당신은 주제를 찾고 있습니까 “evangeli net gospel tomorrow – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary“? 다음 카테고리의 웹사이트 https://ro.taphoamini.com 에서 귀하의 모든 질문에 답변해 드립니다: https://ro.taphoamini.com/wiki/. 바로 아래에서 답을 찾을 수 있습니다. 작성자 evangeli – English 이(가) 작성한 기사에는 조회수 241회 및 좋아요 12개 개의 좋아요가 있습니다.
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d여기에서 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – evangeli net gospel tomorrow 주제에 대한 세부정보를 참조하세요
Contemplating today’s Gospel by evangeli.net
Liturgical day: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel: Luker 1:39-56
Commentary: Fr. Josep ALEGRE, Abbot emerit of Santa Maria de Poblet
(Tarragona, Spain)
evangeli net gospel tomorrow 주제에 대한 자세한 내용은 여기를 참조하세요.
The Narrow Door – Daily Reflection / ePriest.com
Today’s Gospel brings it to light. There will be a time when we face the truth: are we bound for Heaven or not? This moment comes to everyone.
Source: www.epriest.com
Date Published: 9/24/2021
View: 914
Evangeli.net podcast – Player FM
Listen to Evangeli.net with eight episodes, free! … Podcasts Worth a Listen. SPONSORED. Build For Tomorrow … evangeli, gospel, evangelio. 961 episodes.
Source: player.fm
Date Published: 9/7/2022
View: 1553
Gospel of Matthew 16: 21-27 – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Gospel of Matthew 26:14-27:66 or 27:11-54 – Articles, Commentaries, Homilies. … evangeli.net – 2014-08-31: Sunday 22nd (A) in Ordinary Time Mt 16,21-27: …
Source: www.4catholiceducators.com
Date Published: 6/13/2022
View: 6378
Homily for today
Today’s Gospel + homily (in 300 words) Master·evangeli.net Master. … Catholic Mass Readings for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the year 2021.
Source: ferienwohnung-nammering.de
Date Published: 12/5/2022
View: 2709
Readings for tomorrow: Queeship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Gospel for tomorrow 22-08-2022 : Gospel Reading: Lk 1:26-38 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth.
Source: www.godgossip.org
Date Published: 9/24/2021
View: 4142
My own little way of Preaching GOD’S WORD | Page 411
OTHER HOMILY SOURCES from Evangeli … evangeli.net/gospel/day/IV_92 … We need to become salt and light for others not tomorrow and …
Source: justmehomely.wordpress.com
Date Published: 10/21/2021
View: 6477
Ave Maria Council 4456 Knights of Columbus – Facebook
evangeli.net—O Lord, You are my Creator, Who has come to us leaving Your footprints … founder of the Knights of Columbus, and tomorrow is his feast day.
Source: www.facebook.com
Date Published: 12/24/2021
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Evangelii Nuntiandi (December 8, 1975) | Paul VI – Vatican.va
There is no doubt that the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the … in order to offer to the missionaries of today and of tomorrow new …
Source: www.vatican.va
Date Published: 1/23/2021
View: 6433
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주제와 관련된 더 많은 사진을 참조하십시오 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 댓글에서 더 많은 관련 이미지를 보거나 필요한 경우 더 많은 관련 기사를 볼 수 있습니다.
주제에 대한 기사 평가 evangeli net gospel tomorrow
- Author: evangeli – English
- Views: 조회수 241회
- Likes: 좋아요 12개
- Date Published: 2022. 8. 13.
- Video Url link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbcpVR1fd6A
Daily Reflection
August 22, 2022 (readings)
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Jennifer Ristine
Matthew 23:13-22
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of Hell as you are. Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by Heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.”
Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, open my heart to take to heart your words and keep you at the center of my heart.
Encountering Christ:
Evangeli.net
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Articles, Commentaries, Homilies
Bible Study and Homilies
Resources for Children’s Liturgy
Matthew 16: 21-27 – (Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time A) – “…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Bible Study / Commentaries and Meditations
Homilies
Fr. Joe’s homily on the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) from
the Conventual Church of Our Lady of the Angels at the Franciscan Renewal Center
Fr. Peter’s homily on the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time from
the Conventual Church of Our Lady of the Angels at the Franciscan Renewal Center.
x2 Today’s Good News: God completely loves you, His adopted child, no less than His begotten Son Jesus! Good News Reflection. Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent March 30, 2022. Today’s Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, because you are always caring for my needs, although sometimes I don’t believe this is true. I ask you for the grace of being always aware …Preaching Today provides pastors and preachers sermon prep help with sermon illustrations, sermons, sermon ideas, and preaching articles.Fr Martin’s Daily Homilies & Reflections New book for 2021 ‘You Have the Words of Eternal Life’ ~ Weekday Reflections for Liturgical Year 2020/21 at messenger.ie & @veritas.ie Fr. Martin Hogan continues to write many books on the Gospel Readings for each day of the Catholic Liturgical Year. Today we hear not a parable, but the report from John’s Gospel of an encounter among Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees, and a woman caught in adultery. In John’s Gospel, the conflict between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees occurs much earlier than in the Synoptic Gospels. Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem is reported at the …Golden Jubilee of Priesthood Homily to the Redemptorist Provincial Assembly at Hawkstone Hall Fr Jim McManus C.Ss.R. In the first reading of our Mass today we are invited to fulfil the meaning and purpose of our lives. St. John says, “Let us love one another because love comes from God and anyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God”.90 YEARS AGO TODAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939, HITLER INVADED POLAND. AND WITH THAT INVASION HE BEGAN WORLD WAR II. WHEN IT WAS OVER SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 60 AND 85 MILLION PEOPLE HAD BEEN KILLED, MOSTLY CIVILIANS. SOME IN BOMBINGS AND BATTLES, SOME BY DISEASE AND STARVATION. SOME WORKED TO DEATH IN FORCED LABOR CAMPS. SOME BYJohn 10:11-18 Jesus, the Good Shepherd. John 10:11-18 is part of a longer discourse in which Jesus tells his disciples and us that he is the way to heaven and eternal life. In this passage he explains this concept by comparing himself to a shepherd. The image of a shepherd was one that was common among members of his audience.Just found these homilies today (Sept 27), and found today’s homily clear and beautifully explained. “. Religion & Spirituality. J/PD . Today’s may 9 2021 catholic sunday readings homily theme: You can help promote this service by making a donation. The King is an unborn child — discarded, tossed aside, trashed.This family today can sense in the many expressions of kindness and thoughtfulness such care and sympathy being displayed and they are grateful. C. Time a great comforter. 1. God has mercifully provided that the deep wound we initially feel when our loved ones leave us can be somewhat healed through the passing of the days, the months, and the …GROW: Today we celebrate Laetare (which means “rejoice”) Sunday. As we mark the midpoint of Lent, we allow ourselves to look ahead with joyful anticipation of Jesus’ resurrection, even as we continue our practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Amidst these penitential practices of Lent, this day offers a reminder that we have reason …As the old saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of your life. May it be a day you’ll long remember because you decided to make a conscious choice to become cause to a new effect in 2016. … to listen to His words in Scripture and homily. 5) to present our needs and petitions before God on the altar at the intercessory prayers, 6 …This homily was delivered on Jan. 5, 2019, during the Mass of Christian Burial for Mary K. Hanneman. Below the homily is a video of Msgr. Moellenberndt and the Rite of Committal at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Catholic Cemetery. Msgr. Duane also gave a wonderful homily at the funeral Mass for David D. Hanneman in April 2007. By Monsignor Duane Moellenberndt A sick man turned to his doctor as…Children’s sermons for Genesis 28 Genesis 28:10-19 A Ladder of Angels (Edstrom) Children’s sermons for Genesis 32 Genesis 32:22-31 Wrestling with God (Edstrom) Children’s sermons for Genesis 37 Genesis 37:3-34; 50:15-21, Taming a Dragon (Edstrom) Children’s sermons for Genesis 45 Genesis 45:1-15 The Plan (Edstrom) Exodus Children’s sermons …Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will remember to pray the Jesus prayer several times: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. For Further Reflection: “Jesus”: The Shortest, Simplest, and Most Powerful Prayer in the World by Peter Kreeft.A Sermon for The Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple was February 2. It is a fixed date feast always falling forty days after Christmas. The collect and readings for the feast may be found here. The appointed gospel is Luke 2:22-40:Homily: Feast of Christ the King; Year A … So, especially today, as we worship Christ the King, pray for the grace to serve joyfully, and accept that grace when your prayer is answered. May we serve faithfully in the court of Christ the King, so that we tooFrancis Homilies 2020. Homilies 2020. Celebration of Vespers and Te Deum in Thanksgiving for the past year (31 December 2020) [ English – French – German – Italian – Portuguese – Spanish] Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (24 December 2020) [ Arabic – English – French …Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! We have a saying, “familiarity breeds contempt.”. We see this in the gospel story for today. Many of the Jews, upon hearing Jesus’s claim that he came down from heaven, that he is the true bread, the bread of life, that one who eats of him will never …Links to many homilies and sermons for Sunday and Weekdays of the year of priest, deacons, laity and religious organizations.Feb 14, 2018 · This wedding homily is so awesome, it could save your marriage. A Catholic deacon offers the ‘golden keys’ to unlock the secrets to true peace, joy, and happiness in marriage. Editor’s note … Today is the feast of two North African martyrs who died in 203 under the persecution of Septimus Severus. Perpetua, a catechumen, not even yet a Christian, was a married noblewoman who had just given birth to a son and with her pregnant servant Felicity was arrested hauled before the court for refusing to honor the emperor as a god.Pastors and Sunday School teachers, if you’re looking for the best sermons for kids, you’re in the right place! Click here to find 52 FREE Children’s Sermons to use in your church or Sunday School. We included both the scripts and the videos for each children’s sermon so you may want to bookmark this page!Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.December 24-25, 2020. Posted by James Pitts in Dr. Lee Carter, Sermons “JOY: When Christ Breaks Through to Us” Year B: Christmas Day. At what point during this season filled with all the glitter and wrappings, the frantic shopping, the non-stop Christmas radio stations blaring “Jingle Bell Rock” and “All I Want for Christmas is You” – did the humble and beckoning Christ finally …Christianity Today, Vol. 30 no. 8. 3. Moses was indeed gone, but the Promise Land was yet theirs to take! a. The only difference now was who was in charge, the goal was the same, the mission the same, the promises of God the same, the challenge the same! b. It was time to finish the mission even though the leadership had changed hands. 4.Today’s Homily on EWTN. WATCH TODAY’S HOMILY ON EWTN. Check out other recent homilies below. SUBSCRIBE …Sunday 24 July 2022: Trinity 6, Seventeenth in Ordinary time, Proper 12. Praying through the gift of the Spirit. Luke 11:1-13. 08 Mar 2022. I was converted by an experience of The Holy Trinity on July 5, 8, and 11, 2000. I began numbering my days sometime in 2004. I was not ready for Jesus to return until just over four years ago. I did not learn that I have been in God’s peace since July 8, 2000 until two years ago today, November 15, 2018.GROW: Today we celebrate Laetare (which means “rejoice”) Sunday. As we mark the midpoint of Lent, we allow ourselves to look ahead with joyful anticipation of Jesus’ resurrection, even as we continue our practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Amidst these penitential practices of Lent, this day offers a reminder that we have reason …summary of ideas of today’s readings. In today’s 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle B liturgy, the 1 st reading and the Gospel evoke the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas in the 2 nd reading, St. James reminds us what it takes to have an authentic faith.HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION – SUNDAY 15TH AUGUST 2021. Fr Lar O’Connor. This weekend we celebrate the Solemn Feast of the Assumption of our Lady into heaven. We do not have direct evidence, but it is a tradition going back to the early days of the church. … The Gospel of today’s mass gives us a good insight into Mary’s …Homilies in English. The next homily: March 13, 2022 – Second Sunday of Lent – Year C. Some years ago, I wrote homilies on the Gospel of Sundays and several. important feasts. The original texts were in French, but a friend of mine, Antoine Valentim, from Montreal, Canada, translated them into his native. language.A TREASURE OF HOMILIES (Why pay for homilies when you can get them for free? While every effort is made to ensure that links are working, if you find a dead link, kindly report it to on this Form. New links are welcomed. They can be submitted on the same Form. Thank you for your cooperation. Updated: September 17, 2017.Just found these homilies today (Sept 27), and found today’s homily clear and beautifully explained. 2022 01 15 Reflection 310. It is a great source for scripture readings, homilies and reflections for Weekdays, Sundays and Holydays of Obligation. Orthodoxy sees chiefly Christ the Victor and interprets the Crucifixion primarily as an act of …The Assumption of Mary (August 15) The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time.Just found these homilies today (Sept 27), and found today’s homily clear and beautifully explained. Feb 24, 2018 · Fr George’s homily: Save the Date Sunday. Andersen’s homily for today’s feast of St. God invited Moses to come and meet him at a specific time and place: Early in the morning (time) and on Mount Sinai (place). How The Church Can Experience Revival Today By Brandon Cox on March 28, 2022 6 Things Millennials Need From Pastors By Joe Hoagland on March 26, 2022 How To Get Your Prayer To Work By H.B. Charles, Jr. on March 25, 2022 Thinking About Expository Preaching— Part 4 By Ed Stetzer on March 24, 2022Preaching the Same Homily in Multiple Parishes. Ask five deacons what their preaching schedules are like and the answers will fluctuate widely. After my ordination in 1994, I typically preached once a month at one Mass. Occasionally, I preached at two Masses on a specific Sunday. It was rare to be scheduled to deliver the homily on two …Suggested Texts for Sunday Sermons, April 3rd – Lent 5 Isaiah 43:16-21 · Psalm 126 · Philippians 3:4b-14 · John 12:1-8 Featured Powerpoint Content · see allHome / Homilies / Seeing the King: Homily for November 22, 2020, Solemnity of Christ the King. Previous Next … But thank God, literally, for today. In the middle of all this, comes this Sunday and a message for this moment. One of the phrases we hear often these days is “the new normal.” It captures the changed reality of our time.This sermon ivestigates the difference in today’s church and the early church in the area of the Holy Spirits Power working in us. Walking In The Spirit Pt 2 ¡V Power For Today Acts 2:1-12 Last week we began this series on spirit filled living by asking a series of questions about the church today. Daily readings and homily. Subscribe. Radio. podcasts. Daily readings and homily. 