"the Joy Of The Gospel" (evangelii Gaudium) Pope Francis

[BarbTherese]

I haven't read it myself yet - probably get to it this weekend :

Apostolic Exhortation "The Joy of The Gospel" (Evangelii Gaudium)

Pope Francis

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=10390

 

I have copied and posted into Word and it is probably (without Index and References) about 60 or so A4 pages of reading.  Not short and I will be reading over a few sittings for sure.

 

There is a commentary from Catholic Culture here http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=1132 - it's not exactly in high praise of the document.  Possibly more commentaries from equally reliable sources will appear over time presenting alternative opinions.  And of course, we can make up our own minds and take from the exhortation what really speaks to us.

 

 

 

Excerpt: "Interestingly, I had just read my own bishop’s local contribution on this topic the night before Evangelii Gaudium was released. Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, Virginia issued his own pastoral letter on the New Evangelization, entitled Go Forth with Hearts on Fire, available both online and in a useful and attractive booklet, which was sent to every registered Catholic in the diocese. More tightly focused than the post-synodal exhortation, Go Forth with Hearts on Fire is very much intended to be used as a combination handbook for personal renewal and effective evangelization. It roots evangelization firmly in a sound spiritual life.

I find it significant that evangelization and renewal are now so closely linked, as I believe this tells us something about the slow maturation of Catholic reform over the past few decades. As I have frequently stated, it has been a hard slog and there is still a long way to go. But the coupling of these concepts is in itself a substantial demonstration that we have come a very long way in the right direction. The fact that so many within the Church are ready to think seriously about evangelization in the context of our own secularized lives and our own secularized culture is, I think, a harbinger of Spring."

 

 

The Index to "Go Forth with Hearts on Fire" certainly looks interesting to me.

[BarbTherese]

"10. The Gospel offers us the chance to live life on a higher plane, but with no less intensity: “Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others”.[4]

                When the Church summons Christians to take up the task of evangelization, she is simply pointing to the source of authentic personal fulfilment. For “here we discover a profound law of reality: that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others. This is certainly what mission means”.[5]

 

Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!

 

Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow… And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ”.[6] "

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html

 

All formatting is mine

 

 

 

[BarbTherese]

I.A CHURCH WHICH GOES FORTH

20. The word of God constantly shows us how God challenges those who believe in him “to go forth”. Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out,

but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own  comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.

[martymiller]

Your work is carry the information to the other people. People see your blog and get benifit.I have bookmarked this and will return soon more about it thank you.

[BarbTherese]

Thank you for your post and contribution, MM.

Undoubtedly, there are many ways we can strive to spread the Gospel - and a blog is a really good way.  Primarily, it is about the person that we are and 24 x 7 and this means firstly working on our own selfhood 24 x 7. 

 

Creating some sort of a leaflet and going for a walk and popping them in letterboxes is another way.  I like to think the shorter and to the point, the better.  Next time one is out and about one can change the message.

 

To quote the apostolic exhortation : "Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out".

The theology of St Therese of Lisieux can speak loudly in that one doesn't have to do great things or go out of one's way - rather to discern the way that The Lord is pointing out to us in the here and now even if it just aint much at all.  St Therese was a humble Carmelite nun in an out of the way French monastery - not even her fellow Sisters thought much of her other than that she was a good nun.  Look at how she exploded on to the world Catholic stage after her death -  and what she did was engage her Lord in her here and now.

           It's not about what I can do, for of myself I can do nothing whatsoever good not even the slightest (Catholic Theology) - but about what The Lord can do if we let Him and we find Him in our here and now.  I have a  line from the Psalms in the Divine Office (one of them) that gives me pause: "I have not reached for things beyond myself".

 

St Augustine's exposition Psalm 130 http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801131.htm "3. Lord, my heart was not lifted up, neither were my eyes raisedon high Psalm 130:1; I have not exercised myself in great matters, nor in wonderful things which are too high for me Psalm 130:2. Let this be more plainly spoken and heard. I have not been proud: I have not wished to be known among men as for wondrous powers; nor have I sought anything beyond my strength, whereby I might boast myself among the ignorant. As that Simonthe sorcererwished to advance into wonders above himself, on that account the power of the Apostlesmore pleased him, than the righteousness of Christians....What is above my strength, he says, I have not sought; I have not stretched myself out there, I have not chosen to be magnified there. How deeply this self-exaltationin the abundance of gracesis to be feared, that no man may pride himself in the giftof God, but may rather preserve humility, and may do what is written: The greater you are, the more humble yourself, and you shall find favour before the Lord: Sirach 3:18 how deeply pride in God'sgiftshould be feared, we must again and again impress upon you...."

[Perigrina]

Phatmass itself is a very good illustration of the principles of the "New Evangelization".  We live in a highly secularized culture which forms the minds of Catholics far more than Church teaching does.  There is a great need to bring Catholicism to Catholics in creative ways.  Sound familiar?

[BarbTherese]

:)