added)

Of course, such an approach requires a much more dynamic faith, a much more active participation in the mission of the Church in order to respond differently to the various different situations. We cannot lazily simply quote things to people, but must actively engage with them. However, take heart, we are not alone in this endeavor, we are not left entirely alone to our own devices. In Confirmation, we received the grace of the Holy Spirit, the helping hand of the Paraclete who is the primary agent of evangelization, as we ourselves are mere co-workers in truth.

Besides, the message that we have to proclaim to people is a message of glad tidings and joy and hope in these difficult times. So once we get beyond our reserve and reticence and throw ourselves out there onto the stage, we will discover the blessed joy we ourselves receive in bringing Him who is Love and Truth and Light and Life to others.

The Great Challenge of the New Evangelization
Message of Pope Benedict XVI to the
2012 Assembly of the International Catholic Action Forum

To guide others to an encounter with Christ by announcing his message of salvation with language and ways understandable in our own day, which is marked by rapidly transforming social and cultural advances, is the great challenge of the new evangelization. I encourage you to continue generously in your service to the Church, by fully living out your charism, whose fundamental feature is that of adopting the apostolic goal of the Church as a whole, in a fruitful balance between the universal and local Church, and in a spirit of intimate union with the Successor of Peter and of active co-responsibility with one’s own Pastors.

Spreading the Faith in a Comprehensible and Convincing Way
Message of Pope Benedict for World Youth Day 2008

To proclaim the Gospel and bear witness to the faith is more necessary than ever today. There are those who think that to present the precious treasure of faith to people who do not share it means being intolerant towards them, but this is not the case, because to present Christ is not to impose Him.

Moreover, two thousand years ago twelve Apostles gave their lives to make Christ known and loved. Throughout the centuries since then, the Gospel has continued to spread by means of men and women inspired by that same missionary fervor.

Today too, there is a need for disciples of Christ who give unstintingly of their time and energy to serve the Gospel. There is a need for young people who will allow God’s love to burn within them and who will respond generously to his urgent call, just as many young blesseds and saints did in the past and also in more recent times. In particular, I assure you that the Spirit of Jesus today is inviting you young people to be bearers of the good news of Jesus to your contemporaries.

The difficulty that adults undoubtedly find in approaching the sphere of youth in a comprehensible and convincing way could be a sign with which the Spirit is urging you young people to take this task upon yourselves. You know the ideals, the language, and also the wounds, the expectations, and at the same time the desire for goodness felt by your contemporaries. This opens up the vast world of young people’s emotions, work, education, expectations, and suffering. Each one of you must have the courage to promise the Holy Spirit that you will bring one young person to Jesus Christ in the way you consider best, knowing how to “give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but [to] do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet 3:15). . . .

Be prepared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth.

Be Missionaries of Joy
Message of Pope Benedict XVI for World Youth Day 2012

The Church’s vocation is to bring joy to the world, a joy that is authentic and enduring, the joy proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born. Not only did God speak, not only did he accomplish great signs throughout the history of humankind, but he drew so near to us that he became one of us and lived our life completely. In these difficult times, so many young people all around you need to hear that the Christian message is a message of joy and hope! . . .

Whatever brings us true joy, whether the small joys of each day or the greatest joys in life, has its source in God, even if this does not seem immediately obvious. This is because God is a communion of eternal love, he is infinite joy that does not remain closed in on itself, but expands to embrace all whom God loves and who love him. God created us in his image out of love, in order to shower his love upon us and to fill us with his presence and grace. God wants us to share in his own divine and eternal joy, and he helps us to see that the deepest meaning and value of our lives lie in being accepted, welcomed and loved by him. Whereas we sometimes find it hard to accept others, God offers us an unconditional acceptance which enables us to say: “I am loved; I have a place in the world and in history; I am personally loved by God. If God accepts me and loves me and I am sure of this, then I know clearly and with certainty that it is a good thing that I am alive.”