2022-03-25. Fr. Leonard Lenten Weekday. 2022-03-24. Bishop Steven Raica The Annunciation of the Lord (Solemnity) 2022-03-23. Fr. Matthew Lenten Weekday. 2022-03-22. Fr. Mark Lenten Weekday. 2022-03-21 …In his homily at Mass today in Malmo, Sweden, on the feast of All Saints, Pope Francis has underlined how the Beatitudes are a Christian’s “identity card” that “identify us as followers of …Homily for April 03, 2022. FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, Third Scrutiny of the Elect. Be merciful like Him and let forgiveness flow through you. Amen. The Sunday Web Site at Saint Louis University. Select A Sunday. January 19, 2020 | 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time A January 26, 2020 | 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 2, 2020 | Presentation of the Lord February 9, 2020 | 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 16, 2020 | 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 23, 2020 | 7th Sunday of …Define homily. Homily as a noun means A platitudinous or inspirational saying.. Just found these homilies today (Sept 27), and found today’s homily clear and beautifully explained. “. Religion & Spirituality. J/PD . Today’s may 9 2021 catholic sunday readings homily theme: You can help promote this service by making a donation. The King is an unborn child — discarded, tossed aside, trashed.Torch provides a new Catholic homily each week written specially for this web site by Dominican friars, and read by followers worldwide. Read more. Torch. A Mother’s Tears. Fourth Sunday of Lent. Fr Robert Verrill wonders about the prodigal son’s mother. (Our sermon for the Solemnity of the 24 March 20222022 February Global Crusade. 2022 Total Freedom through Faith in Christ. 2021 Great Miracle Explosion. 2021 Wonders of the Cross. 2021 October Showers of Blessings. 2021 Divine Solution For All. 2021 Divine Touch for Total Freedom. 2021 Signs and Wonders. 2021 Divine Connection. The Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. February 18, 2022 Father Tom Boyer. 20 February 2022. As I am out of the country this Sunday, the homily below will not be delivered in person. It is provided here simply for reflection. No audio will be available. 1 Samuel 26, 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 + Psalm 103 + 1 Corinthians 15, 45-49 + Luke 6, 27-38. It is …Today’s Homily on EWTN. WATCH TODAY’S HOMILY ON EWTN. Check out other recent homilies below. SUBSCRIBE …Fr Martin’s Daily Homilies & Reflections New book for 2021 ‘You Have the Words of Eternal Life’ ~ Weekday Reflections for Liturgical Year 2020/21 at messenger.ie & @veritas.ie Fr. Martin Hogan continues to write many books on the Gospel Readings for each day of the Catholic Liturgical Year.Vatican City, Dec 24, 2021 / 14:00 pm. Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, delivered Dec. 24, 2021 in St. Peter’s Basilica.Preaching the Same Homily in Multiple Parishes. Ask five deacons what their preaching schedules are like and the answers will fluctuate widely. After my ordination in 1994, I typically preached once a month at one Mass. Occasionally, I preached at two Masses on a specific Sunday. It was rare to be scheduled to deliver the homily on two …This afternoon I happened to open your website address and I was so touched by your inspiring homilies. And this evening I just apply some of your inputs in today’s homily. Thank you Father for sharing your God-given gifts not only for your communities in the Philippines, but in the Catholic Church world-wide.Feb 14, 2018 · This wedding homily is so awesome, it could save your marriage. A Catholic deacon offers the ‘golden keys’ to unlock the secrets to true peace, joy, and happiness in marriage. Editor’s note … Vatican City, Dec 24, 2021 / 14:00 pm. Below is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, delivered Dec. 24, 2021 in St. Peter’s Basilica.Sunday 24 July 2022: Trinity 6, Seventeenth in Ordinary time, Proper 12. Praying through the gift of the Spirit. Luke 11:1-13. 08 Mar 2022.Today’s Gospel for the family Family. Today’s Gospel + image + catechesis. Contemplating today’s Gospel Contemplating. Today’s Gospel + homily (in 300 words) Master·evangeli.net Master. Today’s Gospel + short theological explanation Exodus 34:4b-6. Moses had this real and personal relationship with God. God invited Moses to come and meet him at a specific time and place: Early in the morning (time) and on Mount Sinai (place). When Moses went early in the morning up Mount Zion he met God there and “Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses” and spoke to him.He explained it this way: as three candles, giving off one light. Let us pray to live in that light – to always be drawn to it, and to always strive to give it to others. In the name of the one God in three persons …in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Deacon Greg Kandra 2021-05-28T22:45:35-04:00.—– Prayer Intentions and Inquiries —–📝 : http://www.drcm.org/prayer-request☎️ : +91 480 2708098—– More from Divine Retreat —–Do…Rob Ketchum’s homily today and his concluding remarks at the end of the Mass will speak to My Deacon’s Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Homily 61 – 21st Sunday in Ordinary TimeThursday, November 5, 2020 – Homily. Any deadline is manageable when you have so proficient writers on the team. A person of faith preaching. Exodus 34:4b-6. Moses had this real and personal relationship with God. God invited Moses to come and meet him at a specific time and place: Early in the morning (time) and on Mount Sinai (place). When Moses went early in the morning up Mount Zion he met God there and “Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses” and spoke to him.Today, during the summer months, as many as 5000 people, mostly youth, gather in that little village for the weekly prayer and fellowship. The present prior of the community is Brother Alois . He is a well-known global figure, having to represent the community in public functions, and annually having private audiences with the Pope, Archbishop …Rob Ketchum’s homily today and his concluding remarks at the end of the Mass will speak to My Deacon’s Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Homily 61 – 21st Sunday in Ordinary TimeThursday, November 5, 2020 – Homily. Any deadline is manageable when you have so proficient writers on the team. A person of faith preaching. (Homily for Quinceañera) Bottom line: As a quinceañera, you not only want to thank God, but to ask for his help. You – and all the young people here – are at a crucial moment. First of all, I want to congratulate our quinceañera _____ and her parents. I know that this is a moment of great emotion for you as parents.Help When You Need It Most. At Catholic Online Resources, you’ll find homilies for every Sunday Catholic Mass of the year. For those times when, despite your best efforts, your busy schedule or unexpected interruptions keep you from finding time to properly prepare your homilies, or when you need a fresh idea for an upcoming sermon, Catholic Online Resources’ homily service is here to help you …Homily for Memorial Mass November 12, 2017 I’m sure that each of us here this morning has experienced the death of more than one person we loved. Although we probably think of them every day and pray for them often, coming together for a Memorial Liturgy is a special time toJohn 10:11-18 Jesus, the Good Shepherd. John 10:11-18 is part of a longer discourse in which Jesus tells his disciples and us that he is the way to heaven and eternal life. In this passage he explains this concept by comparing himself to a shepherd. The image of a shepherd was one that was common among members of his audience.Catholic Daily Reflections. My Catholic Life! offers daily reflections, meditations and prayers focused on the Gospel of the day, the gift of Divine Mercy, our Lord’s Passion, our Blessed Mother, the saint of the day, feasts of the liturgical year, daily Mass readings and much more! Below are links to various resources to inspire you on a …Today’s Good News: God completely loves you, His adopted child, no less than His begotten Son Jesus! Good News Reflection. Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent March 30, 2022. Today’s Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, because you are always caring for my needs, although sometimes I don’t believe this is true. I ask you for the grace of being always aware …—– Prayer Intentions and Inquiries —–📝 : http://www.drcm.org/prayer-request☎️ : +91 480 2708098—– More from Divine Retreat —–Do… SERMONS ON HOPE. Our sermon ideas on Hope will help you preach a powerful message. Prepare your messages on the life, stability, and purpose found with hope in God with sermon outlines or an entire sermon series. All Sermons $5.99 each.Free Funeral Message. Funeral Sermon for Cindy Hayes. 2 Timothy 3:10-11. Intro. We’re all here today to remember the life of Cindy Hayes. Many people came by last night because Ms. Cindy meant so much to them. They came. And they spoke about their experiences with Ms. Cindy. They remembered her.Next Homily (For 3rd April 2022) 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C. Homilies by Liturgical Calendar. Year A Year B Year C . Gentle reminder: If you would like to use any content from this site, contact us first. If you would like to receive Father Hanly’s homily for the week each week by email, enter your email address in the box below:Sunday Bible Reflections This SundayThe Mystery Kept Secret: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Fourth Sunday of Advent Readings 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 16 Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 What is announced to Mary in today’s Gospel is the revelation of all that the prophets…This week’s homily. Today, we visit Philadelphia, where His Grace Archeparch Boris describes the scene in Capernaum, fitting of Hollywood, when a paralytic was lowered through the roof of a crowded home to be healed by Christ.The word homily is derived from the Greek word homilia (from homilein), which means to have communion or hold intercourse with a person. … Today we honor Saint … John 10:11-18 Jesus, the Good Shepherd. John 10:11-18 is part of a longer discourse in which Jesus tells his disciples and us that he is the way to heaven and eternal life. In this passage he explains this concept by comparing himself to a shepherd. The image of a shepherd was one that was common among members of his audience.Homily for Midnight Mass of Christmas, Cycle B—2017. FIRST READING Isaiah 9:1-6. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils.This sermon ivestigates the difference in today’s church and the early church in the area of the Holy Spirits Power working in us. Walking In The Spirit Pt 2 ¡V Power For Today Acts 2:1-12 Last week we began this series on spirit filled living by asking a series of questions about the church today.Links to many homilies and sermons for Sunday and Weekdays of the year of priest, deacons, laity and religious organizations.The following is the homily President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris heard Wednesday morning, Jan. 20, while attending Inauguration Day Mass at Cathedral of St. Matthew the …Funeral Homily for Justice Antonin Scalia by Paul Scalia 2 . 22 . 16. … Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. My dear friends, this is also the structure of the Mass—the greatest prayer we can offer for Dad, because it’s not our prayer but the Lord’s. The Mass looks to Jesus yesterday.Catholic daily Mass Readings for the year 2021. A source to read the Daily Catholic Mass Readings, Gospel Reading for Today, 2021 Liturgy, Missal and Bible readings for Today’s Catholic Mass. Catholic Mass Readings for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the year 2021. Motor City Church is an exciting new church plant in the Detroit area. Whether you’re new to church, have been a christian for many years, or are looking for a fresh start, you’re welcome here. Our hope is to give you a place where you can experience a fresh, enjoyable connection to God and a community of people. We keep our focus simple so we can have the biggest impact possible.The Setting – John 2:1-2. And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the wedding. The reference to the third day here goes back to the day that Jesus found and called Philip and Nathanael to follow Him ( John 1:43 ).Fr. Mike’s Homilies. 7,843 likes · 2,896 talking about this. Let the Word of God, preached and explained, touch and change us, so that we also become instruments for the salvation of souls and the…Francis Homilies 2020. Homilies 2020. Celebration of Vespers and Te Deum in Thanksgiving for the past year (31 December 2020) [ English – French – German – Italian – Portuguese – Spanish] Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (24 December 2020) [ Arabic – English – French …Suggested Texts for Sunday Sermons, March 27th – Lent 4 Joshua 5:9-12 · Psalm 32 · 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 · Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Featured Powerpoint Content · see allDaily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King Year B (6) Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King Year B Theme: CHRIST, KING OF MY LIFE By: Fr. Boniface Ogonna Homily for Sunday November 21 2021 1st Reading. Dn. 7:13-14 Resp. Ps.93:1,1-2,5 2nd Reading.Motor City Church is an exciting new church plant in the Detroit area. Whether you’re new to church, have been a christian for many years, or are looking for a fresh start, you’re welcome here. Our hope is to give you a place where you can experience a fresh, enjoyable connection to God and a community of people. We keep our focus simple so we can have the biggest impact possible.Today’s message with sailing, house, plane, rocket, and cross was terrific! said it actually made them think how Christ is with them each moment of the day. Praise be to God for your child-like spirit, wisdom and heart. May God continue to bless you in all you do. … After 15 years of children’s sermons, I’d reached a point I was …My Catholic Faith! My Catholic Worship! My Catholic Morals! Advent and Christmas Reflections. Lent and Easter Reflections. Ordinary Time: Weeks 1-17. Ordinary Time: Weeks 18-34. Probing the Depths. Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy.Today’s Gospel for the family Family. Today’s Gospel + image + catechesis. Contemplating today’s Gospel Contemplating. Today’s Gospel + homily (in 300 words) Master·evangeli.net Master. Today’s Gospel + short theological explanation December 24-25, 2020. Posted by James Pitts in Dr. Lee Carter, Sermons “JOY: When Christ Breaks Through to Us” Year B: Christmas Day. At what point during this season filled with all the glitter and wrappings, the frantic shopping, the non-stop Christmas radio stations blaring “Jingle Bell Rock” and “All I Want for Christmas is You” – did the humble and beckoning Christ finally …Rob Ketchum’s homily today and his concluding remarks at the end of the Mass will speak to My Deacon’s Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Homily 61 – 21st Sunday in Ordinary TimeThursday, November 5, 2020 – Homily. Any deadline is manageable when you have so proficient writers on the team. A person of faith preaching. Preaching the Same Homily in Multiple Parishes. Ask five deacons what their preaching schedules are like and the answers will fluctuate widely. After my ordination in 1994, I typically preached once a month at one Mass. Occasionally, I preached at two Masses on a specific Sunday. It was rare to be scheduled to deliver the homily on two …As the old saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of your life. May it be a day you’ll long remember because you decided to make a conscious choice to become cause to a new effect in 2016. … to listen to His words in Scripture and homily. 