I failed to mention at all the Masses this weekend that if you would like to begin reading the document now and commenting on this blog now, please by all means do it! If you’re excited to get going, I’m NOT going to make you wait until October. That is actually one of the problems Catholic parishes, dioceses, schools, etc… need to address concerning the New Evangelization. If people are ready to go, are on fire to do something faith related, especially with regard to something like this, why make them wait?!
Do you have your copy of this document yet? If not, you can print it yourself, pick up a printed copy here at the parish office, or buy the book which we also have at the parish office. Of course, you can also just read it online!
This is from Fr. Mark Zacker, our Pastor at Corpus Christi:
“When I was in Rome back in January, I was within five feet of greeting Pope Francis. At his Wednesday audience that I attended, he invited us to embrace a very dynamic way of understanding ourselves as Catholic Christians. He is calling each one of us to become MISSIONARY DISCIPLES!
First, Disciples. We are always being called to follow Christ the Risen One. He is leading us to find Him in the places where He promises us He will always be found: among the last, the least, the forsaken. Are you looking for him THERE? Try it, this week!
Secondly, Missionaries. Having experienced God’s love for us in Christ, we are each being sent to be joyful witnesses of the Good News of God’s presence and power at work, especially in the most challenging places and demanding experiences. What difference can you make this week among the last, the least, the forsaken.
I want the Pope’s vision to be at the heart of our Corpus Christi Catholic Church and School. He is calling us as Catholics to “go to the margins” of American society, and walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are experiencing the changing power of God’s love at work in their lives — changing their hearts, their communities and even their living situations. Don’t be content with only spending time with your friends or family that you see in Church every week. Get to know someone new. Share the joy of the Gospel with them by your smile, your laugh, and give them reason for your hope — you’re a Catholic Christian, you love Jesus and His Church!
I hope everyone takes advantage of this blog to read and comment on Pope Francis’ “Joy of the Gospel.” Please don’t rush your reading, but take your time and enjoy. Imagine yourself actually doing what Pope Francis is calling you to do — and then DO IT!
The Lord always sends his disciples out two by two, and YOU are the “other disciple.” None of us at Corpus Christi would be able to do our good works without your prayerful and generous support. I thank Gary Niemerg for making it possible for us to “go to the margins” and walk together in the “Joy of the Gospel.”
May your “slow reading” awaken in you the call of Pope Francis to our common vocation as MISSIONARY DISCIPLES! And may we do God’s amazing work in our Diocese.
“Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are Infinitely loved. Here we find the source and inspiration of all our efforts at evangelization.” These two sentences of Pope Francis sum up our attitude and mission, in my opinion.
Thanks, Peg, for your input! So many people have lost hope and we have the answer for that. All of us have a God that loves us immensely! How can one not derive at least a little joy from knowing that.
Oh, and you win a prize! I’ll have a little something for you tonight at the Catechetical session. 🙂
I actually started reading this document last April or May…but set it aside for awhile, as summer and other foci took over. I resumed in August, then had another long interruption with getting my daughter’s school year started. Then I realized today that we’re a week into October. So I finally got registered into this site! I’m looking forward to good discussion.
The initial link that pulled me into Evangelii Gaudium was the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I did them as an at-home retreat during Lent and Pentecost, and reached a particular “discussion” in which Ignatius was describing “evangelical poverty.” I’d never encountered that term before, and in an attempt to understand it better than I could from just the exercise materials, I googled it. The best of the few links offered was to Evangelii Gaudium.
After nearly 6 months of working on this idea, I think I understand it better, but I don’t know that anyone could ever claim to have “fully understood.” Exploring it has taken me to some interesting places, though.
Is there a particular segment/length we should be focusing on, this week?
I especially liked how he further defined “poverty” by comparing it to “destitution” in part 2. “Material destitution” is what most of us think of when we think of poverty, but the Holy Father also mentions “moral destitution” (slavery to vice and sin) and “spiritual destitution” (turning away from God and His love). When evangelizing, we normally encounter moral and spiritual destitution, but we can never forget our duty to reach out the materially destitute as well. Corporal works of mercy, obviously, play a pivotal role in the life of a Catholic.
Following up on poverty, Pope Francis tells us, “If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life.” To prepare for evangelization, we need to examine ourselves and set goals. Patience and mercy are necessary to be involved in the lives of others. We also need the support of others to do God’s work.
As you know, Peg, because you were there, Deacon Chris Phelps gave a talk on apologetics at Corpus Christi on Monday night. He started off by saying that he used to try to ram home the Catholic faith to others and do you know how many converts he made? ZERO! You are so right in saying that patience and mercy are necessary in ALL of our interactions with others…probably more so with those whom we are trying to evangelize. We never compromise on the truth, but there is a right way to go about it.
Wow! Ok, I just re-read this part of the document and…I don’t know where to start! First of all, The section titled, “FROM THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL” (paragraphs 34-39), just really hit home for me. Paragraph 35 sums it up the best. Instead of spewing out doctrines to a glossy eyed recipient, “the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of it’s depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing.” Many people have lost hope…give them hope! Many people aren’t loved…love them! Many people have needs they can’t fulfill…help them fulfill them! These are all central tenants of our Catholic faith should be fairly easy for us to pass on to others.
One more comment from me today and then, hopefully, others will chime in. Sometimes I feel that many Catholics approach the faith, the Gospel message, the Deposit of Faith, in one way and one way only. I used to be like that. If the narrow path to salvation is, symbolically, 5 feet wide, then mine was 5 inches wide! As I continue to grow in my relationship with God and my knowledge and love of Him, I have found that there are MANY paths one can take that are perfectly valid and beneficial for ourselves and others. Pope Francis alludes to this in paragraph 40 where he states, “Differing currents of thoughts in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice, if open to being reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the Church to grow, since all of them help to express more clearly the immense riches of God’s word. For those who long for a monolithic body of doctrine guarded by all and leaving no room for nuance, this might appear as undesirable and leading to confusion. But in fact such variety serves to bring out and develop different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel.” This ties in to St. John Paul II’s New Evangelization call for new ardor, new methods, and new expressions. Pope Francis continues with, “today’s vast and rapid cultural changes demand that we constantly seek ways of expressing unchanging truths in a language which brings out their abiding newness. ‘The deposit of the faith is one thing…the way it is expressed is another.’ The renewal of these forms of expression becomes necessary for the sake of transmitting to the people of today the Gospel message in its unchanging meaning.” We have to meet people where they are at…and use language that they can understand.
This is from Becca Grove…honest! She had some technical difficulties so she sent it to me to post.
“What I got from this first reading is that Joy is found through Christ via getting out of ourselves and selfish desires. We discover this joy by constantly working on our faith journey which is always changing (PP 11). We have to get out of ourselves and what we think will make us happy (PP 2) which will never lead us to authentic joy. When we follow our journey with Christ we find joy, although not always effervescent, is always available to us and can present itself as calm or peace.
My biggest take away was the reminder that God never tires of forgiving us but it is we who tired of asking for His mercy! This rings so true in my own life! Confession is amazing and I need to utilize this beautiful sacrament more!”