God’s infinite love for each of us is fully seen in Jesus Christ. The joy we are searching for is to be found in him. . . .

I would encourage you to be missionaries of joy. We cannot be happy if others are not. Joy has to be shared. Go and tell other young people about your joy at finding the precious treasure which is Jesus himself. We cannot keep the joy of faith to ourselves. If we are to keep it, we must give it away. Saint John said: “What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; we are writing this so that our joy may be complete” (1 Jn 1:3-4).

Christianity is sometimes depicted as a way of life that stifles our freedom and goes against our desires for happiness and joy. But this is far from the truth. Christians are men and women who are truly happy because they know that they are not alone. They know that God is always holding them in his hands. It is up to you, young followers of Christ, to show the world that faith brings happiness and a joy which is true, full and enduring. If the way Christians live at times appears dull and boring, you should be the first to show the joyful and happy side of faith. The Gospel is the “good news” that God loves us and that each of us is important to him. Show the world that this is true!

Be enthusiastic witnesses of the new evangelization! Go to those who are suffering and those who are searching, and give them the joy that Jesus wants to bestow. Bring it to your families, your schools and universities, and your workplaces and your friends, wherever you live. You will see how it is contagious. You will receive a hundredfold: the joy of salvation for yourselves, and the joy of seeing God’s mercy at work in the hearts of others. And when you go to meet the Lord on that last day, you will hear him say: “Well done, my good and faithful servant... Come, share your master’s joy” (Mt 25:21).

"From the Cross of Nowa Huta Began the New Evangelization, the Evangelization of the Second Millennium"

As noted in the post below, use of the term "New Evangelization" by the universal Church can be traced back to the following homily given by Pope John Paul II during his return to his native Poland in 1979 after being elected pope. And it is quite fitting that the New Evangelization should begin where the cross had come to a place without God and triumphed over those who sought to deny God to the people, with the church that was eventually built there constructed upon a foundation containing a stone from the tomb of St. Peter, the rock upon whom Jesus has built His Church.

A “New Evangelization” Has Begun
Homily of Blessed Pope John Paul II
Apostolic Pilgrimage to Poland, 9 June 1979

Let us go together, pilgrims, to the Lord's Cross. With it begins a new era in human history. This is the time of grace, the time of salvation. Through the Cross, man has been able to understand the meaning of his own destiny, of his life on earth. He has discovered how much God has loved him. He has discovered, and he continues to discover by the light of faith, how great is his own worth. He has learnt to measure his own dignity by the measure of the Sacrifice that God offered in His Son for man's salvation. . . .

Where the Cross is raised, there is raised the sign that that place has now been reached by the Good News of Man's salvation through Love. Where the cross is raised, there is the sign that evangelization has begun. Once our fathers raised the Cross in various places in the land of Poland as a sign that the Gospel had arrived there, that there had been a beginning of the evangelization, which was to continue without break until today. . . .

The new wooden Cross was raised not far from here at the very time we were celebrating the Millennium. With it, we were given a sign that on the threshold of the new millennium, in these new times, these new conditions of life, the Gospel is again being proclaimed. A new evangelization has begun, as if it were a new proclamation, even if in reality it is the same as ever. The Cross stands high over the revolving world. . . .

From the Cross of Nowa Huta began the new evangelization, the evangelization of the second Millennium. . . . The evangelization of the new millennium must refer to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. It must be, as that Council taught, a work shared by bishops, priests, religious and laity, by parents and young people. The parish is not only a place where catechesis is given, it is also the living environment that must actualize it.

That was Pope John Paul II in 1979, but what is the story behind the homily? What is the story of the workers' paradise, Nowa Huta, the town without a need for God?



The Story of Nowa Huta

The struggle to build the Nowa Huta church is one of the great clashes between the Catholic Church and Communists in post-war Poland. Of all the conflicts between the Church and the Communists involving Karol Wojtyla, this story perfectly expresses his growth into political leadership. It is a small gem of a story, multifaceted, twenty years in the making, combining all the elements of Wojtyla's own political journey -- both prosaic and dramatic, gradual and surprising. Ultimately, this story is revealing of the man, the priest, the emerging leader who understood the importance of tenacity and compromise, as well as the great communicator who is exquisitely aware of symbolism and timing.