5) to present our needs and petitions before God on the altar at the intercessory prayers, 6 …Mar 23, 2022 · Sunday Homilies. There are several seasons during the Liturgical Year: Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. For the other Sundays of the year we celebrate Ordinary Time. As Christians – followers of Christ through our Baptism – we are called on to make Christ present in our own lives and in the lives of others. Motor City Church is an exciting new church plant in the Detroit area. Whether you’re new to church, have been a christian for many years, or are looking for a fresh start, you’re welcome here. Our hope is to give you a place where you can experience a fresh, enjoyable connection to God and a community of people. We keep our focus simple so we can have the biggest impact possible.Homilies. In this section, I have posted the homilies I have written and delivered since ordination, beginning with the most recent. They are organized by Cycle Year, and by week, and finally by the date they were given. As is everything posted on this site, please feel free to use whatever is helpful in your ministry or spiritual life. Loading…Homily from the Pope’s Sunday Mass at Lourdes. “Go and tell the priests that people should come here in procession, and that a chapel should be built here.” This is the message Bernadette received …A TREASURE OF HOMILIES (Why pay for homilies when you can get them for free? While every effort is made to ensure that links are working, if you find a dead link, kindly report it to on this Form. New links are welcomed. They can be submitted on the same Form. Thank you for your cooperation. Updated: September 17, 2017.Monday, Third Week of Lent, March 21, 2022 THE MERCY OF GOD. In both the first reading and the Gospel, we hear about Naaman, the leper, and how God’s mercy was shown to him. This is a […]The Assumption of Mary (August 15) The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Feb 27, 2022 · Father Scalia’s Homilies. Below is a list of recent Sunday homilies given by the Very Reverend Paul D. Scalia, Pastor of St. James Catholic Church. In addition to Sunday homilies, other homilies for special Masses, Holy Days of Obligation, etc. may be posted too. If you have any problems accessing these homilies, email communications … This week’s homily. Today, we visit Philadelphia, where His Grace Archeparch Boris describes the scene in Capernaum, fitting of Hollywood, when a paralytic was lowered through the roof of a crowded home to be healed by Christ.Torch provides a new Catholic homily each week written specially for this web site by Dominican friars, and read by followers worldwide. Read more. Torch. A Mother’s Tears. Fourth Sunday of Lent. Fr Robert Verrill wonders about the prodigal son’s mother. (Our sermon for the Solemnity of the 24 March 2022 Links to many homilies and sermons for Sunday and Weekdays of the year of priest, deacons, laity and religious organizations.Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will remember to pray the Jesus prayer several times: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. For Further Reflection: “Jesus”: The Shortest, Simplest, and Most Powerful Prayer in the World by Peter Kreeft.Sunday Bible Reflections This SundayThe Mystery Kept Secret: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Fourth Sunday of Advent Readings 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 16 Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 What is announced to Mary in today’s Gospel is the revelation of all that the prophets…A love that’s bigger than all of us. A love that enfolds us gathered here today and all of love’s creation. A love that never comes to an end. That early Christian then said to the people he led, “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”. That’s the way that Mary Louise loved—in truth and action.Homily for Midnight Mass of Christmas, Cycle B—2017. FIRST READING Isaiah 9:1-6. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils.Nov 21, 2021 · Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King Year B (6) Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King Year B Theme: CHRIST, KING OF MY LIFE By: Fr. Boniface Ogonna Homily for Sunday November 21 2021 1st Reading. Dn. 7:13-14 Resp. Ps.93:1,1-2,5 2nd Reading. Sunday Homilies. There are several seasons during the Liturgical Year: Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. For the other Sundays of the year we celebrate Ordinary Time. As Christians – followers of Christ through our Baptism – we are called on to make Christ present in our own lives and in the lives of others.This sermon ivestigates the difference in today’s church and the early church in the area of the Holy Spirits Power working in us. Walking In The Spirit Pt 2 ¡V Power For Today Acts 2:1-12 Last week we began this series on spirit filled living by asking a series of questions about the church today.Today’s Homily Resource 25 January 2022 Tuesday, Week 3 – Conversion of St Paul. (Homily for Quinceañera) Bottom line: As a quinceañera, you not only want to thank God, but to ask for his help. Is a lampHomily for the Second Sunday of Advent, December 5, 2021 3 Today’s Homily. Find booksHomily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.The second reading today, from the Letter to the Philippians, says almost all that can be said and helps us understand the other two readings, especially the long Gospel of the Passion of Jesus. Jesus chooses to suffer for us—and not in any kind of sick psychological way, but with the fullness of any human who chooses to give life up for …How The Church Can Experience Revival Today By Brandon Cox on March 28, 2022 6 Things Millennials Need From Pastors By Joe Hoagland on March 26, 2022 How To Get Your Prayer To Work By H.B. Charles, Jr. on March 25, 2022 Thinking About Expository Preaching— Part 4 By Ed Stetzer on March 24, 2022Seeds for the soul: Sunday homilies for cycle B. 30 November, 1999. Brendan McGuire provides homilies for every Sunday of the year when Mark’s gospel is read. The focus of the book is God’s redeeming love and our response to his love in concrete ways in the ordinary lives of ordinary people. 139 pp. Columba Press, 2005.Pope Francis. 12.01.17 Holy Mass Santa Marta. Hebrews 3: 7-14. The Holy Spirit speaks to us: “Brethren, as the Holy Spirit Says”. And in this passage from the Letter to the Hebrews there are two words that the Holy Spirit repeats: ‘ today ‘ and ‘heart’. Paul writes, in fact: “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your …SERMONS ON HOPE. Our sermon ideas on Hope will help you preach a powerful message. Prepare your messages on the life, stability, and purpose found with hope in God with sermon outlines or an entire sermon series. All Sermons $5.99 each.I was converted by an experience of The Holy Trinity on July 5, 8, and 11, 2000. I began numbering my days sometime in 2004. I was not ready for Jesus to return until just over four years ago. I did not learn that I have been in God’s peace since July 8, 2000 until two years ago today, November 15, 2018.Links to many homilies and sermons for Sunday and Weekdays of the year of priest, deacons, laity and religious organizations.John 10:11-18 Jesus, the Good Shepherd. John 10:11-18 is part of a longer discourse in which Jesus tells his disciples and us that he is the way to heaven and eternal life. In this passage he explains this concept by comparing himself to a shepherd. The image of a shepherd was one that was common among members of his audience.The Sunday Web Site at Saint Louis University. Select A Sunday. January 19, 2020 | 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time A January 26, 2020 | 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 2, 2020 | Presentation of the Lord February 9, 2020 | 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 16, 2020 | 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time A February 23, 2020 | 7th Sunday of … Sunday Bible Reflections This SundayThe Mystery Kept Secret: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Fourth Sunday of Advent Readings 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 16 Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 What is announced to Mary in today’s Gospel is the revelation of all that the prophets…Weekday II (2014) Here the homilies are being sorted through the liturgical year. It is my hope, eventually, to have one homily for every daily mass throughout the two year cycle, along with one homily for every Sunday throughout the three year cycle, and also one homily for every feast and solemnity that comes with its own readings.Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will remember to pray the Jesus prayer several times: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. For Further Reflection: “Jesus”: The Shortest, Simplest, and Most Powerful Prayer in the World by Peter Kreeft.Homily for April 03, 2022. FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, Third Scrutiny of the Elect. Be merciful like Him and let forgiveness flow through you. Amen. My Catholic Faith! My Catholic Worship! My Catholic Morals! Advent and Christmas Reflections. Lent and Easter Reflections. Ordinary Time: Weeks 1-17. Ordinary Time: Weeks 18-34. Probing the Depths. Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy.90 YEARS AGO TODAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1939, HITLER INVADED POLAND. AND WITH THAT INVASION HE BEGAN WORLD WAR II. WHEN IT WAS OVER SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 60 AND 85 MILLION PEOPLE HAD BEEN KILLED, MOSTLY CIVILIANS. SOME IN BOMBINGS AND BATTLES, SOME BY DISEASE AND STARVATION. SOME WORKED TO DEATH IN FORCED LABOR CAMPS. SOME BYCatholic Daily Reflections. My Catholic Life! offers daily reflections, meditations and prayers focused on the Gospel of the day, the gift of Divine Mercy, our Lord’s Passion, our Blessed Mother, the saint of the day, feasts of the liturgical year, daily Mass readings and much more! Below are links to various resources to inspire you on a …On many weekdays we offer two approaches to a homily. One is usually based on the first Reading, with sometimes a link to the main idea in the Gospel. The second approach will be drawn from that day’s Gospel. These are loosely based on notes made available by Fr. Martin Hogan p.p. Fr Pat Rogers cp, Mount Argus, Dublin.The Setting – John 2:1-2. And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the wedding. The reference to the third day here goes back to the day that Jesus found and called Philip and Nathanael to follow Him ( John 1:43 ).This homily was delivered on Jan. 5, 2019, during the Mass of Christian Burial for Mary K. Hanneman. Below the homily is a video of Msgr. Moellenberndt and the Rite of Committal at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Catholic Cemetery. Msgr. Duane also gave a wonderful homily at the funeral Mass for David D. Hanneman in April 2007. By Monsignor Duane Moellenberndt A sick man turned to his doctor as…Sep 08, 2019 · June 25, 2017: 12th Sunday – “No Fear” (Final homily as pastor) Easter, Year A. Pentecost 2017 – “Restoring What Was Lost” April 23, 2017: 2nd Sunday – “Mercy is the Cure” Lent, Year A. April 14, 2017: Good Friday – “Famous Last Words” April 13, 2017: Holy Thursday – “Last Will and Testament” March 26, 2017: 4th Sunday – “Stepping Toward Jesus” Just found these homilies today (Sept 27), and found today’s homily clear and beautifully explained. “. Religion & Spirituality. J/PD . Today’s may 9 2021 catholic sunday readings homily theme: You can help promote this service by making a donation. The King is an unborn child — discarded, tossed aside, trashed.Decide today to follow the Lord in “every circumstance,” whether “well provided for” or not (Phil 4:12). May your Lenten sufferings and your Easter renewal of your Baptismal promises lead you to lifelong covenant faithfulness to God (see Jer 31:31).Suggested Texts for Sunday Sermons, April 3rd – Lent 5 Isaiah 43:16-21 · Psalm 126 · Philippians 3:4b-14 · John 12:1-8 Featured Powerpoint Content · see allThe Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. February 18, 2022 Father Tom Boyer. 20 February 2022. As I am out of the country this Sunday, the homily below will not be delivered in person. It is provided here simply for reflection. No audio will be available. 1 Samuel 26, 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 + Psalm 103 + 1 Corinthians 15, 45-49 + Luke 6, 27-38. It is …St. Mary’s Catholic Church. 9505 Gayton Road, Richmond, Virginia 23229 | 804-740-4044In his homily at Mass today in Malmo, Sweden, on the feast of All Saints, Pope Francis has underlined how the Beatitudes are a Christian’s “identity card” that “identify us as followers of …Feb 27, 2022 · Father Scalia’s Homilies. Below is a list of recent Sunday homilies given by the Very Reverend Paul D. Scalia, Pastor of St. James Catholic Church. In addition to Sunday homilies, other homilies for special Masses, Holy Days of Obligation, etc. may be posted too. If you have any problems accessing these homilies, email communications … Define homily. Homily as a noun means A platitudinous or inspirational saying.. Homily for April 03, 2022. FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, Third Scrutiny of the Elect. Be merciful like Him and let forgiveness flow through you. Amen. The following is the homily President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris heard Wednesday morning, Jan. 20, while attending Inauguration Day Mass at Cathedral of St. Matthew the …Thoughts on Today’s Gospel “It is better for a man to be silent and be [a Christian], than to talk and not to be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts.” (Saint Ignatius of Antioch)December 24-25, 2020. Posted by James Pitts in Dr. Lee Carter, Sermons “JOY: When Christ Breaks Through to Us” Year B: Christmas Day. At what point during this season filled with all the glitter and wrappings, the frantic shopping, the non-stop Christmas radio stations blaring “Jingle Bell Rock” and “All I Want for Christmas is You” – did the humble and beckoning Christ finally …The passage we read today has hints of a trinitarian relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, but you have to look carefully for it. The second reason I haven’t preached directly on the Trinity is because it is a topic, a concept, from the academic discipline called “systematic theology.”Today’s Mass Readings. Click on the image for today’s readings from “Living With Christ” Homily on Today’s Gospel. Click on the image to hear a homily on today’s gospel in audio . Daily Reflection. Click on the image to read today’s reflection from Creighton Jesuit University . Saint of the Day.This wedding homily is so awesome, it could save your marriage. A Catholic deacon offers the ‘golden keys’ to unlock the secrets to true peace, joy, and happiness in marriage. Editor’s note …Mar 23, 2022 · Sunday Homilies. There are several seasons during the Liturgical Year: Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. For the other Sundays of the year we celebrate Ordinary Time. As Christians – followers of Christ through our Baptism – we are called on to make Christ present in our own lives and in the lives of others. Rob Ketchum’s homily today and his concluding remarks at the end of the Mass will speak to My Deacon’s Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Homily 61 – 21st Sunday in Ordinary TimeThursday, November 5, 2020 – Homily. Any deadline is manageable when you have so proficient writers on the team. A person of faith preaching. And today I want to offer you a small word of encouragement. – You are NOT wasting your time. What you’re doing DOES matter. Your labor is not in vain. Teacher, Your Work Matters. I was going to tell you that there are students in your class who will look back on this year and be thankful for your influence.Homily for Orlando Diocese’s Catholic Teachers. OMNI ROSEN CENTRE, Aug 26, 2003. In today’s gospel, Jesus has some harsh words for the teachers of his day – the scribes and the Pharisees. “Blind guides”, he called them. However, if he were here today, I am sure that he would say: “Present company excepted”. Let’s hope so anyway.Mar 27, 2022 · Commentary for today: Sunday, March 20, 2022. Moses encounters God on Mount Horeb and receives a task to fulfil. Reminding Corinthians of the failure of Israelites to respond to God’s grace, Paul warns them to be more responsive. Jesus speaks of the need to bear fruit, giving the parable of the fig tree. STEP 3 – You’ll receive a brief email each morning. Each email will contain a link to that day’s Gospel passage, so you can read the Scripture yourself. Then that will be followed by a short reflection on the passage from Bishop Barron. It’s short, simple, but extremely powerful. It’s like getting a mini-homily each morning from Bishop Barron!Free Bible Sermons. Full-length sermons on a variety of Bible topics complete with Scripture references, PowerPoint, student worksheets and transcripts. 