I’m willing to bet that all of us have been afraid of the dark at some point in our lives. Maybe some of us still are! We seem to be born with this fear of darkness. It is no accident that Christ references light and darkness in much of his teaching. We can all relate to it. His assurance? If we follow him, we will have the light of life! What’s that mean? Well, let’s read Pope Francis’ encyclical and find out!
Ok, I’m finally able to comment on Lumen Fidei and, more specifically, how it touches on evangelization.
I really love one of Pope Francis’ early comments in the section titled, “A light to be recovered.” When talking about the early Christians, he says that their faith, “as an encounter with the living God revealed in Christ, was indeed a ‘mother’, for it had brought them to the light and given birth within them to divine life, a new experience and a luminous vision of existence for which they were prepared to bear public witness to the end” (LF, 5). Wow! Where to go first. So their encounter with God led them to the light of faith and instilled deep within them this desire, this hunger, to go out and shout from the rooftops the gift they had just been given! Even if it led to their death, they couldn’t help but proclaim it. Also, the giving birth reference brought to mind another quote from a Papal document called, “Catechesi Tradendae: Catechesis in our Time” by St. John Paul II where he states that, “Catechesis aims therefore at developing understanding of the mystery of Christ in the light of God’s word, so that the whole of a person’s humanity is impregnated by that word” (CT, 20). Side note: Ok, all of you Franciscan U. grads who had Barbara Morgan as an instructor knew where I was going with that, didn’t you?! Even in this quote, we see the “light” of faith reference related to God’s word.
A little later Pope Francis continues this theme when he mentions, “Christ’s word, once heard, by virtue of it’s inner power at work in the heart of a Christian, becomes a response, a spoken word, a profession of faith…Faith is not a private matter, a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it is meant to find expression in words and to be proclaimed” (LF, 22). When we hear God’s word and understand it, we should embrace it and be filled with joy (those ah-ha moments!), but it can’t stop there. We need to share this great joy, this life altering experience, with others. We have to open our mouths and let it out! If you won the Lotto, would you tell anyone? Heck yeah you would! Well, isn’t this better than winning the Lotto?
Further along in the document in the section called, “Faith and the search for God,” we see one of our “target” groups who are in need of evangelization. The Holy Father refers to those who are not believers, but they do have a desire to believe because they are open to love and are looking for any light they can find (LF, 35). Guess who needs to be that light for them? Is it you? Is it me? It might be. God uses all kinds of instruments to bring people into communion with him and often times that instrument is us. He puts us in the lives of others to help them. Maybe it is physically (food, assistance) or spiritually (bringing them the joy of the gospel message. Do we do it? At our judgment, I believe God will reveal to us all the times that we acted as his instruments, and all the times where we failed to be the instrument he intended us to be. Maybe we will be given the vision of those in Hell who we failed to evangelize. It’s an offshoot of the sheep and the goats from Matthew 25 right? “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). We, as members of Christ’s body, the Church, are still missionaries. The kerygma, that initial proclamation of the gospel message, still hasn’t been given to everyone. Can you give it?
RCIA is truly one of my loves. It’s probably the favorite part of my job. When I get to witness people “getting it,” it fills me with great joy. It’s one of those times where you swear you got more joy from it than they did! Pope Francis uses the analogy of the Easter liturgy where the paschal candle lights the numerous other candles in the church. He states, “Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so rich that it becomes a great tree, capable of filling the world with its fruit” (LF, 37). Love it! It brings to mind the saying that we just plant the seed and trust that God will do the rest. Isn’t it great knowing that?! But we do have to plant the seed. Nothing will ever grow if it is not planted first.
I’d like to finish with one last thought. Evangelization can be difficult and a little scary. It is kind of like dating in that you have to make yourself vulnerable. You open yourself up to the possibility of rejection or failure when you do it. “How is this encounter with this person going to go?” “What if they are a ringer and know the Bible inside and out?” “Maybe I should just wait until I know more about my faith.” All these thoughts go through our mind and we can easily rationalize away the necessity to engage this person. Well, Pope Francis alludes to this hesitancy when referring to faith, but we can easily equate his words here to evangelization. He says, “Faith is no refuge for the fainthearted, but something which enhances our lives. It makes us aware of a magnificent calling, the vocation of love. It assures us that this love is trustworthy and worth embracing, for it is based on God’s faithfulness which is stronger than our every weakness” (LF, 53). Replace the word “Faith” with “Evangelization” and see how it sounds. Thanks for reading!