I (Al Mauro) have a question on paragraph 47. I have always believed that one must have a clean soul (clean from all mortal sin) before receiving the Eucharist. Pope Francis states that ” although the Eucharist is the fullness of sacramental life, it is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” Thus my question: who can or cannot receive the Eucharist?
You are correct, one must be free from mortal sin (i.e. in a state of grace) to receive the Eucharist. However, anyone else, no matter how many venial sins you may have comitted, are encouraged to receive the Eucharist because we are “weak” and need the “nourishment.” Hence, Pope Francis’ reference to not having to be “perfect” to receive it. Side note: once one confesses their mortal sin and has received absolution, they too are encouraged to once again receive the Eucharist regularly to aid them in their fight against sin and to draw them closer to our Lord.
Of course, one needs to be Catholic as well. If anyone is not Catholic and desires the Eucharist, give me a call and we’ll get you ready! 719-633-1457 x15
I’m a bit behind, so I’m going to comment from where I am, and catch up with the rest of you soon. I just read the first eight paragraphs of the Exhortation, “A Joy Ever New, A Joy Which Is Shared.”
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, joy is the passion that we experience when we are in the possession of a good. There is a type of joy one has in eating a hamburger – one has longed for it, fought through long lines in Five Guys to obtain it, and now delights in possessing it. This, though, is not a lasting joy. One returns to the line again the next day, and even immediately after finishing the hamburger may be wondering if Dairy Queen is still open. Human beings are made for the infinite, and what is finite cannot satisfy us. This is what Pope Francis points to in the first sentence of paragraph 2: “The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.” These things block our encounter with God, “the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt,” as well as keeping us from the love of others, particularly the poor. As St. Augustine famously said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” There is no abiding joy to be found in anything less than God.
The joy, however, that we are made for is not far from us. It courses up from the depths of God Himself and is ready to fill us with its glory. The whole torrent of the joy of the Holy Trinity has broken into our world through the Incarnation of the Son of Man, and “our Christian joy drinks of the wellspring of his brimming heart.” (5) The great secret of Christianity is its joy. The Holy Father is urging us to make this joy palpable in our lives by drinking ever more deeply from the source, the Sacred and Exulting Heart of Jesus!
Paragraph 49, in my opinion, is a wake-up call to us Catholics. Are we only concerned about those people in our own little world? Do we only focus on maintaining our own people, our own parish, and refuse to go beyond our own parish boundaries? Do we refuse to associate with lax Catholics or even just wish they would disappear? A book put out by Robert Rivers, CSP, addresses this mindset and is titled, “From Maintenance to Mission: Evangelization and the Revitalization of the Parish.”
It’s almost impossible to NOT come in contact with uninterested believers during our daily activities. Joy is attractive and gives us opportunities in conversation to leave others wondering why we’re happy. Patience may provide the next opportunity for something deeper. It’s worth the effort!
My question concerns paragraph 54. Free market DOES promote economic growth. Pope Francis doesn’t agree. His conclusions don’t ring true to me. How does anyone else read it?
I seem to remember that the Pope made the news with this one! 🙂
Just to clarify, he doesn’t say that a free market won’t produce economic growth, but that it doesn’t “succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.” (54) I think Pope Francis has seen way too many people taken advantage of in the marketplace…and elsewhere. The rich not only not helping the poor, but also taking advantage of them. In paragraph 58, he summarizes his stance, “The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and a return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favors human beings.” No matter what economic system you have, do you still treat each and every person with dignity and respect? Trickle-down can do that, theoretically, and I’m not against it at all, but I think it would also be naïve to think that all corporations have the best interests of their employees in mind.
On paper, the free market and trickle-down economy are excellent ideas. However the problem in the past has been that the people in control have been too greedy to let it trickle down to those in need (They prefer to and have kept it all to themselves). Therefore it has only worked to make the rich richer and the middle class and poor poorer. The reason for the situation that we are in today. Thus, I believe that Pope Francis is right and we should follow his guidance.
We are covering paragraphs 50-109 this week. Also, this Thursday at 7pm in the Corpus Christi Parish Hall, we will be having a discussion on the parts of the document we’ve covered so far, and will be showing some of Fr. Robert Barron’s “Catholicism: The New Evangelization” series. Come join us!
Ok, I have a lot to say again…I can’t help myself! 🙂
First of all, in paragraph 62 Pope Francis references the African Bishops and how other countries are trying to remove their native culture and insert their own. It reminded me of something I came across recently with regard to the recent Synod in Rome concerning marriage and family. Cardinal Timothy Dolan praises the African Bishops for their role in the synod. Watch here:
I love it! They are like the 2nd and 3rd generation Christians in their approach to the faith. We ARE called to give the truth to others, but, as we will see elsewhere in this document, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.
Second, there is some really good self-examination material in here for all of us. Do I fall in any of the groups or categories Pope Francis mentions? In paragraph 81, for instance, he mentions how we all, lay and religious alike, do anything we can to protect our free time even to the point of excusing ourselves from evangelizing others when the opportunity presents itself. His response to this? “This is frequently due to the fact that people feel an overbearing need to guard their personal freedom, as though the task of evangelization was a dangerous poison rather than a joyful response to God’s love which summons us to mission and makes us fulfilled and productive.” I have to admit to being guilty of that at times. Do you treat evangelization like it is poison? More on this in a bit!
Third and the last one for now…promise! 🙂
Paragraphs 93-101 would make a great examination of conscience! The first part has to do with spiritual worldliness…basically being a Pharisee from Jesus’ day where they sought their own interests, not those of God. I started to underline sentences in this section but I had to stop as I was underlining all of it! Earlier, I posted a video of Cardinal Dolan praising the African Bishops to holding to the truths of the faith in the face of counter cultures. We all should hold and teach the truth, but sometimes we can fall into the trap of distorting the truth of the Gospel message through pride. Pope Francis alludes to this by saying that there are those, “who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others.” Do you know of anyone like that? Are you like that? In all honesty, I suffer from that at times.
The second part of this has to do with warring among ourselves. That never happens, does it?! Do we create an “inner circle” of exclusivity? Is our group “special” compared to the rest of the people in the parish or community? If others see this, are they are attracted to us and our faith, or are they repulsed and repel from it? However, if we are inclusive and reach out to everyone…see Christ in everyone…then they will “see the witness of authentically fraternal and reconciled communities, they will find that witness luminous and attractive.”
Love the discussion, I wish I were free tomorrow night! But sadly, I have a long-standing pre-existing commitment. But one that contains an ongoing evangelization, of a sort….
For me, paragraphs 78-83 contain the heart of the evangelization call. A missionary spirit is necessary; spiritual sloth all but precludes it entirely. Yet, if we are indeed overflowing with the joy of Jesus, with a true and bone-deep belief that relationship with the Lord, spending time with the Father,is the only true “wealth” in life, or at least, in the words of St. Ignatius, “wealth enough for me, ” then a missionary spirit should be the natural outflow. It is similar to what we say of marriage and family; of the creative, generative love of the Father, present in we who bear his likeness, expressing itself in the creation of families and openness to new life.