428 sermons. Filter: All With Video With Captions Sermon Topics By Year: 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 Sort: Newest First Alphabetically Most Viewed. Lent III Sunday (March 20) – Eight-minute homily in 1- page (L/22) Central theme All three of today’s readings speak of God… Keep reading March 10, 2022 March 20, 2022HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION – SUNDAY 15TH AUGUST 2021. Fr Lar O’Connor. This weekend we celebrate the Solemn Feast of the Assumption of our Lady into heaven. We do not have direct evidence, but it is a tradition going back to the early days of the church. … The Gospel of today’s mass gives us a good insight into Mary’s …Homily: Feast of the Assumption. Pax et Bonum! A good friend of mine who is a priest in Michigan, always wanted to go on a cruise. He investigated the various cruise lines, and what they offered. And after saving his money for long time, he and his sister and brother-in-law, signed up to go on a 10-day Caribbean cruise.Free Funeral Message. Funeral Sermon for Cindy Hayes. 2 Timothy 3:10-11. Intro. We’re all here today to remember the life of Cindy Hayes. Many people came by last night because Ms. Cindy meant so much to them. They came. And they spoke about their experiences with Ms. Cindy. They remembered her.I would take nothing away from the grief you feel today. I would take nothing away from the grief you feel today. · I will not say to you that everything is all right. · Because it’s not and you know it. · You hurt. I hurt And we know we will hurt for a some time. · God made us so that we can have relationships…(Homily for Quinceañera) Bottom line: As a quinceañera, you not only want to thank God, but to ask for his help. You – and all the young people here – are at a crucial moment. First of all, I want to congratulate our quinceañera _____ and her parents. I know that this is a moment of great emotion for you as parents.STEP 3 – You’ll receive a brief email each morning. Each email will contain a link to that day’s Gospel passage, so you can read the Scripture yourself. Then that will be followed by a short reflection on the passage from Bishop Barron. It’s short, simple, but extremely powerful. It’s like getting a mini-homily each morning from Bishop Barron!Daily readings and homily. Subscribe. Radio. podcasts. Daily readings and homily. 2022-03-25. Fr. Leonard Lenten Weekday. 2022-03-24. Bishop Steven Raica The Annunciation of the Lord (Solemnity) 2022-03-23. Fr. Matthew Lenten Weekday. 2022-03-22. Fr. Mark Lenten Weekday. 2022-03-21 …Home / Homilies / Seeing the King: Homily for November 22, 2020, Solemnity of Christ the King. Previous Next … But thank God, literally, for today. In the middle of all this, comes this Sunday and a message for this moment. One of the phrases we hear often these days is “the new normal.” It captures the changed reality of our time.I would take nothing away from the grief you feel today. I would take nothing away from the grief you feel today. · I will not say to you that everything is all right. · Because it’s not and you know it. · You hurt. I hurt And we know we will hurt for a some time. · God made us so that we can have relationships…Today we hear not a parable, but the report from John’s Gospel of an encounter among Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees, and a woman caught in adultery. In John’s Gospel, the conflict between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees occurs much earlier than in the Synoptic Gospels. Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem is reported at the …Catholic daily Mass Readings for the year 2021. A source to read the Daily Catholic Mass Readings, Gospel Reading for Today, 2021 Liturgy, Missal and Bible readings for Today’s Catholic Mass. Catholic Mass Readings for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the year 2021. This homily was delivered on Jan. 5, 2019, during the Mass of Christian Burial for Mary K. Hanneman. Below the homily is a video of Msgr. Moellenberndt and the Rite of Committal at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Catholic Cemetery. Msgr. Duane also gave a wonderful homily at the funeral Mass for David D. Hanneman in April 2007. By Monsignor Duane Moellenberndt A sick man turned to his doctor as…Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday. Readings: Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11; Luke 1: 46-50, 53-54; 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24; John 1: 6-8, 19-28. Mass for Installation of Parish Pastoral Council at St Canice’s Parish, Kings Cross/Elizabeth Bay. 13 December 2020Today we hear not a parable, but the report from John’s Gospel of an encounter among Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees, and a woman caught in adultery. In John’s Gospel, the conflict between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees occurs much earlier than in the Synoptic Gospels. Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem is reported at the …WELCOME TO. TrinityTV… that you may have life! Offering a variety of positive content that inspires, entertains, educates, and uplifts the mind, heart, and soul. Watch live here or on your local cable provider channel!Suggested Texts for Sunday Sermons, March 27th – Lent 4 Joshua 5:9-12 · Psalm 32 · 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 · Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Featured Powerpoint Content · see allDecide today to follow the Lord in “every circumstance,” whether “well provided for” or not (Phil 4:12). May your Lenten sufferings and your Easter renewal of your Baptismal promises lead you to lifelong covenant faithfulness to God (see Jer 31:31). Pastors and Sunday School teachers, if you’re looking for the best sermons for kids, you’re in the right place! Click here to find 52 FREE Children’s Sermons to use in your church or Sunday School. We included both the scripts and the videos for each children’s sermon so you may want to bookmark this page!Help When You Need It Most. At Catholic Online Resources, you’ll find homilies for every Sunday Catholic Mass of the year. For those times when, despite your best efforts, your busy schedule or unexpected interruptions keep you from finding time to properly prepare your homilies, or when you need a fresh idea for an upcoming sermon, Catholic Online Resources’ homily service is here to help you …A TREASURE OF HOMILIES (Why pay for homilies when you can get them for free? While every effort is made to ensure that links are working, if you find a dead link, kindly report it to on this Form. New links are welcomed. They can be submitted on the same Form. Thank you for your cooperation. Updated: September 17, 2017.This week’s homily. Today, we visit Philadelphia, where His Grace Archeparch Boris describes the scene in Capernaum, fitting of Hollywood, when a paralytic was lowered through the roof of a crowded home to be healed by Christ.Share your videos with friends, family, and the worldFeb 27, 2022 · Father Scalia’s Homilies. Below is a list of recent Sunday homilies given by the Very Reverend Paul D. Scalia, Pastor of St. James Catholic Church. In addition to Sunday homilies, other homilies for special Masses, Holy Days of Obligation, etc. may be posted too. If you have any problems accessing these homilies, email communications … Fr Martin’s Daily Homilies & Reflections New book for 2021 ‘You Have the Words of Eternal Life’ ~ Weekday Reflections for Liturgical Year 2020/21 at messenger.ie & @veritas.ie Fr. Martin Hogan continues to write many books on the Gospel Readings for each day of the Catholic Liturgical Year.Help When You Need It Most. At Catholic Online Resources, you’ll find homilies for every Sunday Catholic Mass of the year. For those times when, despite your best efforts, your busy schedule or unexpected interruptions keep you from finding time to properly prepare your homilies, or when you need a fresh idea for an upcoming sermon, Catholic Online Resources’ homily service is here to help you …Rob Ketchum’s homily today and his concluding remarks at the end of the Mass will speak to My Deacon’s Homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Homily 61 – 21st Sunday in Ordinary TimeThursday, November 5, 2020 – Homily. Any deadline is manageable when you have so proficient writers on the team. A person of faith preaching. 4th Week of Lent, Friday, April 1st. Wisdom 2:1, 12-22 / John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30. Jesus continues speaking to the Jews; “I did not come on my own.” He explained it this way: as three candles, giving off one light. Let us pray to live in that light – to always be drawn to it, and to always strive to give it to others. In the name of the one God in three persons …in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Deacon Greg Kandra 2021-05-28T22:45:35-04:00.Help When You Need It Most. At Catholic Online Resources, you’ll find homilies for every Sunday Catholic Mass of the year. For those times when, despite your best efforts, your busy schedule or unexpected interruptions keep you from finding time to properly prepare your homilies, or when you need a fresh idea for an upcoming sermon, Catholic Online Resources’ homily service is here to help you …Mar 27, 2022 · Commentary for today: Sunday, March 20, 2022. Moses encounters God on Mount Horeb and receives a task to fulfil. Reminding Corinthians of the failure of Israelites to respond to God’s grace, Paul warns them to be more responsive. Jesus speaks of the need to bear fruit, giving the parable of the fig tree. A love that’s bigger than all of us. A love that enfolds us gathered here today and all of love’s creation. A love that never comes to an end. That early Christian then said to the people he led, “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”. That’s the way that Mary Louise loved—in truth and action.B Cycle – 5th Sunday of Lent 15. B Cycle – 2nd Sunday of Easter 15. B Cycle – 3rd Sunday of Easter 15. B Cycle – 4th Sunday of Easter 15. B Cycle – 5th Sunday of Easter 15. B Cycle – 6th Sunday of Easter 15. B Cycle – Pentecost Sunday 15. B Cycle – Trinity Sunday 15. B Cycle – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 15.Preaching Today provides pastors and preachers sermon prep help with sermon illustrations, sermons, sermon ideas, and preaching articles.Weekday II (2014) Here the homilies are being sorted through the liturgical year. It is my hope, eventually, to have one homily for every daily mass throughout the two year cycle, along with one homily for every Sunday throughout the three year cycle, and also one homily for every feast and solemnity that comes with its own readings.Today, we rejoice and give all thanks and praise to God, that Sylvia Amon’s days of groaning are over, her burdens have been lifted from her shoulders and she has been swallowed up in life. This entry was posted in Sermons – Lutheran – LCMS .The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads. You can also view this page with the Gospel in Greek and English.Help When You Need It Most. At Catholic Online Resources, you’ll find homilies for every Sunday Catholic Mass of the year. For those times when, despite your best efforts, your busy schedule or unexpected interruptions keep you from finding time to properly prepare your homilies, or when you need a fresh idea for an upcoming sermon, Catholic Online Resources’ homily service is here to help you …I was converted by an experience of The Holy Trinity on July 5, 8, and 11, 2000. I began numbering my days sometime in 2004. I was not ready for Jesus to return until just over four years ago. I did not learn that I have been in God’s peace since July 8, 2000 until two years ago today, November 15, 2018.Catholic daily Mass Readings for the year 2021. A source to read the Daily Catholic Mass Readings, Gospel Reading for Today, 2021 Liturgy, Missal and Bible readings for Today’s Catholic Mass. Catholic Mass Readings for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the year 2021.
Tomorrow’s Readings, Monday, August 22, 2022
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 113:1b -2, 3 -4, 5-6, 7
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. Or: R. Alleluia.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. Or: R. Alleluia.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. Or: R. Alleluia.
Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high
and looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. Or: R. Alleluia.
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Matt 5:13-16
The Similes of Salt and Light
OTHER HOMILY SOURCES from Living Space
2017 Tuesday of week 10 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Matthew 5:13-16 – Sermon on the Mount (cont’d):We may be totally filled with the spirit of the Beatitudes but it will not do very much good unless their effects are clearly seen in our lives. To be a Christian it is not enough to be good; we must be seen to be so. It is not enough to ‘have a spirituality’ that fills us with a feeling of peace and tranquility. The spirituality of the Gospel is essentially outreaching. We have not only to be disciples of Christ but also need to proclaim him.
So Jesus, immediately following the Beatitudes, presents us with a number of images expressing this. “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt is an essential ingredient in almost all cooked food (even sweet food) to provide taste. We all know what it is like to have soup that contains no salt; we know how much part salt plays in flavouring mass-produced fast foods.
We are to be like salt; we are to give taste, zest to our environment. We do that through the specific outlook on life which we have and which we invite others to share. At their best, Christians have been very effective in doing this and have had a great impact on the values of many societies and in bringing about great changes.