Nowa Huta was a brand new town built by the Communists in the early 50's outside of Krakow. The town was in Wojtyla's jurisdiction. It was meant to be a workers' paradise, built on Communist principles, a visible rebuke to the "decadent," spiritually besotted Krakow. The regime assumed that the workers, of course, would be atheists, so the town would be built without a church. But the people soon made it clear they did want one. Wojtyla communicated their desire, and the regime opposed it.

The conflict became an intense symbol of the opposition between the Catholic Church and the Communist state. It was a conflict between the workers' world that was supposed to be beyond religion -- and the actual workers singing old Polish hymns that started with the words, "We want God." The Communist Party reluctantly issued a permit in 1958 and then withdrew it in 1962.

Years went by as Karol Wojtyla joined other priests -- especially, Father Gorlaney -- met with authorities,and patiently filed and refiled for building permits. Crosses were put in the designated area and then pulled down at night only to mysteriously reappear weeks later. Meanwhile, Bishop Wojtyla and other priests gave sermons in the open field, winter and summer, under a burning sun, in freezing rain and snow. Year after year, Bishop Wojtyla celebrated Christmas Mass at the site where the church was supposed to be built. Thousands peacefully lined up for communion, but tension was building. Violence did actually erupt when the Communist authorities sent a bulldozer to tear down the cross. Lucjan Motyka was roused out of his hospital bed to be jeered at by the demonstrators. As he reminisced with us one morning about this humiliating moment, Motyka clearly believed that it was Wojtyla's calming words that helped to avert an ugly and potentially dangerous confrontation.

By this time, the Communists, local leaders, residents and Catholic Church had dug in, their positions seemingly intractable. The Communists' compromise to allow a church to be built outside of the town was rejected -- until Karol Wojtyla, the realist, the negotiator, broke the stalemate, persuading everyone that the existence of the church transcended all other considerations. The time to bend was now. In May 1977, a year before he became Pope, almost twenty years after the first request for a permit, Karol Wojtyla consecrated the church at Nowa Huta. What the worshippers were most proud of -- and it was a symbol Karol Wojtyla helped to make into a reality -- is the gigantic crucifixion that hangs over the new altar. It was made out of shrapnel that had been taken from the wounds of Polish soldiers, collected and sent from all over the country to make the sculpture in the new church.

(excerpt from John Paul II and the Fall of Communism, PBS Frontline)

New Evangelization and the Revelation of God Become Man

(The following is a supplemented version of the presentation made this evening at Cinema Catechism's viewing of Episode One of the Catholicism series.)(supplemented further Saturday, September 15)

The Catholicism website says that the series answers "the call for the new evangelization," and I would invite all of you to use this series in preparing for and living the Year of Faith and New Evangelization.

We've been hearing a lot about the Year of Faith and New Evangelization, but just exactly what are they?

Occasionally, the Pope will proclaim years to reflect and focus upon various themes, recently the Year of Priests. And Pope Benedict decided to call a Year of Faith to begin October 11, on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, and in connection with that, to hold a synod of bishops on the New Evangelization.

Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ. During the homily at the Mass marking the inauguration of my pontificate I 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.” . . .

In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. (Porta Fidei 2, 4)

But what is this "New Evangelization" we keep hearing about all of a sudden??

First, it should be noted that "the New Evangelization" has been described in various ways in varying contexts since the call first went out. Thus, there is no one single answer to the question of "what is the New Evangelization?" However, in all of its usages, it involved some core concepts, with more or less emphasis placed on this or that, and inevitably overlapping into other related areas.