True joy impels sharing. Almost no one who experiences a real happiness feels an impulse to “keep it to himself,” as if joy can be lost or diminished by being shared. This is true of Gospel joy. What is that joy? Simply this: We are loved. We are made for communion with God, who will not reject us. If we accept God’s love so fully that nothing else remains to compete with it for our attention, we can even stop sinning, and stop having times of separation from God. If we are always one with the Father, then of course we will want to share that–because the Father is not about exclusivity, He’s about inclusion. God is Love. I know it looks a bit like circular logic, but it’s the central story of our lives as Christians. If we know the central story in its simplest form, we can share it.
I had the great joy this past summer of spending 2 weeks in a desperately poor and broken inner-city neighborhood in Louisiana–Not my first summer visit there. The morning work in that mission field is a sort of day camp for kids. I’ve worked the past couple of years with the 6-9 year old girls. The story, as we unfolded it to them over the course of the summer, was something like this: God created the universe, including everything, including people. And it was great! They lived in a beautiful garden with everything they needed! But then something bad happened: the Big Lie. And what was the Big Lie? God doesn’t really love you; He didn’t really give you everything; you’re not lovable. So Adam and Eve disobeyed, and had to leave the garden. But God said, I’m gonna get my kids back. And He began His great rescue project. The Bible is God’s book of love, and the story of his rescue project. It started small, with sending people called prophets to remind the Israelites of who God is. Then, when He’d finally told them everything they needed to know to expect Him, He sent Jesus, His own son, to finish the rescue! And the crazy thing is, Jesus started out as a BABY, so we wouldn’t be scared of Him; and then look at how Jesus was with His friends, and how he loved people…
(And I think you can figure out the rest)
For kids from broken homes, who don’t know their daddies or sometimes their moms, who aren’t sure of their own last name (much less when the next meal might come or when they’ll have to move again) because everyone around their house has a different last name and no one ever stays and everyone always fights over what little there is–this is a Powerful message. It ought to be powerful for everyone! Goodness knows there’s stuff I would have liked to have been rescued from. And, in a way, as I’ve taken the deep dive into the Word and spent time with the Lord and then gone out on a few limbs (like 2 weeks in a seriously unlovely bit of Louisiana in July), I think I finally am beginning to know that I was rescued–and the height and length and breadth of what my personal “rescue” has actually been. And that’s the heart of what this Joy is, I think. It’s not Joy in paragraph 1237 of the Catechism, or in Canon 73 of the Canon law; it’s a lot simpler. It’s the Joy of the Gospel. Those other things can become important at appropriate times & places, but for evangelization, what Jesus called us to is the Joy of the Gospel.
I’m working on getting better about sharing the story. Only the greatest selfishness/self-regard would keep me silent about this. If I fear what people would think of me, if I acted and talked a little “evangelical” at times, more than I fear losing what I have with The Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then I am lost, indeed.
So I’ll get off my soap box, now. Sorry for going long. Thanks for listening. I hope Corpus Christi becomes an even MORE alive and luminous Parish through this reading assignment! Blessings and peace, everyone!
Chapter 3 is titled, “The Proclamation of the Gospel,” and is addressed to all of us, but in a particular way to our priests as well. Paragraphs 135-159 address the homily…how to prepare it and how to deliver it. Maybe Fr. Mark or Fr. Joe will chime in on this section.
Concerning the laity, something mentioned early on caught my attention because we discussed it at our gathering last Thursday. Paragraph 120 reinforces the idea that it is NOT only the job of priests and religious to evangelize, but every baptized person. Talk to anyone over the age of 50 and they usually confirm that that was the case when they were young adults…that it was only the job of priests or religious. Also, you don’t have to be at Thomas Aquinas’ level of knowledge about the faith to pass it on! Pope Francis states that, “anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love…so what are we waiting for?” We are all, I think, pretty good at putting things off, at least I am very much a procrastinator, but if we wait until we have a firm grasp of every aspect of the faith before we evangelize we’ll never reach anyone. We will always be almost ready, but not yet. Listen to Pope Francis. What are you waiting for! 🙂
“Chapter 3 of “The Joy of the Gospel” is my favorite! I love how Pope Francis speaks of ALL of us, the ENTIRE people of God, as “missionary disciples” — including preachers — “we ought to let others be constantly evangelizing us” (par. 121). That’s what helps me, personally, in my homilies. I need to let others constantly evangelize ME. I try to pay attention to what’s going on in the news; local, state, national, and international. I pay attention to what’s going on in our parish, school, and community. I like to highlight the joy of the Gospel that I see all around me. I ask, “How is God working here? How are people responding or not responding? What good news will inspire others?
Spiritual Reading or Lectio Divina is recommended by our Holy Father (par 152-153). This is something we can ALL do. I remember sitting in church as a little boy, listening to a homily, and the Holy Spirit would guide and direct my thoughts to how the Gospel and the Homily applied to ME. It was powerful! It still happens! I hope it happens to YOU!
Pope Francis writes, “The centrality of the kerygma calls for stressing those elements which are most needed today: it has to express God’s saving love which PRECEDES any moral and religious obligation on our part; it should not IMPOSE the truth but APPEAL to FREEDOM; it should be marked by JOY, ENCOURAGEMENT, LIVELINESS and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more PHILOSOPHICAL than EVANGELICAL. All this demands on the part of the evangelizer certain attitudes which foster openness to the message: approachability, readiness for dialogue, patience, a warmth and welcome which is non-judgmental” (par. 165).
I hope you find all these qualities in Fr. Joe’s preaching and mine! If NOT, let us know!
Finally, Pope Francis writes, “The study of Sacred Scripture must be a door opened to every believer” (par. 175). I’m so happy that we have so many different Bible studies offered here at Corpus Christi – day and evening. How can anyone have an EXCUSE for not knowing and loving God’s word?”
Section 1 of chapter 4 has to do with the “kerygma” as it relates to society. I don’t think we have talked about what the kerygma is. In our previous reading, paragraph 164 talks about it as being the initial proclamation of the Gospel message. Pope Francis says that our first announcement, the first thing out of our lips, should be that, “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.” Who wouldn’t love to hear that?! Our world is overflowing with people who need this message of hope! Pope Francis goes on to say that the kerygma proclamation should not be just alluded to at the beginning of evangelization, but it must also be “the principle proclamation, the one which we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment” (par. 164). Our Catholic faith is Christocentric. Christ is at the center of it all! Everything in the Old Testament pointed to the coming of Christ and everything in the New Testament refers back to Christ. He must permeate everything that we proclaim.
Also, paragraph 165 is beautiful…especially the second half which talks about what the kerygma proclamation should look like, being “marked by joy, encouragement, liveliness and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than evangelical.” We are to acknowledge truth, but in a warm and non-judgmental way. I, personally, use this approach in my RCIA sessions. People come to RCIA from all walks of life and, sometimes, with much baggage. They are looking for a warm embrace…the embrace that only our resurrected Lord can give. If we fill them with anything else but that, they will go away wanting.
I’ll use Pope Francis’s words which are important to evangelization. P 171 “We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing.
Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur”
We’ve just completed elections and paragraph 182 tells pastors they have the right to offer opinions on all that affects peoples lives. The video on the African Bishops shows how effective that is.