To be tasteless salt is to be next to useless. Salt that has lost its taste is only fit to be thrown out. At the same time, in the West we sometimes, too, put some salt on the side of our plate. That salt, however, tasty it may be is still not doing any good unless it is put into the food. And this is an interesting feature of salt, namely, that it blends completely with food and disappears. It cannot be seen, but it can be tasted.
That reminds us that we as Christians, if we are to have the effect of giving taste, must be totally inserted in our societies. We have to resist any temptation, as Christians, to withdraw and separate ourselves from the world. It is a temptation we can easily fall into and there are many places in our cities where the Church is absent nowadays. There is no salt there. In our commercial districts, in our industrial areas, in our entertainment and media centres, where is the visible Christian presence?
Other images used by Jesus today include being the “light of the world” or being a city built on top of a hill. There is no way it can be hidden; it sticks out like a sore thumb. And what is the point of lighting a candle and then covering it over with a tub? You light a candle to give light so that people can see their way and will not fall. To be baptised and to go into virtual hiding is like lighting and then covering up a candle.
Finally, Jesus gives us the reason for making ourselves so visible. It is so that people may see our good works? In order that we can bask in their admiration and wonder? No, but so that they will be led through us to the God who made them, who loves them and wants to lead them to himself.
It is for us today to reflect on how visible our Christian faith is to others both as individuals, as families, as members of a Christian group, as parishioners, as a diocese.
Are there people or places in our area where a Christian witness is for all intents and purposes absent. Can we do anything bout that?
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2020 Tuesday of week 10 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on 1 Kgs 17:7-16
Elijah and the widow
The effects of the drought now even reach Elijah as the stream which provided him with water dries up. But it is not a sign of God withdrawing his providence; rather it is a sign that a new stage in the story is about to unfold.
God tells Elijah now to go to Zarephath of Sidon, a town on the Mediterranean coast between the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon (the only Gentile places we are told that Jesus visited during his public life). In effect, Elijah is being told to go to the territory ruled over by Jezebel’s father and thus to the very centre from which the worship of Baal had originated. Elijah must have found it a strange command but he put his trust in the Lord and went. This whole story is about trust in God’s providence and care.
Elijah receives a promise that he will be looked after there not now by birds but by a poor widow, herself on the point of starvation. Moreover, she is a Gentile, in Jewish eyes a pagan. Just one more example of how God’s people were sustained by people they despised and avoided. Elijah, as the bearer of God’s word, was now to be sustained by human hands, but they were the hands of a poor widow facing starvation. She was, moreover, from outside the circle of God’s own people. She was from the pagan nation that at that time (much like Egypt earlier and Babylon later) represented the forces arrayed against God’s people.
Once again, showing his deep trust in God’s care of him, Elijah goes off and, as promised, finds the widow gathering sticks. He asks for a little water to drink and she goes off to get some for him. However, as she is leaving, Elijah also asks for a little bread to eat. Here she demurs.
“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she began. Her oath in the name of the Lord was either in deference to Elijah the Israelite or even a recognition of Elijah’s God. She told him that she had only a very small amount of flour in her house and a little oil. She was now gathering firewood to prepare a final meal for herself and her son. After that, with nothing more to eat, they were prepared to face death.
“Do not be afraid,” said Elijah – a phrase that comes up again and again in both the Old and New Testaments and often used by Jesus himself. He tells her to go and make the meal for her son but first to prepare a small cake for him. The widow is asked to give all she has to sustain the bearer of the word of God. The demand to give her all is in essence the demand of the covenant that Israel had broken.
Elijah then cites to her a promise from the Lord: she will not want for flour or oil until the day the rains return. In a marvellous act of trust she agrees. She reminds one of the widow in the Gospel who donated all she had to the Temple treasury. This Gentile woman’s trust is also in strong contrast to the Israelites who had bound themselves by covenant to unconditional and total service of their Lord but had reneged on it so often and were doing so again.
The truth of Elijah’s promise was soon confirmed for the widow. For the jar of meal and jug of oil were never again empty for one whole year. By her act of faith the woman received the promised blessing, while Israel had forsaken the covenant and followed Baal and Asherah in search of prosperity. Now in the midst of a pagan kingdom a widow realises that the trustful obedience to the word of God is the way that leads to life.
God miraculously provided for this non-Israelite who, in an act of faith in the Lord’s word, had laid her life on the line. He gave her “manna” from heaven even while he was withholding food from his unfaithful people in the promised land.
The whole story is a teaching about trusting in God’s care for us. Later, in his home town of Nazareth, Jesus will use the example of this Gentile woman as well as the cure by Elisha of Naaman the leper from Syria as examples of Gentiles having more faith than God’s own people. Jesus was not able to heal many in Nazareth because of their refusal to see in him anyone but one of their neighbours.
This story reminds us too that the secret of life is for everyone to share generously of what they have. When that happens, no one is in want. When everyone gives, everyone gets.
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Evangelii Nuntiandi (December 8, 1975)
EVANGELII NUNTIANDI
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
TO THE EPISCOPATE, TO THE CLERGY
AND TO ALL THE FAITHFUL
OF THE ENTIRE WORLD
Venerable brothers and dear sons and daughters:
health and the apostolic blessing.
1. There is no doubt that the effort to proclaim the Gospel to the people of today, who are buoyed up by hope but at the same time often oppressed by fear and distress, is a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity.
For this reason the duty of confirming the brethren – a duty which with the office of being the Successor of Peter[1] we have received from the Lord, and which is for us a “daily preoccupation,”[2] a program of life and action, and a fundamental commitment of our Pontificate – seems to us all the more noble and necessary when it is a matter of encouraging our brethren in their mission as evangelizers, in order that, in this time of uncertainty and confusion, they may accomplish this task with ever increasing love, zeal and joy.
2. This is precisely what we wish to do here, at the end of this Holy Year during which the Church, “striving to proclaim the Gospel to all people,”[3] has had the single aim of fulfilling her duty of being the messenger of the Good News of Jesus Christ – the Good News proclaimed through two fundamental commands: “Put on the new self”[4] and “Be reconciled to God.”[5]
We wish to do so on this tenth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, the objectives of which are definitively summed up in this single one: to make the Church of the twentieth century ever better fitted for proclaiming the Gospel to the people of the twentieth century
We wish to do so one year after the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which as is well known, was devoted to evangelization; and we do so all the more willingly because it has been asked of us by the Synod Fathers themselves. In fact, at the end of that memorable Assembly, the Fathers decided to remit to the Pastor of the universal Church, with great trust and simplicity, the fruits of all their labors, stating that they awaited from him a fresh forward impulse, capable of creating within a Church still more firmly rooted in the undying power and strength of Pentecost a new period of evangelization.[6]
3. We have stressed the importance of this theme of evangelization on many occasions, well before the Synod took place. On June 22, 1973, we said to the Sacred College of Cardinals: “The conditions of the society in which we live oblige all of us therefore to revise methods, to seek by every means to study how we can bring the Christian message to modern man. For it is only in the Christian message that modern man can find the answer to his questions and the energy for his commitment of human solidarity.”[7] And we added that in order to give a valid answer to the demands of the Council which call for our attention, it is absolutely necessary for us to take into account a heritage of faith that the Church has the duty of preserving in its untouchable purity, and of presenting it to the people of our time, in a way that is as understandable and persuasive as possible.
4. This fidelity both to a message whose servants we are and to the people to whom we must transmit it living and intact is the central axis of evangelization. It poses three burning questions, which the 1974 Synod kept constantly in mind:
– In our day, what has happened to that hidden energy of the Good News, which is able to have a powerful effect on man’s conscience?
– To what extent and in what way is that evangelical force capable of really transforming the people of this century?
– What methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have its effect?
Basically, these inquiries make explicit the fundamental question that the Church is asking herself today and which may be expressed in the following terms: after the Council and thanks to the Council, which was a time given her by God, at this turning-point of history, does the Church or does she not find herself better equipped to proclaim the Gospel and to put it into people’s hearts with conviction, freedom of spirit and effectiveness?
5. We can all see the urgency of giving a loyal, humble and courageous answer to this question, and of acting accordingly.
In our “anxiety for all the Churches,”[8] we would like to help our brethren and sons and daughters to reply to these inquiries. Our words come from the wealth of the Synod and are meant to be a meditation on evangelization. May they succeed in inviting the whole People of God assembled in the Church to make the same meditation; and may they give a fresh impulse to everyone, especially those “who are assiduous in preaching and teaching,”[9] so that each one of them may follow “a straight course in the message of the truth,”[10] and may work as a preacher of the Gospel and acquit himself perfectly of his ministry.
Such an exhortation seems to us to be of capital importance, for the presentation of the Gospel message is not an optional contribution for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on her by the command of the Lord Jesus, so that people can believe and be saved. This message is indeed necessary. It is unique. It cannot be replaced. It does not permit either indifference, syncretism or accommodation. It is a question of people’s salvation. It is the beauty of the Revelation that it represents. It brings with it a wisdom that is not of this world. It is able to stir up by itself faith – faith that rests on the power of God.[11] It is truth. It merits having the apostle consecrate to it all his time and all his energies, and to sacrifice for it, if necessary, his own life.
6. The witness that the Lord gives of Himself and that Saint Luke gathered together in his Gospel – “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God”[12] – without doubt has enormous consequences, for it sums up the whole mission of Jesus: “That is what I was sent to do.”[13] These words take on their full significance if one links them with the previous verses, in which Christ has just applied to Himself the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor.”[14]
Going from town to town, preaching to the poorest – and frequently the most receptive – the joyful news of the fulfillment of the promises and of the Covenant offered by God is the mission for which Jesus declares that He is sent by the Father. And all the aspects of His mystery – the Incarnation itself, His miracles, His teaching, the gathering together of the disciples, the sending out of the Twelve, the cross and the resurrection, the permanence of His presence in the midst of His own – were components of His evangelizing activity.
7. During the Synod, the bishops very frequently referred to this truth: Jesus Himself, the Good News of God,[15] was the very first and the greatest evangelizer; He was so through and through: to perfection and to the point of the sacrifice of His earthly life.
To evangelize: what meaning did this imperative have for Christ? It is certainly not easy to express in a complete synthesis the meaning, the content and the modes of evangelization as Jesus conceived it and put it into practice. In any case the attempt to make such a synthesis will never end. Let it suffice for us to recall a few essential aspects.
8. As an evangelizer, Christ first of all proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that, by comparison, everything else becomes “the rest,” which is “given in addition.”[16] Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative. The Lord will delight in describing in many ways the happiness of belonging to this kingdom (a paradoxical happiness which is made up of things that the world rejects),[17] the demands of the kingdom and its Magna Charta,[18] the heralds of the kingdom,[19] its mysteries,[20] its children,[21] the vigilance and fidelity demanded of whoever awaits its definitive coming.[22]
9. As the kernel and center of His Good News, Christ proclaims salvation, this great gift of God which is liberation from everything that oppresses man but which is above all liberation from sin and the Evil One, in the joy of knowing God and being known by Him, of seeing Him, and of being given over to Him. All of this is begun during the life of Christ and definitively accomplished by His death and resurrection. But it must be patiently carried on during the course of history, in order to be realized fully on the day of the final coming of Christ, whose date is known to no one except the Father.[23]
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]
11. Christ accomplished this proclamation of the kingdom of God through the untiring preaching of a word which, it will be said, has no equal elsewhere: “Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it.”[26] “And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.[27] There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.”[28] His words reveal the secret of God, His plan and His promise, and thereby change the heart of man and his destiny.
12. But Christ also carries out this proclamation by innumerable signs, which amaze the crowds and at the same time draw them to Him in order to see Him, listen to Him and allow themselves to be transformed by Him: the sick are cured, water is changed into wine, bread is multiplied, the dead come back to life. And among all these signs there is the one to which He attaches great importance: the humble and the poor are evangelized, become His disciples and gather together “in His name” in the great community of those who believe in Him. For this Jesus who declared, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God”[29] is the same Jesus of whom John the Evangelist said that He had come and was to die “to gather together in unity the scattered children of God.”[30] Thus He accomplishes His revelation, completing it and confirming it by the entire revelation that He makes of Himself, by words and deeds, by signs and miracles, and more especially by His death, by His resurrection and by the sending of the Spirit of Truth.[31]
13. Those who sincerely accept the Good News, through the power of this acceptance and of shared faith therefore gather together in Jesus’ name in order to seek together the kingdom, build it up and live it. They make up a community which is in its turn evangelizing. The command to the Twelve to go out and proclaim the Good News is also valid for all Christians, though in a different way. It is precisely for this reason that Peter calls Christians “a people set apart to sing the praises of God,”[32] those marvelous things that each one was able to hear in his own language.[33] Moreover, the Good News of the kingdom which is coming and which has begun is meant for all people of all times. Those who have received the Good News and who have been gathered by it into the community of salvation can and must communicate and spread it.
14. The Church knows this. She has a vivid awareness of the fact that the Savior’s words, “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God,”[34] apply in all truth to herself: She willingly adds with St. Paul: “Not that I boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty that has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it”[35] It is with joy and consolation that at the end of the great Assembly of 1974 we heard these illuminating words: “We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church.”[36] It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.