The term "New Evangelization" was first used in a document by Latin American bishops, but its usage by the universal Church has its origin in a homily given by Blessed Pope John Paul II at Nowa Huta during his first apostolic journey to his native Poland in 1979. Nowa Huta was a factory town that had been built without a church after WWII, as planned by the Communist rulers who said that workers had no need for God. The Polish faithful knew otherwise, and they came and erected a large cross in the town where then-Bishop Karol Wojtyla celebrated Mass for the people. Afterward, the Communists knocked down the cross, and kept knocking it down after the people and Bishop Wojtyla would put it back up. And now the cross is there to stay, as well as the church that was finally built, and consecrated by Cardinal Wojtyla in 1977, with a stone from the tomb of St. Peter, a gift from Pope Paul VI, placed in the church's foundation. So it was fitting that there, where the cross had come and triumphed over a place without God, that the call for a New Evangelization should be made.

In making this call, John Paul said that, in pursuing the New Evangelization for the new millenium, we must refer to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. Thus, it is fair to say that the idea of the New Evangelization has its roots in Blessed Pope John XXIII's opening address to the Council, where the Pope said quite explicitly,

The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be safeguarded and expounded more effectively. . . . What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy and serenity of mind in the unreserved acceptance by all of the entire Christian faith, without forfeiting that accuracy and precision in its presentation which characterized the proceedings of the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council. What is needed, and what everyone imbued with a truly Christian, Catholic and apostolic spirit craves today, is that this doctrine shall be more widely known, more deeply understood, and more penetrating in its effects on men's moral lives. What is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms. For this deposit of faith, or truths which are contained in our time-honored teaching is one thing; the manner in which these truths are set forth (with their meaning preserved intact) is something else.

The Pope went on to say that, while condemnations were sometimes necessary, there should be a preference for spreading the Faith in a positive manner. After all, the Lord is an occasion for joy.

Successive generations give rise to varying errors, and these often vanish as quickly as they came, like mist before the sun. The Church has always opposed these errors, and often condemned them with the utmost severity. Today, however, Christ's Bride prefers the balm of mercy to the arm of severity. She believes that, present needs are best served by explaining more fully the purport of her doctrines, rather than by publishing condemnations.

Accordingly, considering John Paul's call for a New Evangelization in light of the Council:
Number One -- safeguard the Faith. People who say that there was a reinvention of the Faith at the Council are wrong. In opening the Council, Pope John repeated emphasized that there was an obligation to transmit the Faith "in all its purity, undiluted, undistorted." We are mere servants here.
Number Two -- find better and more effective ways to spread the faith.
Number Three -- spread the faith in positive terms, charity in truth. For example, rather than be merely anti-abortion, we should be pro-life in our approach. Rather than merely condemn contraception as evil and wrong, we should do so by promoting the positive good of marriage and the fullness of authentic love in human sexuality. Rather than rail at people, "Bad News, you're going to burn in hell," we should proclaim, "Good News, in Jesus Christ you can be saved."

So, with respect to the New Evangelization --

The New -- in an address to Catechists and Religion Teachers in 2000, Cardinal Ratzinger differentiated between "classic evangelization" and the "New Evangelization."

We can see a progressive process of de-Christianization and a loss of the essential human values, which is worrisome. A large part of today's humanity does not find the Gospel in the permanent evangelization of the Church . . . This is why we are searching for, along with permanent and uninterrupted and never to be interrupted evangelization, a new evangelization, capable of being heard by that world that does not find access to "classic" evangelization. Everyone needs the Gospel; the Gospel is destined to all and not only to a specific circle and this is why we are obliged to look for new ways of bringing the Gospel to all.

These new ways, new methods, might include new technologies, such as the Internet, film, art, etc. Cinema Catechism and Fr. Barron's Catholicism series are examples of the use of new technologies, new media to spread the Faith in the New Evangelization.