We’ve made it to the end! This week we will be covering the last chapter titled, “Spirit-Filled Evangelizers,” paragraphs 259-288. Let’s hear your comments or questions! 🙂
Oh, don’t forget that this Thursday, November 13th, at 7pm we will be gathering once again in the Corpus Christi Parish Hall to further discuss this document and to continue our video clips from Fr. Robert Barron’s, “Catholicism: The New Evangelization.” He will be discussing in detail what the new ardor, new methods, and new expressions are that are inherent to the New Evangelization. Come and join us!
OK, a few opening comments on chapter 5. Pope Francis is imploring us to spread the Good News of Christ. He states, “How I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction!” (par. 261) We have to let the Holy Spirit guide us, inspire us, in this task. If not, Pope Francis laments that no amount of encouragement from him, or anyone else, will suffice in bringing it about.
You can’t give what you don’t have. Have we experienced God’s love for us? Do we have a relationship with him? Are we intentional disciples of his? (Sherry Weddell will be happy! If you don’t get this, ask me about it. :)) But if we HAVE experienced God’s love and we do have a relationship with him, why in the world would we want to keep that to ourselves! If I had a close relationship with, oh, say Peyton Manning of the Broncos and we were buds, I’d probably have no problem sharing that with others. How much cooler would it be to have a close relationship with…wait for it…God?! The very creator of the universe…and Peyton Manning! Shouldn’t that be something we should shout from the rooftops?!
But yet there are times that, for one reason or another, we don’t want to share this relationship. If you find yourself in this situation, and I do sometimes, Pope Francis has some advice for us. In paragraph 264 he says, “If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts. We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence.”
we are playing catch up on comments but paragraph 192 says so much to us, perhaps because God has blessed us with abundance. However, we still feel like the people in power, locally and nationally, are keeping us from helping people that really need it for education, health care, jobs, and dignity. How do we make a difference? The greedy and power seekers have gotten their wealth from this country, city or state yet they refuse to give back their fair share. Instead of giving they fight decent wages, equal health care, educational opportunities, etc. Any ideas? A possible revised tax structure??After all, Jesus asks us for 10%!
Shari and Al Mauro
I definitely don’t have all the answers, especially with regard to government/politics/economics, but I do know the solution to the even bigger picture and that is Christ! It really is the focus of this document. If we bring the Good News, the Joy of the Gospel, to the world and they embrace it, then most, if not all, of our problems will be taken care of. It sounds so simple, but as you know, it is so hard to achieve. That is why we need good people like yourselves to take ownership of their call to evangelize and bring the saving grace of Jesus to every home, to every person that we encounter. How do we go about doing that? Well, come to the parish hall tonight and we’ll discuss it! 🙂
“If we succeed in expressing adequately and with beauty the essential content of the Gospel, surely this message will speak to the deepest yearnings of people’s hearts…We have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or disappoint” (par 265). Wow! See, Jesus has done the hard work for us! We are basically guaranteed success if…
…let’s break this down a little. Two key words in the first sentence are “adequately” and “beauty.” We have to adequately express the essential content of the Gospel. It doesn’t say “thoroughly” express, or “ThomasAquinasesque” express, the essential content. It says adequately. Don’t wait until you’ve studied Scripture and theology for years before putting out into the deep and evangelizing. Do it now! Also, it doesn’t say “underwhelmingly” express, or “haphazardly” express, the essential content. Once again, it says adequately. We have to know the basics of our faith or else we run the risk of giving out bad information that might make matters worse. However, having experienced God’s love in our life is already enough to get started!
Ok, now onto beauty. We have to beautifully express the essential content of the Gospel. Why? Because the alternative isn’t very compelling. Think about it. Who is going to convert to Catholicism, or Christianity in general, if the message is presented in a rude, monotonous, chastising, or condemning way? Not many. It’s not only the delivery either. The truths of our faith are already beautiful and bring much hope. Pass them on! St. John of the Cross talks of the infinite caverns in us that can only be filled with God. We try to fill them with other “stuff,” but worldly goods prove to be lacking. We are only truly happy when we fill those caverns with God. That is the “deepest yearnings of people’s hearts” that Pope Francis is talking about. Let’s convince people that the numerous gifts they receive at Christmas will not fill that void. Only the impoverished child in the manger can do that.
Lastly, the message we give is the “message which cannot mislead or disappoint.’ So many people have lost hope and are despairing because they have been mislead or disappointed by others. They are hurting. They are begging for hope. God is incapable of misleading or disappointing. He is our message. How can we fail? People are wired for God whether they know it or not. Let’s give him to them!
OK, I’m going to end with some of my favorite quotes from the rest of chapter 5.
With regard to distancing ourselves from those who suffer: “He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of a people” (par 269). I love the words “wonderfully complicated” in this!
“We do not live better when we flee, hide, refuse to share, stop giving and lock ourselves up in own comforts. Such a life is nothing less than slow suicide” (par 272).
“Sometimes it seems that our work is fruitless, but mission is not like a business transaction or investment, or even a humanitarian activity. It is not a show where we count how many people come as a result of our publicity; it is something much deeper, which escapes all measurement. It may be that the Lord uses our sacrifices to shower blessings in another part of the world which we will never visit. The Holy Spirit works as he wills, when he wills and where he wills; we entrust ourselves without pretending to see striking results. We know only that our commitment is necessary. Let us learn to rest in the tenderness of the arms of the Father amid our creative and generous commitment. Let us keep marching forward; let us give him everything, allowing him to make our efforts bear fruit in his good time” (par 279). Quite the pep talk there!
With regard to trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide us: “It is true that this trust in the unseen can cause us to feel disoriented: it is like being plunged into the deep and not knowing what we will find. I myself have frequently experienced this. Yet there is not greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills. The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful” (par 280)!
Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the “Joy of the Gospel.”
Now, we have to LIVE that joy. That joy comes from being loved by Jesus. We can, and WILL, only love others, because He has loved us!
“A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody” (par. 266).
Go back to the times in your life when you were suffering. How did Jesus help you? How did HIS suffering give meaning to yours? What is the POWER of His suffering? If you can bring that to others in suffering then you are bringing them Jesus! You are bringing them a JOY that goes through suffering to eternal life. This is Jesus! This is YOU as His missionary!
I failed to mention at all the Masses this weekend that if you would like to begin reading the document now and commenting on this blog now, please by all means do it! If you’re excited to get going, I’m NOT going to make you wait until October. That is actually one of the problems Catholic parishes, dioceses, schools, etc… need to address concerning the New Evangelization. If people are ready to go, are on fire to do something faith related, especially with regard to something like this, why make them wait?!
So, if you are ready to roll, lets go! 🙂
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This sounds great. I’m looking forward to participating in this discussion!
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Do you have your copy of this document yet? If not, you can print it yourself, pick up a printed copy here at the parish office, or buy the book which we also have at the parish office. Of course, you can also just read it online!
We begin in just over 4 weeks…very exciting!
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3 weeks to go…are you ready?! 🙂
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Look for a flyer on Evangelii Gaudium in this weekend’s bulletin. We begin the week of October 5th!