15. Anyone who rereads in the New Testament the origins of the Church, follows her history step by step and watches her live and act, sees that she is linked to evangelization in her most intimate being:
– The Church is born of the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the Twelve. She is the normal, desired, most immediate and most visible fruit of this activity: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations.”[37] Now, “they accepted what he said and were baptized. That very day about three thousand were added to their number…. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved.”[38] – Having been born consequently out of being sent, the Church in her turn is sent by Jesus. The Church remains in the world when the Lord of glory returns to the Father. She remains as a sign – simultaneously obscure and luminous – of a new presence of Jesus, of His departure and of His permanent presence. She prolongs and continues Him. And it is above all His mission and His condition of being an evangelizer that she is called upon to continue.[39] For the Christian community is never closed in upon itself. The intimate life of this community – the life of listening to the Word and the apostles’ teaching, charity lived in a fraternal way, the sharing of bread[40] this intimate life only acquires its full meaning when it becomes a witness, when it evokes admiration and conversion, and when it becomes the preaching and proclamation of the Good News. Thus it is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole.
– The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. She is the community of believers, the community of hope lived and communicated, the community of brotherly love, and she needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe, to her reasons for hoping, to the new commandment of love. She is the People of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, and she always needs to hear the proclamation of the “mighty works of God”[41] which converted her to the Lord; she always needs to be called together afresh by Him and reunited. In brief, this means that she has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel. The Second Vatican Council recalled[42] and the 1974 Synod vigorously took up again this theme of the Church which is evangelized by constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelize the world with credibility.
– The Church is the depositary of the Good News to be proclaimed. The promises of the New Alliance in Jesus Christ, the teaching of the Lord and the apostles, the Word of life, the sources of grace and of God’s loving kindness, the path of salvation – all these things have been entrusted to her. It is the content of the Gospel, and therefore of evangelization, that she preserves as a precious living heritage, not in order to keep it hidden but to communicate it.
– Having been sent and evangelized, the Church herself sends out evangelizers. She puts on their lips the saving Word, she explains to them the message of which she herself is the depositary, she gives them the mandate which she herself has received and she sends them out to preach. To preach not their own selves or their personal ideas,[43] but a Gospel of which neither she nor they are the absolute masters and owners, to dispose of it as they wish, but a Gospel of which they are the ministers, in order to pass it on with complete fidelity.
16. There is thus a profound link between Christ, the Church and evangelization. During the period of the Church that we are living in, it is she who has the task of evangelizing. This mandate is not accomplished without her, and still less against her.
It is certainly fitting to recall this fact at a moment like the present one when it happens that not without sorrow we can hear people – whom we wish to believe are well-intentioned but who are certainly misguided in their attitude – continually claiming to love Christ but without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church, to belong to Christ but outside the Church. The absurdity of this dichotomy is clearly evident in this phrase of the Gospel: “Anyone who rejects you rejects me.”[44] 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]
17. In the Church’s evangelizing activity there are of course certain elements and aspects to be specially insisted on. Some of them are so important that there will be a tendency simply to identify them with evangelization. Thus it has been possible to define evangelization in terms of proclaiming Christ to those who do not know Him, of preaching, of catechesis, of conferring Baptism and the other sacraments.
Any partial and fragmentary definition which attempts to render the reality of evangelization in all its richness, complexity and dynamism does so only at the risk of impoverishing it and even of distorting it. It is impossible to grasp the concept of evangelization unless one tries to keep in view all its essential elements.
These elements were strongly emphasized at the last Synod, and are still the subject of frequent study, as a result of the Synod’s work. We rejoice in the fact that these elements basically follow the lines of those transmitted to us by the Second Vatican Council, especially in “Lumen gentium,” “Gaudium et spes” and “Ad gentes.”
18. For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: “Now I am making the whole of creation new.”[46] But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism[47] and by lives lived according to the Gospel.[48] The purpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert,[49] solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs.
19. Strata of humanity which are transformed: for the Church it is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider geographic areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affecting and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, mankind’s criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation.
20. All this could he expressed in the following words: what matters is to evangelize man’s culture and cultures (not in a purely decorative way, as it were, by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots), in the wide and rich sense which these terms have in Gaudium et spes,[50] always taking the person as one’s starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God.
The Gospel, and therefore evangelization, are certainly not identical with culture, and they are independent in regard to all cultures. Nevertheless, the kingdom which the Gospel proclaims is lived by men who are profoundly linked to a culture, and the building up of the kingdom cannot avoid borrowing the elements of human culture or cultures. Though independent of cultures, the Gospel and evangelization are not necessarily incompatible with them; rather they are capable of permeating them all without becoming subject to any one of them.
The split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times. Therefore every effort must be made to ensure a full evangelization of culture, or more correctly of cultures. They have to be regenerated by an encounter with the Gospel. But this encounter will not take place if the Gospel is not proclaimed.
21. Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization. The above questions will ask, whether they are people to whom Christ has never been proclaimed, or baptized people who do not practice, or people who live as nominal Christians but according to principles that are in no way Christian, or people who are seeking, and not without suffering, something or someone whom they sense but cannot name. Other questions will arise, deeper and more demanding ones, questions evoked by this witness which involves presence, sharing, solidarity, and which is an essential element, and generally the first one, in evangelization.”[51]
All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers. We are thinking especially of the responsibility incumbent on immigrants in the country that receives them.
22. Nevertheless this always remains insufficient, because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained, justified – what Peter called always having “your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have”[52] – and made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life. There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed. The history of the Church, from the discourse of Peter on the morning of Pentecost onwards, has been intermingled and identified with the history of this proclamation. At every new phase of human history, the Church, constantly gripped by the desire to evangelize, has but one preoccupation: whom to send to proclaim the mystery of Jesus? In what way is this mystery to be proclaimed? How can one ensure that it will resound and reach all those who should hear it? This proclamation – kerygma, preaching or catechesis – occupies such an important place in evangelization that it has often become synonymous with it; and yet it is only one aspect of evangelization.
23. In fact the proclamation only reaches full development when it is listened to, accepted and assimilated, and when it arouses a genuine adherence in the one who has thus received it. An adherence to the truths which the Lord in His mercy has revealed; still more, an adherence to a program of life – a life henceforth transformed – which He proposes. In a word, adherence to the kingdom, that is to say, to the “new world,” to the new state of things, to the new manner of being, of living, of living in community, which the Gospel inaugurates. Such an adherence, which cannot remain abstract and unincarnated, reveals itself concretely by a visible entry into a community of believers. Thus those whose life has been transformed enter a community which is itself a sign of transformation, a sign of newness of life: it is the Church, the visible sacrament of salvation.[53] Our entry into the ecclesial community will in its turn be expressed through many other signs which prolong and unfold the sign of the Church. In the dynamism of evangelization, a person who accepts the Church as the Word which saves[54] normally translates it into the following sacramental acts: adherence to the Church, and acceptance of the sacraments, which manifest and support this adherence through the grace which they confer.
24. Finally, the person who has been evangelized goes on to evangelize others. Here lies the test of truth, the touchstone of evangelization: it is unthinkable that a person should accept the Word and give himself to the kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn.
To complete these considerations on the meaning of evangelization, a final observation must be made, one which we consider will help to clarify the reflections that follow.
Evangelization, as we have said, is a complex process made up of varied elements: the renewal of humanity, witness, explicit proclamation, inner adherence, entry into the community, acceptance of signs, apostolic initiative. These elements may appear to be contradictory, indeed mutually exclusive. In fact they are complementary and mutually enriching. Each one must always be seen in relationship with the others. The value of the last Synod was to have constantly invited us to relate these elements rather than to place them in opposition one to the other, in order to reach a full understanding of the Church’s evangelizing activity.
It is this global vision which we now wish to outline, by examining the content of evangelization and the methods of evangelizing and by clarifying to whom the Gospel message is addressed and who today is responsible for it.
25. In the message which the Church proclaims there are certainly many secondary elements. Their presentation depends greatly on changing circumstances. They themselves also change. But there is the essential content, the living substance, which cannot be modified or ignored without seriously diluting the nature of evangelization itself.
26. It is not superfluous to recall the following points: to evangelize is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, to bear witness that in His Son God has loved the world – that in His Incarnate Word He has given being to all things and has called men to eternal life. Perhaps this attestation of God will be for many people the unknown God[55] whom they adore without giving Him a name, or whom they seek by a secret call of the heart when they experience the emptiness of all idols. But it is fully evangelizing in manifesting the fact that for man the Creator is not an anonymous and remote power; He is the Father: “…that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”[56] And thus we are one another’s brothers and sisters in God.
27. Evangelization will also always contain – as the foundation, center, and at the same time, summit of its dynamism – a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy.[57] And not an immanent salvation, meeting material or even spiritual needs, restricted to the framework of temporal existence and completely identified with temporal desires, hopes, affairs and struggles, but a salvation which exceeds all these limits in order to reach fulfillment in a communion with the one and only divine Absolute: a transcendent and eschatological salvation, which indeed has its beginning in this life but which is fulfilled in eternity.
28. Consequently evangelization cannot but include the prophetic proclamation of a hereafter, man’s profound and definitive calling, in both continuity and discontinuity with the present situation: beyond time and history, beyond the transient reality of this world, and beyond the things of this world, of which a hidden dimension will one day be revealed – beyond man himself, whose true destiny is not restricted to his temporal aspect but will be revealed in the future life.[58] Evangelization therefore also includes the preaching of hope in the promises made by God in the new Covenant in Jesus Christ; the preaching of God’s love for us and of our love for God; the preaching of brotherly love for all men – the capacity of giving and forgiving, of self-denial, of helping one’s brother and sister – which, springing from the love of God, is the kernel of the Gospel; the preaching of the mystery of evil and of the active search for good. The preaching likewise – and this is always urgent – of the search for God Himself through prayer which is principally that of adoration and thanksgiving, but also through communion with the visible sign of the encounter with God which is the Church of Jesus Christ; and this communion in its turn is expressed by the application of those other signs of Christ living and acting in the Church which are the sacraments. To live the sacraments in this way, bringing their celebration to a true fullness, is not, as some would claim, to impede or to accept a distortion of evangelization: it is rather to complete it. For in its totality, evangelization – over and above the preaching of a message – consists in the implantation of the Church, which does not exist without the driving force which is the sacramental life culminating in the Eucharist.[59]
29. But evangelization would not be complete if it did not take account of the unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man’s concrete life, both personal and social. This is why evangelization involves an explicit message, adapted to the different situations constantly being realized, about the rights and duties of every human being, about family life without which personal growth and development is hardly possible,[60] about life in society, about international life, peace, justice and development- a message especially energetic today about liberation.
30. It is well known in what terms numerous bishops from all the continents spoke of this at the last Synod, especially the bishops from the Third World, with a pastoral accent resonant with the voice of the millions of sons and daughters of the Church who make up those peoples. Peoples, as we know, engaged with all their energy in the effort and struggle to overcome everything which condemns them to remain on the margin of life: famine, chronic disease, illiteracy, poverty, injustices in international relations and especially in commercial exchanges, situations of economic and cultural neo-colonialism sometimes as cruel as the old political colonialism. The Church, as the bishops repeated, has the duty to proclaim the liberation of millions of human beings, many of whom are her own children- the duty of assisting the birth of this liberation, of giving witness to it, of ensuring that it is complete. This is not foreign to evangelization.
31. 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. They include links of the eminently evangelical order, which is that of charity: how in fact can one proclaim the new commandment without promoting in justice and in peace the true, authentic advancement of man? 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 same voices which during the Synod touched on this burning theme with zeal, intelligence and courage have, to our great joy, furnished the enlightening principles for a proper understanding of the importance and profound meaning of liberation, such as it was proclaimed and achieved by Jesus of Nazareth and such as it is preached by the Church.
32. We must not ignore the fact that many, even generous Christians who are sensitive to the dramatic questions involved in the problem of liberation, in their wish to commit the Church to the liberation effort are frequently tempted to reduce her mission to the dimensions of a simply temporal project. They would reduce her aims to a man-centered goal; the salvation of which she is the messenger would be reduced to material well-being. Her activity, forgetful of all spiritual and religious preoccupation, would become initiatives of the political or social order. But if this were so, the Church would lose her fundamental meaning. Her message of liberation would no longer have any originality and would easily be open to monopolization and manipulation by ideological systems and political parties. She would have no more authority to proclaim freedom as in the name of God. This is why we have wished to emphasize, in the same address at the opening of the Synod, “the need to restate clearly the specifically religious finality of evangelization. This latter would lose its reason for existence if it were to diverge from the religious axis that guides it: the kingdom of God, before anything else, in its fully theological meaning….”[62]
33. With regard to the liberation which evangelization proclaims and strives to put into practice one should rather say this:
– it cannot be contained in the simple and restricted dimension of economics, politics, social or cultural life; it must envisage the whole man, in all his aspects, right up to and including his openness to the absolute, even the divine Absolute;
– it is therefore attached to a view of man which it can never sacrifice to the needs of any strategy, practice or short-term efficiency.
34. Hence, when preaching liberation and associating herself with those who are working and suffering for it, the Church is certainly not willing to restrict her mission only to the religious field and dissociate herself from man’s temporal problems. Nevertheless she reaffirms the primacy of her spiritual vocation and refuses to replace the proclamation of the kingdom by the proclamation of forms of human liberation- she even states that her contribution to liberation is incomplete if she neglects to proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ.
35. The Church links human liberation and salvation in Jesus Christ, but she never identifies them, because she knows through revelation, historical experience and the reflection of faith that not every notion of liberation is necessarily consistent and compatible with an evangelical vision of man, of things and of events; she knows too that in order that God’s kingdom should come it is not enough to establish liberation and to create well-being and development.