The new ways might also involve new formulations -- fresher, more effective, more understandable ways of speaking the truth, including recognizing the need to correct people's misconceptions and false ideas about the Faith and Church. This would include presenting the faith in your own words of witness and experience of your life. Know your audience for effective communication. We need to speak the language that they speak. Latin is the language of the Church, but to the world, Latin is a dead language and were we to speak only Latin to people, it would be noisy gibberish to them and we would fail to engage in real communication with them.

In fishing for men and women, we need to have the right kind of hooks for that particular fish, we need to have the right kinds of nets to catch those who might slip through more classic nets, and we need to know the best time of day to go out, to fish when they are biting. Casting our nets at the right time and in the right place might involve more surreptitious methods rather than the direct frontal assault method of asking people, "Are you saved? Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?" (an approach by some Protestants that I'm sure we are all personally familiar with). It might mean stealthily going around their pre-built defenses or infiltrating them, allowing them to see the love and truth of Jesus reflected in your actions and words even if you do not initially use the name "Jesus." This is something that Mother Teresa quite often did. Encourage them in truth and love, and only when those defenses are down may the time be right to cast the net.

Now, in using new formulations, new words to spread the Faith, we need to be careful to protect and safeguard the Faith, to proclaim only what the Church teaches and not our own personal ideas. This is not a license to proclaim the Church of Do Your Own Thing. We are mere servants, workers in the vineyard of the Lord, and it is His Church, not ours to remake as we please. Moreover, the people we encounter have a right to learn the fullness of the Faith of the Church, and not be subjected to our own fancies.

However, if the classic method works, go with it. Stick with the tried and true, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but if one is not responsive to that classic evangelization, we need to use another hook.

The New also includes rediscovery of old forgotten sources, or those that we did not have ready access to before, like the ancient writings of the early Church fathers or CDs of early church music, chant and polyphony. In this, the new technologies, like the Internet, are of enormous assistance.

In addition, the New also includes a revitalization of the classic evangelization, a renewal and reinvigoration of our own faith lives. It begins with us, it must begin with ourselves, and if we are married, that includes spouses evangelizing each other, building up the faith of the other, helping each other to grow in the Lord, as they are called to do in the Sacrament of Matrimony. And, in connection with that, parents evangelizing their children, conveying to them the most precious gift that is the love and truth of God, as well as evangelizing other members of our family, including that family whom we call fellow Catholics, our brothers and sisters in the Church.

And so, given the need for personal renewal, the New Evangelization must begin with prayer. Where the ultimate goal is communion with God, to be one with Him and in Him, it is proper that we should begin with communicating with Him, by responding to Him and asking Him to join with us in our journey to help us with grace and speak through us. We are called to be a light, but we ourselves are not the light, He is the Light, and we must allow His light to shine through us to others.

In this connection, John Paul teaches in Christifideles Laici and Redemptoris Missio that a related step in the New Evangelization is re-evangelization -- personal conversion and renewal (CF 34). We cannot effectively proclaim Christ and have Him shine through us if He is a stranger to our hearts. And it is witness that is the first form of evangelization. As John Paul recognizes, "people today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in experience than in teaching, and in life and action than in theories" (RM 42). Thus, we need to know Him first-hand if we are to be His witnesses to our spouses, family, fellow Catholics, and the world.

This leads to initial proclamation of the Good News.

This is the "Good News" which changes man and his history, and which all peoples have a right to hear. This proclamation is to be made within the context of the lives of the individuals and peoples who receive it. It is to be made with an attitude of love and esteem toward those who hear it, in language which is practical and adapted to the situation. In this proclamation the Spirit is at work and establishes a communion between the missionary and his hearers, a communion which is possible inasmuch as both enter into communion with God the Father through Christ. (RM 44)

Only later, after the proclamation of the Good News, can catechesis and instruction fruitfully occur.

So that's the New, what about the Evangelization part?