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This is from Fr. Mark Zacker, our Pastor at Corpus Christi:
“When I was in Rome back in January, I was within five feet of greeting Pope Francis. At his Wednesday audience that I attended, he invited us to embrace a very dynamic way of understanding ourselves as Catholic Christians. He is calling each one of us to become MISSIONARY DISCIPLES!
First, Disciples. We are always being called to follow Christ the Risen One. He is leading us to find Him in the places where He promises us He will always be found: among the last, the least, the forsaken. Are you looking for him THERE? Try it, this week!
Secondly, Missionaries. Having experienced God’s love for us in Christ, we are each being sent to be joyful witnesses of the Good News of God’s presence and power at work, especially in the most challenging places and demanding experiences. What difference can you make this week among the last, the least, the forsaken.
I want the Pope’s vision to be at the heart of our Corpus Christi Catholic Church and School. He is calling us as Catholics to “go to the margins” of American society, and walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are experiencing the changing power of God’s love at work in their lives — changing their hearts, their communities and even their living situations. Don’t be content with only spending time with your friends or family that you see in Church every week. Get to know someone new. Share the joy of the Gospel with them by your smile, your laugh, and give them reason for your hope — you’re a Catholic Christian, you love Jesus and His Church!
I hope everyone takes advantage of this blog to read and comment on Pope Francis’ “Joy of the Gospel.” Please don’t rush your reading, but take your time and enjoy. Imagine yourself actually doing what Pope Francis is calling you to do — and then DO IT!
The Lord always sends his disciples out two by two, and YOU are the “other disciple.” None of us at Corpus Christi would be able to do our good works without your prayerful and generous support. I thank Gary Niemerg for making it possible for us to “go to the margins” and walk together in the “Joy of the Gospel.”
May your “slow reading” awaken in you the call of Pope Francis to our common vocation as MISSIONARY DISCIPLES! And may we do God’s amazing work in our Diocese.
Keep Close to Corpus Christi!
Rev. Mark Zacker
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How about we get started?!!! First post after this one receives a gift from me!
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“Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are Infinitely loved. Here we find the source and inspiration of all our efforts at evangelization.” These two sentences of Pope Francis sum up our attitude and mission, in my opinion.
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Thanks, Peg, for your input! So many people have lost hope and we have the answer for that. All of us have a God that loves us immensely! How can one not derive at least a little joy from knowing that.
Oh, and you win a prize! I’ll have a little something for you tonight at the Catechetical session. 🙂
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I actually started reading this document last April or May…but set it aside for awhile, as summer and other foci took over. I resumed in August, then had another long interruption with getting my daughter’s school year started. Then I realized today that we’re a week into October. So I finally got registered into this site! I’m looking forward to good discussion.
The initial link that pulled me into Evangelii Gaudium was the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I did them as an at-home retreat during Lent and Pentecost, and reached a particular “discussion” in which Ignatius was describing “evangelical poverty.” I’d never encountered that term before, and in an attempt to understand it better than I could from just the exercise materials, I googled it. The best of the few links offered was to Evangelii Gaudium.
After nearly 6 months of working on this idea, I think I understand it better, but I don’t know that anyone could ever claim to have “fully understood.” Exploring it has taken me to some interesting places, though.
Is there a particular segment/length we should be focusing on, this week?
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Hi, Kelly, and welcome to the discussion!
Yes, this week we are focusing on paragraphs 1-18. Next week we will be going over 19-49.
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After doing a little research on evangelical poverty myself, I think Pope Francis covered it very well in this Lenten address he gave this Spring:
http://cathedralpb.com/lenten-message-of-our-holy-father-francis-2014
I especially liked how he further defined “poverty” by comparing it to “destitution” in part 2. “Material destitution” is what most of us think of when we think of poverty, but the Holy Father also mentions “moral destitution” (slavery to vice and sin) and “spiritual destitution” (turning away from God and His love). When evangelizing, we normally encounter moral and spiritual destitution, but we can never forget our duty to reach out the materially destitute as well. Corporal works of mercy, obviously, play a pivotal role in the life of a Catholic.
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Following up on poverty, Pope Francis tells us, “If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life.” To prepare for evangelization, we need to examine ourselves and set goals. Patience and mercy are necessary to be involved in the lives of others. We also need the support of others to do God’s work.
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As you know, Peg, because you were there, Deacon Chris Phelps gave a talk on apologetics at Corpus Christi on Monday night. He started off by saying that he used to try to ram home the Catholic faith to others and do you know how many converts he made? ZERO! You are so right in saying that patience and mercy are necessary in ALL of our interactions with others…probably more so with those whom we are trying to evangelize. We never compromise on the truth, but there is a right way to go about it.
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We are covering sections 19-49 this week…don’t be shy! 🙂
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Wow! Ok, I just re-read this part of the document and…I don’t know where to start! First of all, The section titled, “FROM THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL” (paragraphs 34-39), just really hit home for me. Paragraph 35 sums it up the best. Instead of spewing out doctrines to a glossy eyed recipient, “the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of it’s depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing.” Many people have lost hope…give them hope! Many people aren’t loved…love them! Many people have needs they can’t fulfill…help them fulfill them! These are all central tenants of our Catholic faith should be fairly easy for us to pass on to others.
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One more comment from me today and then, hopefully, others will chime in. Sometimes I feel that many Catholics approach the faith, the Gospel message, the Deposit of Faith, in one way and one way only. I used to be like that. If the narrow path to salvation is, symbolically, 5 feet wide, then mine was 5 inches wide! As I continue to grow in my relationship with God and my knowledge and love of Him, I have found that there are MANY paths one can take that are perfectly valid and beneficial for ourselves and others. Pope Francis alludes to this in paragraph 40 where he states, “Differing currents of thoughts in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice, if open to being reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the Church to grow, since all of them help to express more clearly the immense riches of God’s word. For those who long for a monolithic body of doctrine guarded by all and leaving no room for nuance, this might appear as undesirable and leading to confusion. But in fact such variety serves to bring out and develop different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel.” This ties in to St. John Paul II’s New Evangelization call for new ardor, new methods, and new expressions. Pope Francis continues with, “today’s vast and rapid cultural changes demand that we constantly seek ways of expressing unchanging truths in a language which brings out their abiding newness. ‘The deposit of the faith is one thing…the way it is expressed is another.’ The renewal of these forms of expression becomes necessary for the sake of transmitting to the people of today the Gospel message in its unchanging meaning.” We have to meet people where they are at…and use language that they can understand.
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This is from Becca Grove…honest! She had some technical difficulties so she sent it to me to post.
“What I got from this first reading is that Joy is found through Christ via getting out of ourselves and selfish desires. We discover this joy by constantly working on our faith journey which is always changing (PP 11). We have to get out of ourselves and what we think will make us happy (PP 2) which will never lead us to authentic joy. When we follow our journey with Christ we find joy, although not always effervescent, is always available to us and can present itself as calm or peace.
My biggest take away was the reminder that God never tires of forgiving us but it is we who tired of asking for His mercy! This rings so true in my own life! Confession is amazing and I need to utilize this beautiful sacrament more!”