I’m willing to bet that all of us have been afraid of the dark at some point in our lives. Maybe some of us still are! We seem to be born with this fear of darkness. It is no accident that Christ references light and darkness in much of his teaching. We can all relate to it. His assurance? If we follow him, we will have the light of life! What’s that mean? Well, let’s read Pope Francis’ encyclical and find out!
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Ok, I’m finally able to comment on Lumen Fidei and, more specifically, how it touches on evangelization.
I really love one of Pope Francis’ early comments in the section titled, “A light to be recovered.” When talking about the early Christians, he says that their faith, “as an encounter with the living God revealed in Christ, was indeed a ‘mother’, for it had brought them to the light and given birth within them to divine life, a new experience and a luminous vision of existence for which they were prepared to bear public witness to the end” (LF, 5). Wow! Where to go first. So their encounter with God led them to the light of faith and instilled deep within them this desire, this hunger, to go out and shout from the rooftops the gift they had just been given! Even if it led to their death, they couldn’t help but proclaim it. Also, the giving birth reference brought to mind another quote from a Papal document called, “Catechesi Tradendae: Catechesis in our Time” by St. John Paul II where he states that, “Catechesis aims therefore at developing understanding of the mystery of Christ in the light of God’s word, so that the whole of a person’s humanity is impregnated by that word” (CT, 20). Side note: Ok, all of you Franciscan U. grads who had Barbara Morgan as an instructor knew where I was going with that, didn’t you?! Even in this quote, we see the “light” of faith reference related to God’s word.
A little later Pope Francis continues this theme when he mentions, “Christ’s word, once heard, by virtue of it’s inner power at work in the heart of a Christian, becomes a response, a spoken word, a profession of faith…Faith is not a private matter, a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it is meant to find expression in words and to be proclaimed” (LF, 22). When we hear God’s word and understand it, we should embrace it and be filled with joy (those ah-ha moments!), but it can’t stop there. We need to share this great joy, this life altering experience, with others. We have to open our mouths and let it out! If you won the Lotto, would you tell anyone? Heck yeah you would! Well, isn’t this better than winning the Lotto?
Further along in the document in the section called, “Faith and the search for God,” we see one of our “target” groups who are in need of evangelization. The Holy Father refers to those who are not believers, but they do have a desire to believe because they are open to love and are looking for any light they can find (LF, 35). Guess who needs to be that light for them? Is it you? Is it me? It might be. God uses all kinds of instruments to bring people into communion with him and often times that instrument is us. He puts us in the lives of others to help them. Maybe it is physically (food, assistance) or spiritually (bringing them the joy of the gospel message. Do we do it? At our judgment, I believe God will reveal to us all the times that we acted as his instruments, and all the times where we failed to be the instrument he intended us to be. Maybe we will be given the vision of those in Hell who we failed to evangelize. It’s an offshoot of the sheep and the goats from Matthew 25 right? “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). We, as members of Christ’s body, the Church, are still missionaries. The kerygma, that initial proclamation of the gospel message, still hasn’t been given to everyone. Can you give it?
RCIA is truly one of my loves. It’s probably the favorite part of my job. When I get to witness people “getting it,” it fills me with great joy. It’s one of those times where you swear you got more joy from it than they did! Pope Francis uses the analogy of the Easter liturgy where the paschal candle lights the numerous other candles in the church. He states, “Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so rich that it becomes a great tree, capable of filling the world with its fruit” (LF, 37). Love it! It brings to mind the saying that we just plant the seed and trust that God will do the rest. Isn’t it great knowing that?! But we do have to plant the seed. Nothing will ever grow if it is not planted first.
I’d like to finish with one last thought. Evangelization can be difficult and a little scary. It is kind of like dating in that you have to make yourself vulnerable. You open yourself up to the possibility of rejection or failure when you do it. “How is this encounter with this person going to go?” “What if they are a ringer and know the Bible inside and out?” “Maybe I should just wait until I know more about my faith.” All these thoughts go through our mind and we can easily rationalize away the necessity to engage this person. Well, Pope Francis alludes to this hesitancy when referring to faith, but we can easily equate his words here to evangelization. He says, “Faith is no refuge for the fainthearted, but something which enhances our lives. It makes us aware of a magnificent calling, the vocation of love. It assures us that this love is trustworthy and worth embracing, for it is based on God’s faithfulness which is stronger than our every weakness” (LF, 53). Replace the word “Faith” with “Evangelization” and see how it sounds. Thanks for reading!
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