And what is more, the Church has the firm conviction that all temporal liberation, all political liberation- even if it endeavors to find its justification in such or such a page of the Old or New Testament, even if it claims for its ideological postulates and its norms of action theological data and conclusions, even if it pretends to be today’s theology- carries within itself the germ of its own negation and fails to reach the ideal that it proposes for itself whenever its profound motives are not those of justice in charity, whenever its zeal lacks a truly spiritual dimension and whenever its final goal is not salvation and happiness in God.
36. The Church considers it to be undoubtedly important to build up structures which are more human, more just, more respectful of the rights of the person and less oppressive and less enslaving, but she is conscious that the best structures and the most idealized systems soon become inhuman if the inhuman inclinations of the human heart are not made wholesome, if those who live in these structures or who rule them do not undergo a conversion of heart and of outlook.
37. The Church cannot accept violence, especially the force of arms- which is uncontrollable once it is let loose- and indiscriminate death as the path to liberation, because she knows that violence always provokes violence and irresistibly engenders new forms of oppression and enslavement which are often harder to bear than those from which they claimed to bring freedom. We said this clearly during our journey in Colombia: “We exhort you not to place your trust in violence and revolution: that is contrary to the Christian spirit, and it can also delay instead of advancing that social uplifting to which you lawfully aspire.”[63] “We must say and reaffirm that violence is not in accord with the Gospel, that it is not Christian; and that sudden or violent changes of structures would be deceitful, ineffective of themselves, and certainly not in conformity with the dignity of the people.”[64]
38. Having said this, we rejoice that the Church is becoming ever more conscious of the proper manner and strictly evangelical means that she possesses in order to collaborate in the liberation of many. And what is she doing? She is trying more and more to encourage large numbers of Christians to devote themselves to the liberation of men. She is providing these Christian “liberators” with the inspiration of faith, the motivation of fraternal love, a social teaching which the true Christian cannot ignore and which he must make the foundation of his wisdom and of his experience in order to translate it concretely into forms of action, participation and commitment. All this must characterize the spirit of a committed Christian, without confusion with tactical attitudes or with the service of a political system. The Church strives always to insert the Christian struggle for liberation into the universal plan of salvation which she herself proclaims.
What we have just recalled comes out more than once in the Synod debates. In fact we devoted to this theme a few clarifying words in our address to the Fathers at the end of the assembly.[65]
It is to be hoped that all these considerations will help to remove the ambiguity which the word “liberation” very often takes on in ideologies, political systems or groups. The liberation which evangelization proclaims and prepares is the one which Christ Himself announced and gave to man by His sacrifice.
39. The necessity of ensuring fundamental human rights cannot be separated from this just liberation which is bound up with evangelization and which endeavors to secure structures safeguarding human freedoms. Among these fundamental human rights, religious liberty occupies a place of primary importance. We recently spoke of the relevance of this matter, emphasizing “how many Christians still today, because they are Christians, because they are Catholics, live oppressed by systematic persecution! The drama of fidelity to Christ and of the freedom of religion continues, even if it is disguised by categorical declarations in favor of the rights of the person and of life in society!”[66]
40. The obvious importance of the content of evangelization must not overshadow the importance of the ways and means.
This question of “how to evangelize” is permanently relevant, because the methods of evangelizing vary according to the different circumstances of time, place and culture, and because they thereby present a certain challenge to our capacity for discovery and adaptation.
On us particularly, the pastors of the Church, rests the responsibility for reshaping with boldness and wisdom, but in complete fidelity to the content of evangelization, the means that are most suitable and effective for communicating the Gospel message to the men and women of our times.
Let it suffice, in this meditation, to mention a number of methods which, for one reason or another, have a fundamental importance.
41. Without repeating everything that we have already mentioned, it is appropriate first of all to emphasize the following point: for the Church, the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless zeal. As we said recently to a group of lay people, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”[67] St. Peter expressed this well when he held up the example of a reverent and chaste life that wins over even without a word those who refuse to obey the word.[68] It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus- the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.
42. Secondly, it is not superfluous to emphasize the importance and necessity of preaching. “And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?… So faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.”[69] This law once laid down by the Apostle Paul maintains its full force today.
Preaching, the verbal proclamation of a message, is indeed always indispensable. We are well aware that modern man is sated by talk; he is obviously often tired of listening and, what is worse, impervious to words. We are also aware that many psychologists and sociologists express the view that modern man has passed beyond the civilization of the word, which is now ineffective and useless, and that today he lives in the civilization of the image. These facts should certainly impel us to employ, for the purpose of transmitting the Gospel message, the modern means which this civilization has produced. Very positive efforts have in fact already been made in this sphere. We cannot but praise them and encourage their further development. The fatigue produced these days by so much empty talk and the relevance of many other forms of communication must not however diminish the permanent power of the word, or cause a loss of confidence in it. The word remains ever relevant, especially when it is the bearer of the power of God.[70] This is why St. Paul’s axiom, “Faith comes from what is heard,”[71] also retains its relevance: it is the Word that is heard which leads to belief.
43. This evangelizing preaching takes on many forms, and zeal will inspire the reshaping of them almost indefinitely. In fact there are innumerable events in life and human situations which offer the opportunity for a discreet but incisive statement of what the Lord has to say in this or that particular circumstance. It suffices to have true spiritual sensitivity for reading God’s message in events. But at a time when the liturgy renewed by the Council has given greatly increased value to the Liturgy of the Word, it would be a mistake not to see in the homily an important and very adaptable instrument of evangelization. Of course it is necessary to know and put to good use the exigencies and the possibilities of the homily, so that it can acquire all its pastoral effectiveness. But above all it is necessary to be convinced of this and to devote oneself to it with love. This preaching, inserted in a unique way into the Eucharistic celebration, from which it receives special force and vigor, certainly has a particular role in evangelization, to the extent that it expresses the profound faith of the sacred minister and is impregnated with love. The faithful assembled as a Paschal Church, celebrating the feast of the Lord present in their midst, expect much from this preaching, and will greatly benefit from it provided that it is simple, clear, direct, well-adapted, profoundly dependent on Gospel teaching and faithful to the magisterium, animated by a balanced apostolic ardor coming from its own characteristic nature, full of hope, fostering belief, and productive of peace and unity. Many parochial or other communities live and are held together thanks to the Sunday homily, when it possesses these qualities.
Let us add that, thanks to the same liturgical renewal, the Eucharistic celebration is not the only appropriate moment for the homily. The homily has a place and must not be neglected in the celebration of all the sacraments, at paraliturgies, and in assemblies of the faithful. It will always be a privileged occasion for communicating the Word of the Lord.
44. A means of evangelization that must not be neglected is that of catechetical instruction. The intelligence, especially that of children and young people, needs to learn through systematic religious instruction the fundamental teachings, the living content of the truth which God has wished to convey to us and which the Church has sought to express in an ever richer fashion during the course of her long history. No one will deny that this instruction must be given to form patterns of Christian living and not to remain only notional. Truly the effort for evangelization will profit greatly- at the level of catechetical instruction given at church, in the schools, where this is possible, and in every case in Christian homes- if those giving catechetical instruction have suitable texts, updated with wisdom and competence, under the authority of the bishops. The methods must be adapted to the age, culture and aptitude of the persons concerned, they must seek always to fix in the memory, intelligence and heart the essential truths that must impregnate all of life. It is necessary above all to prepare good instructors- parochial catechists, teachers, parents- who are desirous of perfecting themselves in this superior art, which is indispensable and requires religious instruction. Moreover, without neglecting in any way the training of children, one sees that present conditions render ever more urgent catechetical instruction, under the form of the catechumenate, for innumerable young people and adults who, touched by grace, discover little by little the face of Christ and feel the need of giving themselves to Him.
45. Our century is characterized by the mass media or means of social communication, and the first proclamation, catechesis or the further deepening of faith cannot do without these means, as we have already emphasized.
When they are put at the service of the Gospel, they are capable of increasing almost indefinitely the area in which the Word of God is heard; they enable the Good News to reach millions of people. The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect. It is through them that she proclaims “from the housetops”[72] the message of which she is the depositary. In them she finds a modern and effective version of the pulpit. Thanks to them she succeeds in speaking to the multitudes.
Nevertheless the use of the means of social communication for evangelization presents a challenge: through them the evangelical message should reach vast numbers of people, but with the capacity of piercing the conscience of each individual, of implanting itself in his heart as though he were the only person being addressed, with all his most individual and personal qualities, and evoke an entirely personal adherence and commitment.
46. For this reason, side by side with the collective proclamation of the Gospel, the other form of transmission, the person-to-person one, remains valid and important. The Lord often used it (for example, with Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, Simon the Pharisee), and so did the apostles. In the long run, is there any other way of handing on the Gospel than by transmitting to another person one’s personal experience of faith? It must not happen that the pressing need to proclaim the Good News to the multitudes should cause us to forget this form of proclamation whereby an individual’s personal conscience is reached and touched by an entirely unique word that he receives from someone else. We can never sufficiently praise those priests who through the sacrament of Penance or through pastoral dialogue show their readiness to guide people in the ways of the Gospel, to support them in their efforts, to raise them up if they have fallen, and always to assist them with discernment and availability.
47. Yet, one can never sufficiently stress the fact that evangelization does not consist only of the preaching and teaching of a doctrine. For evangelization must touch life: the natural life to which it gives a new meaning, thanks to the evangelical perspectives that it reveals; and the supernatural life, which is not the negation but the purification and elevation of the natural life.
This supernatural life finds its living expression in the seven sacraments and in the admirable radiation of grace and holiness which they possess.
Evangelization thus exercises its full capacity when it achieves the most intimate relationship, or better still, a permanent and unbroken intercommunication, between the Word and the sacraments. In a certain sense it is a mistake to make a contrast between evangelization and sacramentalization, as is sometimes done. It is indeed true that a certain way of administering the sacraments, without the solid support of catechesis regarding these same sacraments and a global catechesis, could end up by depriving them of their effectiveness to a great extent. The role of evangelization is precisely to educate people in the faith in such a way as to lead each individual Christian to live the sacraments as true sacraments of faith- and not to receive them passively or reluctantly.
48. Here we touch upon an aspect of evangelization which cannot leave us insensitive. We wish to speak about what today is often called popular religiosity.
One finds among the people particular expressions of the search for God and for faith, both in the regions where the Church has been established for centuries and where she is in the course of becoming established. These expressions were for a long time regarded as less pure and were sometimes despised, but today they are almost everywhere being rediscovered. During the last Synod the bishops studied their significance with remarkable pastoral realism and zeal.
Popular religiosity, of course, certainly has its limits. It is often subject to penetration by many distortions of religion and even superstitions. It frequently remains at the level of forms of worship not involving a true acceptance by faith. It can even lead to the creation of sects and endanger the true ecclesial community.
But if it is well oriented, above all by a pedagogy of evangelization, it is rich in values. It manifests a thirst for God which only the simple and poor can know. It makes people capable of generosity and sacrifice even to the point of heroism, when it is a question of manifesting belief. It involves an acute awareness of profound attributes of God: fatherhood, providence, loving and constant presence. It engenders interior attitudes rarely observed to the same degree elsewhere: patience, the sense of the cross in daily life, detachment, openness to others, devotion. By reason of these aspects, we readily call it “popular piety,” that is, religion of the people, rather than religiosity.
Pastoral charity must dictate to all those whom the Lord has placed as leaders of the ecclesial communities the proper attitude in regard to this reality, which is at the same time so rich and so vulnerable. Above all one must be sensitive to it, know how to perceive its interior dimensions and undeniable values, be ready to help it to overcome its risks of deviation. When it is well oriented, this popular religiosity call be more and more for multitudes of our people a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ.
49. Jesus’ last words in St. Mark’s Gospel confer on the evangelization which the Lord entrusts to His apostles a limitless universality: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.”[73]
The Twelve and the first generation of Christians understood well the lesson of this text and other similar ones; they made them into a program of action. Even persecution, by scattering the apostles, helped to spread the Word and to establish the Church in ever more distant regions. The admission of Paul to the rank of the apostles and his charism as the preacher to the pagans (the non Jews) of Jesus’ Coming underlined this universality still more.
50. In the course of twenty centuries of history, the generations of Christians have periodically faced various obstacles to this universal mission. On the one hand, on the part of the evangelizers themselves, there has been the temptation for various reasons to narrow down the field of their missionary activity. On the other hand, there has been the often humanly insurmountable resistance of the people being addressed by the evangelizer. Furthermore, we must note with sadness that the evangelizing work of the Church is strongly opposed, if not prevented, by certain public powers Even in our own day it happens that preachers of God’s Word are deprived of their rights, persecuted, threatened or eliminated solely for preaching Jesus Christ and His Gospel. But we are confident that despite these painful trials the activity of these apostles will never meet final failure in any part of the world.
Despite such adversities, the Church constantly renews her deepest inspiration, that which comes to her directly from the Lord: To the whole world! To all creation! Right to the ends of the earth! She did this once more at the last Synod, as an appeal not to imprison the proclamation of the Gospel by limiting it to one sector of mankind or to one class of people or to a single type of civilization. Some examples are revealing.
51. To reveal Jesus Christ and His Gospel to those who do not know them has been, ever since the morning of Pentecost, the fundamental program which the Church has taken on as received from her Founder. The whole of the New Testament, and in a special way the Acts of the Apostles, bears witness to a privileged and in a sense exemplary moment of this missionary effort which will subsequently leave its mark on the whole history of the Church.