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I (Al Mauro) have a question on paragraph 47. I have always believed that one must have a clean soul (clean from all mortal sin) before receiving the Eucharist. Pope Francis states that ” although the Eucharist is the fullness of sacramental life, it is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” Thus my question: who can or cannot receive the Eucharist?
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Hi, Al, and welcome to the discussion!
You are correct, one must be free from mortal sin (i.e. in a state of grace) to receive the Eucharist. However, anyone else, no matter how many venial sins you may have comitted, are encouraged to receive the Eucharist because we are “weak” and need the “nourishment.” Hence, Pope Francis’ reference to not having to be “perfect” to receive it. Side note: once one confesses their mortal sin and has received absolution, they too are encouraged to once again receive the Eucharist regularly to aid them in their fight against sin and to draw them closer to our Lord.
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Thank you Gary.
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Of course, one needs to be Catholic as well. If anyone is not Catholic and desires the Eucharist, give me a call and we’ll get you ready! 719-633-1457 x15
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I’m a bit behind, so I’m going to comment from where I am, and catch up with the rest of you soon. I just read the first eight paragraphs of the Exhortation, “A Joy Ever New, A Joy Which Is Shared.”
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, joy is the passion that we experience when we are in the possession of a good. There is a type of joy one has in eating a hamburger – one has longed for it, fought through long lines in Five Guys to obtain it, and now delights in possessing it. This, though, is not a lasting joy. One returns to the line again the next day, and even immediately after finishing the hamburger may be wondering if Dairy Queen is still open. Human beings are made for the infinite, and what is finite cannot satisfy us. This is what Pope Francis points to in the first sentence of paragraph 2: “The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.” These things block our encounter with God, “the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt,” as well as keeping us from the love of others, particularly the poor. As St. Augustine famously said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” There is no abiding joy to be found in anything less than God.
The joy, however, that we are made for is not far from us. It courses up from the depths of God Himself and is ready to fill us with its glory. The whole torrent of the joy of the Holy Trinity has broken into our world through the Incarnation of the Son of Man, and “our Christian joy drinks of the wellspring of his brimming heart.” (5) The great secret of Christianity is its joy. The Holy Father is urging us to make this joy palpable in our lives by drinking ever more deeply from the source, the Sacred and Exulting Heart of Jesus!
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Thanks, Fr. Joe, and welcome to the discussion! 🙂
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My last comment on this section:
Paragraph 49, in my opinion, is a wake-up call to us Catholics. Are we only concerned about those people in our own little world? Do we only focus on maintaining our own people, our own parish, and refuse to go beyond our own parish boundaries? Do we refuse to associate with lax Catholics or even just wish they would disappear? A book put out by Robert Rivers, CSP, addresses this mindset and is titled, “From Maintenance to Mission: Evangelization and the Revitalization of the Parish.”
I would be interested in your comments. 🙂
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It’s almost impossible to NOT come in contact with uninterested believers during our daily activities. Joy is attractive and gives us opportunities in conversation to leave others wondering why we’re happy. Patience may provide the next opportunity for something deeper. It’s worth the effort!
My question concerns paragraph 54. Free market DOES promote economic growth. Pope Francis doesn’t agree. His conclusions don’t ring true to me. How does anyone else read it?
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Hi, Peg!
I seem to remember that the Pope made the news with this one! 🙂
Just to clarify, he doesn’t say that a free market won’t produce economic growth, but that it doesn’t “succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.” (54) I think Pope Francis has seen way too many people taken advantage of in the marketplace…and elsewhere. The rich not only not helping the poor, but also taking advantage of them. In paragraph 58, he summarizes his stance, “The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and a return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favors human beings.” No matter what economic system you have, do you still treat each and every person with dignity and respect? Trickle-down can do that, theoretically, and I’m not against it at all, but I think it would also be naïve to think that all corporations have the best interests of their employees in mind.
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On paper, the free market and trickle-down economy are excellent ideas. However the problem in the past has been that the people in control have been too greedy to let it trickle down to those in need (They prefer to and have kept it all to themselves). Therefore it has only worked to make the rich richer and the middle class and poor poorer. The reason for the situation that we are in today. Thus, I believe that Pope Francis is right and we should follow his guidance.
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We are covering paragraphs 50-109 this week. Also, this Thursday at 7pm in the Corpus Christi Parish Hall, we will be having a discussion on the parts of the document we’ve covered so far, and will be showing some of Fr. Robert Barron’s “Catholicism: The New Evangelization” series. Come join us!
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Gary, Thank you so very much for such a pleasant and educational evening! We are looking forward to the next one. Al and Shari
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Ok, I have a lot to say again…I can’t help myself! 🙂
First of all, in paragraph 62 Pope Francis references the African Bishops and how other countries are trying to remove their native culture and insert their own. It reminded me of something I came across recently with regard to the recent Synod in Rome concerning marriage and family. Cardinal Timothy Dolan praises the African Bishops for their role in the synod. Watch here:
I love it! They are like the 2nd and 3rd generation Christians in their approach to the faith. We ARE called to give the truth to others, but, as we will see elsewhere in this document, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.
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Second, there is some really good self-examination material in here for all of us. Do I fall in any of the groups or categories Pope Francis mentions? In paragraph 81, for instance, he mentions how we all, lay and religious alike, do anything we can to protect our free time even to the point of excusing ourselves from evangelizing others when the opportunity presents itself. His response to this? “This is frequently due to the fact that people feel an overbearing need to guard their personal freedom, as though the task of evangelization was a dangerous poison rather than a joyful response to God’s love which summons us to mission and makes us fulfilled and productive.” I have to admit to being guilty of that at times. Do you treat evangelization like it is poison? More on this in a bit!
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Third and the last one for now…promise! 🙂
Paragraphs 93-101 would make a great examination of conscience! The first part has to do with spiritual worldliness…basically being a Pharisee from Jesus’ day where they sought their own interests, not those of God. I started to underline sentences in this section but I had to stop as I was underlining all of it! Earlier, I posted a video of Cardinal Dolan praising the African Bishops to holding to the truths of the faith in the face of counter cultures. We all should hold and teach the truth, but sometimes we can fall into the trap of distorting the truth of the Gospel message through pride. Pope Francis alludes to this by saying that there are those, “who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others.” Do you know of anyone like that? Are you like that? In all honesty, I suffer from that at times.
The second part of this has to do with warring among ourselves. That never happens, does it?! Do we create an “inner circle” of exclusivity? Is our group “special” compared to the rest of the people in the parish or community? If others see this, are they are attracted to us and our faith, or are they repulsed and repel from it? However, if we are inclusive and reach out to everyone…see Christ in everyone…then they will “see the witness of authentically fraternal and reconciled communities, they will find that witness luminous and attractive.”
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Love the discussion, I wish I were free tomorrow night! But sadly, I have a long-standing pre-existing commitment. But one that contains an ongoing evangelization, of a sort….
For me, paragraphs 78-83 contain the heart of the evangelization call. A missionary spirit is necessary; spiritual sloth all but precludes it entirely. Yet, if we are indeed overflowing with the joy of Jesus, with a true and bone-deep belief that relationship with the Lord, spending time with the Father,is the only true “wealth” in life, or at least, in the words of St. Ignatius, “wealth enough for me, ” then a missionary spirit should be the natural outflow. It is similar to what we say of marriage and family; of the creative, generative love of the Father, present in we who bear his likeness, expressing itself in the creation of families and openness to new life.