The Evangelization – In the broadest sense, the New Evangelization is about spreading the fullness of the Faith, depending upon whom you are interacting with. Even if you are dealing with a person well-versed in the Faith, we need to help revitalize and strengthen them in their faith, and help make sure that they are oriented in the right direction toward God and not pointed toward the wilderness. But instead of that broad sense, I would like to focus on that word "Evangelization," which is from the Greek euangélion (also spelled euaggelion, pronounced you-on-gellion), often translated as "Glad tidings" or "Good News."

Before going on, I’d like to ask -- Are you better off than you were 5-10 years ago? Or do you perceive that things are getting worse, not only economically, but socially, culturally, politically, etc.? Our social climate is more coarse and corrosive than ever. There is resentment and bile and disharmony and fear for the present and future. People feel unjustly burdened and some face threats to their lives and freedom. A lot of people are hurting out there and they don't expect things to improve, only get worse. And I have been one of those people -- I've known the stress and anxiety of severe underemployment, the pain of feeling unwanted, and I am approaching that stressful period in life where I am facing the loss of my parents, who are in their sunset years. But, of course, I am not alone in these things and many have things much worse.

A lot of people are anxious, many in despair. Many have given up. Even people who have jobs and many worldly riches are afraid of losing what they have and end up spending much of their time seeking to increase that wealth rather than focusing on the more important things in life. Even in the best of times, many find that something is lacking in life despite all their riches, they may love their gold, but their gold does not love them back. And, not to get political, but many think that there is a good chance that our entire economic structure is going to collapse and crash and burn. So, none of us are immune.

The world is in desperate need of some good news, some real hope, hope as a reality, not a slogan. People need some good news in these times where all the news looks bad and grim. Many of you need some good news. I am very much in need of some good news, some glimmer of hope.

And that is what we have to offer to people -- Good News. And that is what keeps me afloat, the Good News of Jesus Christ. By that, we mean not so much that the Good News is about Jesus Christ, or that the Good News is from Jesus Christ, although it does involve those things, but we primarily mean that the Good News is Jesus Christ. He Himself is the Good News. Christianity, Catholicism, is primarily not a philosophy, an ideology, or set of ethics, but is relationship. The ultimate goal is not merely for people to know facts about Jesus or to agree with His ideas, but to establish a relationship with Him personally. It is about an encounter, an intimate encounter, with a person, the person of Jesus Christ, Love and Truth and Life in person. Intimacy with the Lord, staying with Him, is what Christian discipleship is fundamentally about.

In my own struggle, He is my rock and salvation. If I build my life on Him, I can withstand the storm. Jesus, with His Blessed Mother at His side, our mother, my mother. I have some money saved up, but without Him and Mary and His Bride, I would have nothing, I would then be truly without all hope. This is not theory, these are not warm platitudes we offer, this is personal. This is not the first time that I have gone through hard times or the threat of dark times, the prospect of doom, and it won't be the last, and it was the Lord and His Holy Bride and my most precious Mary who have held me and saved me. And in love and truth, we need to share this gift of Jesus with the cold and dark world out there. They need Him, they have a right to Him.

The world is in desperate need of this Good News, a lot of people are anxious and struggling, poor and rich alike. A couple of years ago, there was a famous professional golfer who was simply astounding to watch. He was by far the best in the world and primed to be the best ever before certain aspects of his personal life came to light, resulting in the break-up of his marriage and family. Fr. Barron notes that, again, Jesus is not like Buddha, offering primarily a philosophy of life, a spiritually liberating path, but instead offers us relationship with the Love that brings new life. This professional golfer is not Christian, he is Buddhist, and there was a bit of a controversy in some quarters when retired newsman Brit Hume suggested that what he really needed was Jesus Christ, from whom he could obtain forgiveness and redemption, which is not a part of Buddhism. Was Hume correct to suggest this? Well, it should be noted that this golfer isn't the same as he was, his game has never recovered and his family remains tragically shattered. Although he puts on a brave face in interviews, one can detect that he is not a happy person, there is an emptiness there despite his remaining a very wealthy person.

Yes, people everywhere need the Good News of Jesus Christ. Now, ultimately the Good News is Jesus Christ, but recognizing the need to proclaim Him in an effective manner, we may need to begin with something more fundamental.

