EVANGELII NUNTIANDI What is the New Evangelization? Has it changed?

   

Sequela Christi

Discipleship

The following of Christ is a Latin phrase ( Continuation of Christ ) that, especially from the Middle Ages , has come to mean in Christian spirituality , and especially monastic-religious commitment to religious life. It is often associated with the Imitatio Christi '.
POPE PAUL VI  10. This kingdom and this salvation, which are the key words of Jesus Christ's evangelization, are available to every human being as grace and mercy, and yet at the same time each individual must gain them by force - they belong to the violent, says the Lord,[24] through toil and suffering, through a life lived according to the Gospel, through abnegation and the cross, through the spirit of the beatitudes. But above all each individual gains them through a total interior renewal which the Gospel calls metanoia; it is a radical conversion, a profound change of mind and heart.[25]
 And how can one wish to love Christ without loving the Church, if the finest witness to Christ is that of St. Paul: "Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her"?[45]

What is the New Evangelization?

The New Evangelization calls all followers of Christ to be formed in the faith, celebrate the faith, and be witnesses to the ends of the earth, proclaiming the Good News to all people everywhere, starting with those in our own Church.
The work of the Church is to bring all people into relationship with God, and also to transform and sanctify the society in which we live (U.S. Catholic bishops, Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization). Thus, "the Church teaches that social justice is an integral part of evangelization, a constitutive dimension of preaching the Gospel, and an essential part of the Church's mission" (U.S. bishops, Communities of Salt and Light).http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/new-evangelization-social-justice.cfm

"Three kinds of conversation

1. To divert us from serious occupations in which we should not be too engrossed.
2. Conversations of politeness.
3. Conversations with devout persons – about God and holy things.
“In all conversations, sincerity, simplicity, meekness and modesty are ever to be preserved.”
“Let a moderate cheerfulness be ordinarily predominant in our conversations.” Don’t split up your life into sections, in this sense – that, as a member of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, you must always be doing the will of Mary and your heavenly Father, this is the only essential. This must be the principle which actuates all your eternal activities. Faith, Hope and Charity are necessary for the perfect performance of this work of submission and love. Want of love shows that there is something wrong with something in your life. It may be over attachment to some creature e.g. your own good name among men it will be self will or self love of some sort."

Quote from Fr Norris OPUS IN FIDES "

BEING POLITE IS OF COURSE IMPORTANT BUT IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BE CLEAR ABOUT THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH THAT HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO THE CHURCH


Between evangelization and human advancement- development and liberation- there are in fact profound links. These include links of an anthropological order, because the man who is to be evangelized is not an abstract being but is subject to social and economic questions. They also include links in the theological order, since one cannot dissociate the plan of creation from the plan of Redemption. The latter plan touches the very concrete situations of injustice to be combated and of justice to be restored. We ourself have taken care to point this out, by recalling that it is impossible to accept "that in evangelization one could or should ignore the importance of the problems so much discussed today, concerning justice, liberation, development and peace in the world. This would be to forget the lesson which comes to us from the Gospel concerning love of our neighbor who is suffering and in need."[61]


“The Christian who would bring the Gospel must go down this road: [must] listen to everyone! But now is a good time in the life of the Church: the last 50 or 60 years have been a good time - for I remember when as a child one would hear in Catholic families, in my family, ‘No, we cannot go to their house, because they are not married in the Church, eh!’. It was as an exclusion. No, you could not go! Neither could we go to [the houses of] socialists or atheists. Now, thank God, people do not says such things, right? [Such an attitude] was a defense of the faith, but it was one of walls: the LORD made bridges. First: Paul has this attitude, because it was the attitude of Jesus. Second, Paul is aware that he must evangelize, not proselytize. VATICAN NEWS



The Holy Spirit and the eucharistic celebration
13. Against this backdrop we can understand the decisive role played by the Holy Spirit in the eucharistic celebration, particularly with regard to transubstantiation. An awareness of this is clearly evident in the Fathers of the Church. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catecheses, states that we "call upon God in his mercy to send his Holy Spirit upon the offerings before us, to transform the bread into the body of Christ and the wine into the blood of Christ. Whatever the Holy Spirit touches is sanctified and completely transformed" (25). Saint John Chrysostom too notes that the priest invokes the Holy Spirit when he celebrates the sacrifice: (26) like Elijah, the minister calls down the Holy Spirit so that "as grace comes down upon the victim, the souls of all are thereby inflamed" (27). The spiritual life of the faithful can benefit greatly from a better appreciation of the richness of the anaphora: along with the words spoken by Christ at the Last Supper, it contains the epiclesis, the petition to the Father to send down the gift of the Spirit so that the bread and the wine will become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and that "the community as a whole will become ever more the body of Christ" (28). The Spirit invoked by the celebrant upon the gifts of bread and wine placed on the altar is the same Spirit who gathers the faithful "into one body" and makes of them a spiritual offering pleasing to the Father (29).

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html#The_Holy_Spirit_and_the_Eucharist

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Bishop of Rome Francis presides over the celebration of the Eucharist during which he takes possession of the St. Paul's Basilica