True joy impels sharing. Almost no one who experiences a real happiness feels an impulse to “keep it to himself,” as if joy can be lost or diminished by being shared. This is true of Gospel joy. What is that joy? Simply this: We are loved. We are made for communion with God, who will not reject us. If we accept God’s love so fully that nothing else remains to compete with it for our attention, we can even stop sinning, and stop having times of separation from God. If we are always one with the Father, then of course we will want to share that–because the Father is not about exclusivity, He’s about inclusion. God is Love. I know it looks a bit like circular logic, but it’s the central story of our lives as Christians. If we know the central story in its simplest form, we can share it.
I had the great joy this past summer of spending 2 weeks in a desperately poor and broken inner-city neighborhood in Louisiana–Not my first summer visit there. The morning work in that mission field is a sort of day camp for kids. I’ve worked the past couple of years with the 6-9 year old girls. The story, as we unfolded it to them over the course of the summer, was something like this: God created the universe, including everything, including people. And it was great! They lived in a beautiful garden with everything they needed! But then something bad happened: the Big Lie. And what was the Big Lie? God doesn’t really love you; He didn’t really give you everything; you’re not lovable. So Adam and Eve disobeyed, and had to leave the garden. But God said, I’m gonna get my kids back. And He began His great rescue project. The Bible is God’s book of love, and the story of his rescue project. It started small, with sending people called prophets to remind the Israelites of who God is. Then, when He’d finally told them everything they needed to know to expect Him, He sent Jesus, His own son, to finish the rescue! And the crazy thing is, Jesus started out as a BABY, so we wouldn’t be scared of Him; and then look at how Jesus was with His friends, and how he loved people…
(And I think you can figure out the rest)
For kids from broken homes, who don’t know their daddies or sometimes their moms, who aren’t sure of their own last name (much less when the next meal might come or when they’ll have to move again) because everyone around their house has a different last name and no one ever stays and everyone always fights over what little there is–this is a Powerful message. It ought to be powerful for everyone! Goodness knows there’s stuff I would have liked to have been rescued from. And, in a way, as I’ve taken the deep dive into the Word and spent time with the Lord and then gone out on a few limbs (like 2 weeks in a seriously unlovely bit of Louisiana in July), I think I finally am beginning to know that I was rescued–and the height and length and breadth of what my personal “rescue” has actually been. And that’s the heart of what this Joy is, I think. It’s not Joy in paragraph 1237 of the Catechism, or in Canon 73 of the Canon law; it’s a lot simpler. It’s the Joy of the Gospel. Those other things can become important at appropriate times & places, but for evangelization, what Jesus called us to is the Joy of the Gospel.
I’m working on getting better about sharing the story. Only the greatest selfishness/self-regard would keep me silent about this. If I fear what people would think of me, if I acted and talked a little “evangelical” at times, more than I fear losing what I have with The Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then I am lost, indeed.
So I’ll get off my soap box, now. Sorry for going long. Thanks for listening. I hope Corpus Christi becomes an even MORE alive and luminous Parish through this reading assignment! Blessings and peace, everyone!
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Thanks, Kelly! I’m inspired by your example and you did it in Louisiana in JULY !
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We are in Chapter 3 this week, paragraphs 110-175. Let’s get some discussion going!
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Chapter 3 is titled, “The Proclamation of the Gospel,” and is addressed to all of us, but in a particular way to our priests as well. Paragraphs 135-159 address the homily…how to prepare it and how to deliver it. Maybe Fr. Mark or Fr. Joe will chime in on this section.
Concerning the laity, something mentioned early on caught my attention because we discussed it at our gathering last Thursday. Paragraph 120 reinforces the idea that it is NOT only the job of priests and religious to evangelize, but every baptized person. Talk to anyone over the age of 50 and they usually confirm that that was the case when they were young adults…that it was only the job of priests or religious. Also, you don’t have to be at Thomas Aquinas’ level of knowledge about the faith to pass it on! Pope Francis states that, “anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love…so what are we waiting for?” We are all, I think, pretty good at putting things off, at least I am very much a procrastinator, but if we wait until we have a firm grasp of every aspect of the faith before we evangelize we’ll never reach anyone. We will always be almost ready, but not yet. Listen to Pope Francis. What are you waiting for! 🙂
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This is from Fr. Mark Zacker:
“Chapter 3 of “The Joy of the Gospel” is my favorite! I love how Pope Francis speaks of ALL of us, the ENTIRE people of God, as “missionary disciples” — including preachers — “we ought to let others be constantly evangelizing us” (par. 121). That’s what helps me, personally, in my homilies. I need to let others constantly evangelize ME. I try to pay attention to what’s going on in the news; local, state, national, and international. I pay attention to what’s going on in our parish, school, and community. I like to highlight the joy of the Gospel that I see all around me. I ask, “How is God working here? How are people responding or not responding? What good news will inspire others?
Spiritual Reading or Lectio Divina is recommended by our Holy Father (par 152-153). This is something we can ALL do. I remember sitting in church as a little boy, listening to a homily, and the Holy Spirit would guide and direct my thoughts to how the Gospel and the Homily applied to ME. It was powerful! It still happens! I hope it happens to YOU!
Pope Francis writes, “The centrality of the kerygma calls for stressing those elements which are most needed today: it has to express God’s saving love which PRECEDES any moral and religious obligation on our part; it should not IMPOSE the truth but APPEAL to FREEDOM; it should be marked by JOY, ENCOURAGEMENT, LIVELINESS and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more PHILOSOPHICAL than EVANGELICAL. All this demands on the part of the evangelizer certain attitudes which foster openness to the message: approachability, readiness for dialogue, patience, a warmth and welcome which is non-judgmental” (par. 165).
I hope you find all these qualities in Fr. Joe’s preaching and mine! If NOT, let us know!
Finally, Pope Francis writes, “The study of Sacred Scripture must be a door opened to every believer” (par. 175). I’m so happy that we have so many different Bible studies offered here at Corpus Christi – day and evening. How can anyone have an EXCUSE for not knowing and loving God’s word?”
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This week we are in Chapter 4, paragraphs 176-258, “The Social Dimension of Evangelization.” Let’s hear from you!
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Section 1 of chapter 4 has to do with the “kerygma” as it relates to society. I don’t think we have talked about what the kerygma is. In our previous reading, paragraph 164 talks about it as being the initial proclamation of the Gospel message. Pope Francis says that our first announcement, the first thing out of our lips, should be that, “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.” Who wouldn’t love to hear that?! Our world is overflowing with people who need this message of hope! Pope Francis goes on to say that the kerygma proclamation should not be just alluded to at the beginning of evangelization, but it must also be “the principle proclamation, the one which we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment” (par. 164). Our Catholic faith is Christocentric. Christ is at the center of it all! Everything in the Old Testament pointed to the coming of Christ and everything in the New Testament refers back to Christ. He must permeate everything that we proclaim.