Good News! Rejoice! We have found what your restless heart has been searching for -- God exists. Our own existence is not random and accidental. We are not at the mercy of arbitrary and irrational forces in the universe, the universe is not ruled by chaos. Rather, God exists and you are wanted. You and your life have meaning, to love and be loved in truth. He is loving and merciful and truthful, but more than that, He is Love, He is Truth. You are loved!

And the truth is that man was made for life, made for a blessed and happy life, for love and truth and freedom.

But we can immediately see that this world is not a paradise, the history of mankind is a history of hardship and pain and suffering, where mere survival is a struggle.

However, Good News, God is Love and Truth, so in His Love, He will make sure that we obtain that life, that life of beatitude if only we accept Him, even if we have rejected Him in the past and are responsible for misfortune coming down upon our own heads by our own wrongful deeds. And to that end, He came down from heaven and became man.

Good News -- The Kingdom of God is at hand, Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. This God is Love, God is Truth, who is the fullness of reality itself, beginning and end, Alpha and Omega, has come to dwell amongst us in Jesus Christ, the Word, the Logos. He came and gives sight to the blind, comfort to the poor, He comes to free us from the oppression of hardship and sufferings of this world, to save us even from death. The Good News of the Cross, which by the transformative power of the fullness of love, new life is possible. He shepherds us through the valley of the shadow of suffering and death, and He makes all things new. If life in this world reduces you to tears, He stands ready to dry your tears and hold you.

And beyond salvation, Good News, He also comes to sanctify us, to perfect us, to make us holy. In his book, Fr. Barron notes that the word "sin" is from the German "sunde," meaning "to sunder or separate," which is what sin does, separate us from God. He also notes that the word "holy" sounds like it is related to "whole," such that to be holy is to be made whole, to bring together what has been separated by sin and to be one with Christ.

We are destined for divinization, transformation into God by being one with Him. Two become one. A fruitful loving communion of persons in one being. As Fr. Barron says, the coming together of incongruous things, the divine and the human. You are loved! You are loved by a Bridegroom who is the fullness and perfection of Love and who wants to give to you the infinite goodness that is to be one with that fullness and perfection of Love.

Good News -- Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, join with Him and though you were dead, yet shall you live. This world is not the be all and end all, there is something better that awaits us. But even while we journey through this worldly life, if we do so with Him, we have hope, we can endure. We know that we are loved, that we are wanted. And even beyond that, we are needed. We are not useless and pointless. People need to be not only wanted, but have a sense that they are needed, and we do have a purpose, we are needed, the Lord asks us for our help. He asks us to help others to be able to experience His love for themselves. The Eternal Lord asks us to be as Joseph and Mary, carrying Him in our arms and in the depths of our very being, to become pregnant with Him in the wombs of our hearts, so that the others that we visit and encounter might know Him.

But this is not always easy and is often difficult. Today, just as 2000 years ago, Jesus can be a deeply disconcerting figure, a sign of contradiction with the way of the world. As much as people struggle and suffer in this world, all too often they prefer wandering in the desert or a life of slavery to worldly concerns, they prefer the illness to the cure, they are afraid to let go and detach and put things in proper priority.

So -- Who is Jesus, What is Jesus, Why should we care, Why should anyone care? Which brings us to episode one of the Catholicism series, Amazed and Afraid: the Revelation of God Become Man.

After watching, we’ll have a group discussion. If our response to Jesus should be relationship, I’ll ask about what are the various kinds of relationship we might have with the Lord. Fr. Barron only touches briefly on the “Afraid” part in the title, so we can explore that further. If evangelization is about proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, what about those who already believe in Jesus, although they may not be Catholic, do we need to engage in evangelization with our Protestant brothers and sisters? And another question I will put to you is an unsettling question that perhaps might add to that “afraid” part, and it is this – Are you willing to suffer and die with Jesus Christ?