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Also, paragraph 165 is beautiful…especially the second half which talks about what the kerygma proclamation should look like, being “marked by joy, encouragement, liveliness and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than evangelical.” We are to acknowledge truth, but in a warm and non-judgmental way. I, personally, use this approach in my RCIA sessions. People come to RCIA from all walks of life and, sometimes, with much baggage. They are looking for a warm embrace…the embrace that only our resurrected Lord can give. If we fill them with anything else but that, they will go away wanting.
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I’ll use Pope Francis’s words which are important to evangelization. P 171 “We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing.
Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur”
We’ve just completed elections and paragraph 182 tells pastors they have the right to offer opinions on all that affects peoples lives. The video on the African Bishops shows how effective that is.
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We’ve made it to the end! This week we will be covering the last chapter titled, “Spirit-Filled Evangelizers,” paragraphs 259-288. Let’s hear your comments or questions! 🙂
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Oh, don’t forget that this Thursday, November 13th, at 7pm we will be gathering once again in the Corpus Christi Parish Hall to further discuss this document and to continue our video clips from Fr. Robert Barron’s, “Catholicism: The New Evangelization.” He will be discussing in detail what the new ardor, new methods, and new expressions are that are inherent to the New Evangelization. Come and join us!
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OK, a few opening comments on chapter 5. Pope Francis is imploring us to spread the Good News of Christ. He states, “How I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction!” (par. 261) We have to let the Holy Spirit guide us, inspire us, in this task. If not, Pope Francis laments that no amount of encouragement from him, or anyone else, will suffice in bringing it about.
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You can’t give what you don’t have. Have we experienced God’s love for us? Do we have a relationship with him? Are we intentional disciples of his? (Sherry Weddell will be happy! If you don’t get this, ask me about it. :)) But if we HAVE experienced God’s love and we do have a relationship with him, why in the world would we want to keep that to ourselves! If I had a close relationship with, oh, say Peyton Manning of the Broncos and we were buds, I’d probably have no problem sharing that with others. How much cooler would it be to have a close relationship with…wait for it…God?! The very creator of the universe…and Peyton Manning! Shouldn’t that be something we should shout from the rooftops?!
But yet there are times that, for one reason or another, we don’t want to share this relationship. If you find yourself in this situation, and I do sometimes, Pope Francis has some advice for us. In paragraph 264 he says, “If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts. We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence.”
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we are playing catch up on comments but paragraph 192 says so much to us, perhaps because God has blessed us with abundance. However, we still feel like the people in power, locally and nationally, are keeping us from helping people that really need it for education, health care, jobs, and dignity. How do we make a difference? The greedy and power seekers have gotten their wealth from this country, city or state yet they refuse to give back their fair share. Instead of giving they fight decent wages, equal health care, educational opportunities, etc. Any ideas? A possible revised tax structure??After all, Jesus asks us for 10%!
Shari and Al Mauro
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Hi, Al and Shari!
I definitely don’t have all the answers, especially with regard to government/politics/economics, but I do know the solution to the even bigger picture and that is Christ! It really is the focus of this document. If we bring the Good News, the Joy of the Gospel, to the world and they embrace it, then most, if not all, of our problems will be taken care of. It sounds so simple, but as you know, it is so hard to achieve. That is why we need good people like yourselves to take ownership of their call to evangelize and bring the saving grace of Jesus to every home, to every person that we encounter. How do we go about doing that? Well, come to the parish hall tonight and we’ll discuss it! 🙂
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“If we succeed in expressing adequately and with beauty the essential content of the Gospel, surely this message will speak to the deepest yearnings of people’s hearts…We have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or disappoint” (par 265). Wow! See, Jesus has done the hard work for us! We are basically guaranteed success if…
…let’s break this down a little. Two key words in the first sentence are “adequately” and “beauty.” We have to adequately express the essential content of the Gospel. It doesn’t say “thoroughly” express, or “ThomasAquinasesque” express, the essential content. It says adequately. Don’t wait until you’ve studied Scripture and theology for years before putting out into the deep and evangelizing. Do it now! Also, it doesn’t say “underwhelmingly” express, or “haphazardly” express, the essential content. Once again, it says adequately. We have to know the basics of our faith or else we run the risk of giving out bad information that might make matters worse. However, having experienced God’s love in our life is already enough to get started!
Ok, now onto beauty. We have to beautifully express the essential content of the Gospel. Why? Because the alternative isn’t very compelling. Think about it. Who is going to convert to Catholicism, or Christianity in general, if the message is presented in a rude, monotonous, chastising, or condemning way? Not many. It’s not only the delivery either. The truths of our faith are already beautiful and bring much hope. Pass them on! St. John of the Cross talks of the infinite caverns in us that can only be filled with God. We try to fill them with other “stuff,” but worldly goods prove to be lacking. We are only truly happy when we fill those caverns with God. That is the “deepest yearnings of people’s hearts” that Pope Francis is talking about. Let’s convince people that the numerous gifts they receive at Christmas will not fill that void. Only the impoverished child in the manger can do that.
Lastly, the message we give is the “message which cannot mislead or disappoint.’ So many people have lost hope and are despairing because they have been mislead or disappointed by others. They are hurting. They are begging for hope. God is incapable of misleading or disappointing. He is our message. How can we fail? People are wired for God whether they know it or not. Let’s give him to them!
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OK, I’m going to end with some of my favorite quotes from the rest of chapter 5.
With regard to distancing ourselves from those who suffer: “He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of a people” (par 269). I love the words “wonderfully complicated” in this!
“We do not live better when we flee, hide, refuse to share, stop giving and lock ourselves up in own comforts. Such a life is nothing less than slow suicide” (par 272).
“Sometimes it seems that our work is fruitless, but mission is not like a business transaction or investment, or even a humanitarian activity. It is not a show where we count how many people come as a result of our publicity; it is something much deeper, which escapes all measurement. It may be that the Lord uses our sacrifices to shower blessings in another part of the world which we will never visit. The Holy Spirit works as he wills, when he wills and where he wills; we entrust ourselves without pretending to see striking results. We know only that our commitment is necessary. Let us learn to rest in the tenderness of the arms of the Father amid our creative and generous commitment. Let us keep marching forward; let us give him everything, allowing him to make our efforts bear fruit in his good time” (par 279). Quite the pep talk there!
With regard to trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide us: “It is true that this trust in the unseen can cause us to feel disoriented: it is like being plunged into the deep and not knowing what we will find. I myself have frequently experienced this. Yet there is not greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills. The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful” (par 280)!
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From Fr. Mark Zacker:
Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the “Joy of the Gospel.”
Now, we have to LIVE that joy. That joy comes from being loved by Jesus. We can, and WILL, only love others, because He has loved us!
“A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody” (par. 266).
Go back to the times in your life when you were suffering. How did Jesus help you? How did HIS suffering give meaning to yours? What is the POWER of His suffering? If you can bring that to others in suffering then you are bringing them Jesus! You are bringing them a JOY that goes through suffering to eternal life. This is Jesus! This is YOU as His missionary!
Keep Close to Corpus Christi!
Rev. Mark Zacker
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