She carries out this first proclamation of Jesus Christ by a complex and diversified activity which is sometimes termed “pre-evangelization” but which is already evangelization in a true sense, although at its initial and still incomplete stage. An almost indefinite range of means can be used for this purpose: explicit preaching, of course, but also art, the scientific approach, philosophical research and legitimate recourse to the sentiments of the human heart.
52. This first proclamation is addressed especially to those who have never heard the Good News of Jesus, or to children. But, as a result of the frequent situations of dechristianization in our day, it also proves equally necessary for innumerable people who have been baptized but who live quite outside Christian life, for simple people who have a certain faith but an imperfect knowledge of the foundations of that faith, for intellectuals who feel the need to know Jesus Christ in a light different from the instruction they received as children, and for many others.
53. This first proclamation is also addressed to the immense sections of mankind who practice non-Christian religions. The Church respects and esteems these non Christian religions because they are the living expression of the soul of vast groups of people. They carry within them the echo of thousands of years of searching for God, a quest which is incomplete but often made with great sincerity and righteousness of heart. They possess an impressive patrimony of deeply religious texts. They have taught generations of people how to pray. They are all impregnated with innumerable “seeds of the Word”[74] and can constitute a true “preparation for the Gospel,”[75] to quote a felicitous term used by the Second Vatican Council and borrowed from Eusebius of Caesarea.
Such a situation certainly raises complex and delicate questions that must be studied in the light of Christian Tradition and the Church’s magisterium, in order to offer to the missionaries of today and of tomorrow new horizons in their contacts with non-Christian religions. We wish to point out, above all today, that neither respect and esteem for these religions nor the complexity of the questions raised is an invitation to the Church to withhold from these non-Christians the proclamation of Jesus Christ. On the contrary the Church holds that these multitudes have the right to know the riches of the mystery of Christ[76] – riches in which we believe that the whole of humanity can find, in unsuspected fullness, everything that it is gropingly searching for concerning God, man and his destiny, life and death, and truth. Even in the face of natural religious expressions most worthy of esteem, the Church finds support in the fact that the religion of Jesus, which she proclaims through evangelization, objectively places man in relation with the plan of God, with His living presence and with His action; she thus causes an encounter with the mystery of divine paternity that bends over towards humanity. In other words, our religion effectively establishes with God an authentic and living relationship which the other religions do not succeed in doing, even though they have, as it were, their arms stretched out towards heaven.
This is why the Church keeps her missionary spirit alive, and even wishes to intensify it in the moment of history in which we are living. She feels responsible before entire peoples. She has no rest so long as she has not done her best to proclaim the Good News of Jesus the Savior. She is always preparing new generations of apostles. Let us state this fact with joy at a time when there are not lacking those who think and even say that ardor and the apostolic spirit are exhausted, and that the time of the missions is now past. The Synod has replied that the missionary proclamation never ceases and that the Church will always be striving for the fulfillment of this proclamation.
54. Nevertheless the Church does not feel dispensed from paving unflagging attention also to those who have received the faith and who have been in contact with the Gospel often for generations. Thus she seeks to deepen, consolidate, nourish and make ever more mature the faith of those who are already called the faithful or believers, in order that they may be so still more.
This faith is nearly always today exposed to secularism, even to militant atheism. It is a faith exposed to trials and threats, and even more, a faith besieged and actively opposed. It runs the risk of perishing from suffocation or starvation if it is not fed and sustained each day. To evangelize must therefore very often be to give this necessary food and sustenance to the faith of believers, especially through a catechesis full of Gospel vitality and in a language suited to people and circumstances.
The Church also has a lively solicitude for the Christians who are not in full communion with her. While preparing with them the unity willed by Christ, and precisely in order to realize unity in truth, she has the consciousness that she would be gravely lacking in her duty if she did not give witness before them of the fullness of the revelation whose deposit she guards.
55. Also significant is the preoccupation of the last Synod in regard to two spheres which are very different from one another but which at the same time are very close by reason of the challenge which they make to evangelization, each in its own way.
The first sphere is the one which can be called the increase of unbelief in the modern world. The Synod endeavored to describe this modern world: how many currents of thought, values and countervalues, latent aspirations or seeds of destruction, old convictions which disappear and new convictions which arise are covered by this generic name!
From the spiritual point of view, the modern world seems to he forever immersed in what a modern author has termed “the drama of atheistic humanism.”[77]
On the one hand one is forced to note in the very heart of this contemporary world the phenomenon which is becoming almost its most striking characteristic: secularism. We are not speaking of secularization, which is the effort, in itself just and legitimate and in no way incompatible with faith or religion, to discover in creation, in each thing or each happening in the universe, the laws which regulate them with a certain autonomy, but with the inner conviction that the Creator has placed these laws there. The last Council has in this sense affirmed the legitimate autonomy of culture and particularly of the sciences.[78] Here we are thinking of a true secularism: a concept of the world according to which the latter is self-explanatory, without any need for recourse to God, who thus becomes superfluous and an encumbrance. This sort of secularism, in order to recognize the power of man, therefore ends up by doing without God and even by denying Him.
New forms of atheism seem to flow from it: a man centered atheism, no longer abstract and metaphysical but pragmatic, systematic and militant. Hand in hand with this atheistic secularism, we are daily faced, under the most diverse forms, with a consumer society, the pursuit of pleasure set up as the supreme value, a desire for power and domination, and discrimination of every kind: the inhuman tendencies of this “humanism.”
In this same modern world, on the other hand, and this is a paradox, one cannot deny the existence of real steppingstones to Christianity, and of evangelical values at least in the form of a sense of emptiness or nostalgia. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there exists a powerful and tragic appeal to be evangelized.
56. The second sphere is that of those who do not practice. Today there is a very large number of baptized people who for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are entirely indifferent to it and not living in accordance with it. The phenomenon of the non practicing is a very ancient one in the history of Christianity; it is the result of a natural weakness, a profound inconsistency which we unfortunately bear deep within us. Today however it shows certain new characteristics. It is often the result of the uprooting typical of our time. It also springs from the fact that Christians live in close proximity with non-believers and constantly experience the effects of unbelief. Furthermore, the non-practicing Christians of today, more so than those of previous periods, seek to explain and justify their position in the name of an interior religion, of personal independence or authenticity.
Thus we have atheists and unbelievers on the one side and those who do not practice on the other, and both groups put up a considerable resistance to evangelization. The resistance of the former takes the form of a certain refusal and an inability to grasp the new order of things, the new meaning of the world, of life and of history; such is not possible if one does not start from a divine absolute. The resistance of the second group takes the form of inertia and the slightly hostile attitude of the person who feels that he is one of the homily, who claims to know it all and to have tried it all and who no longer believes it.
Atheistic secularism and the absence of religious practice are found among adults and among the young, among the leaders of society and among the ordinary people, at all levels of education, and in both the old Churches and the young ones. The Church’s evangelizing action cannot ignore these two worlds, nor must it come to a standstill when faced with them; it must constantly seek the proper means and language for presenting, or representing, to them God’s revelation and faith in Jesus Christ.
57. Like Christ during the time of His preaching, like the Twelve on the morning of Pentecost, the Church too sees before her an immense multitude of people who need the Gospel and have a right to it, for God “wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth.”[79]
The Church is deeply aware of her duty to preach salvation to all. Knowing that the Gospel message is not reserved to a small group of the initiated, the privileged or the elect, but is destined for everyone, she shares Christ’s anguish at the sight of the wandering and exhausted crowds, “like sheep without a shepherd” and she often repeats His words: ”I feel sorry for all these people.”[80] But the Church is also conscious of the fact that, if the preaching of the Gospel is to be effective, she must address her message to the heart of the multitudes, to communities of the faithful whose action can and must reach others.
58. The last Synod devoted considerable attention to these “small communities,” or communautes de base, because they are often talked about in the Church today. What are they, and why should they be the special beneficiaries of evangelization and at the same time evangelizers themselves?
According to the various statements heard in the Synod, such communities flourish more or less throughout the Church. They differ greatly among themselves both within the same region and even more so from one region to another.
In some regions they appear and develop, almost without exception, within the Church, having solidarity with her life, being nourished by her teaching and united with her pastors. In these cases, they spring from the need to live the Church’s life more intensely, or from the desire and quest for a more human dimension such as larger ecclesial communities can only offer with difficulty, especially in the big modern cities which lend themselves both to life in the mass and to anonymity. Such communities call quite simply be in their own way an extension on the spiritual and religious level- worship, deepening of faith, fraternal charity, prayer, contact with pastors- of the small sociological community such as the village, etc. Or again their aim may be to bring together, for the purpose of listening to and meditating on the Word, for the sacraments and the bond of the agape, groups of people who are linked by age, culture, civil state or social situation: married couples, young people, professional people, etc.; people who already happen to be united in the struggle for justice, brotherly aid to the poor, human advancement. In still other cases they bring Christians together in places where the shortage of priests does not favor the normal life of a parish community. This is all presupposed within communities constituted by the Church, especially individual Churches and parishes.
In other regions, on the other hand, communautes de base come together in a spirit of bitter criticism of the Church, which they are quick to stigmatize as “institutional” and to which they set themselves Up in opposition as charismatic communities, free from structures and inspired only by the Gospel. Thus their obvious characteristic is an attitude of fault-finding and of rejection with regard to the Church’s outward manifestations: her hierarchy, her signs. They are radically opposed to the Church. By following these lines their main inspiration very quickly becomes ideological, and it rarely happens that they do not quickly fall victim to some political option or current of thought, and then to a system, even a party, with all the attendant risks of becoming its instrument.
The difference is already notable: the communities which by their spirit of opposition cut themselves off from the Church, and whose unity they wound, can well be called communautes de base, but in this case it is a strictly sociological name. They could not, without a misuse of terms, be called ecclesial communautes de base, even if while being hostile to the hierarchy, they claim to remain within the unity of the Church. This name belongs to the other groups, those which come together within the Church in order to unite themselves to the Church and to cause the Church to grow.
These latter communities will be a place of evangelization, for the benefit of the bigger communities, especially the individual Churches. And, as we said at the end of the last Synod, they will be a hope for the universal Church to the extent:
– that they seek their nourishment in the Word of God and do not allow themselves to be ensnared by political polarization or fashionable ideologies, which are ready to exploit their immense human potential;
– that they avoid the ever present temptation of systematic protest and a hypercritical attitude, under the pretext of authenticity and a spirit of collaboration;
– that they remain firmly attached to the local Church in which they are inserted, and to the universal Church, thus avoiding the very real danger of becoming isolated within themselves, then of believing themselves to be the only authentic Church of Christ, and hence of condemning the other ecclesial communities;
– that they maintain a sincere communion with the pastors whom the Lord gives to His Church, and with the magisterium which the Spirit of Christ has entrusted to these pastors;
– that they never look on themselves as the sole beneficiaries or sole agents of evangelization- or even the only depositaries of the Gospel- but, being aware that the Church is much more vast and diversified, accept the fact that this Church becomes incarnate in other ways than through themselves;
– that they constantly grow in missionary consciousness, fervor, commitment and zeal;
– that they show themselves to be universal in all things and never sectarian.
On these conditions, which are certainly demanding but also uplifting, the ecclesial communautes de base will correspond to their most fundamental vocation: as hearers of the Gospel which is proclaimed to them and privileged beneficiaries of evangelization, they will soon become proclaimers of the Gospel themselves.
59. If people proclaim in the world the Gospel of salvation, they do so by the command of, in the name of and with the grace of Christ the Savior. “They will never have a preacher unless one is sent,”[81] wrote he who was without doubt one of the greatest evangelizers. No one can do it without having been sent.
But who then has the mission of evangelizing?
The Second Vatican Council gave a clear reply to this question: it is upon the Church that “there rests, by divine mandate, the duty of going out into the whole world and preaching the gospel to every creature.”[82] And in another text: “…the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God.”[83]
We have already mentioned this intimate connection between the Church and evangelization. While the Church is proclaiming the kingdom of God and building it up, she is establishing herself in the midst of the world as the sign and instrument of this kingdom which is and which is to come. The Council repeats the following expression of St. Augustine on the missionary activity of the Twelve: “They preached the word of truth and brought forth Churches.”[84]
60. The observation that the Church has been sent out and given a mandate to evangelize the world should awaken in us two convictions.
The first is this: evangelization is for no one an individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial. When the most obscure preacher, catechist or pastor in the most distant land preaches the Gospel, gathers his little community together or administers a sacrament, even alone, he is carrying out an ecclesial act, and his action is certainly attached to the evangelizing activity of the whole Church by institutional relationships, but also by profound invisible links in the order of grace. This presupposes that he acts not in virtue of a mission which he attributes to himself or by a personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name.
From this flows the second conviction: if each individual evangelizes in the name of the Church, who herself does so by virtue of a mandate from the Lord, no evangelizer is the absolute master of his evangelizing action, with a discretionary power to carry it out in accordance with individualistic criteria and perspectives; he acts in communion with the Church and her pastors.
We have remarked that the Church is entirely and completely evangelizing. This means that, in the whole world and in each part of the world where she is present, the Church feels responsible for the task of spreading the Gospel.
61. Brothers and sons and daughters, at this stage of our reflection, we wish to pause with you at a question which is particularly important at the present time. In the celebration of the liturgy, in their witness before judges and executioners and in their apologetical texts, the first Christians readily expressed their deep faith in the Church by describing her as being spread throughout the universe. They were fully conscious of belonging to a large community which neither space nor time can limit: From the just Abel right to the last of the elect,[85] “indeed to the ends of the earth,[86] “to the end of time.”[87]
This is how the Lord wanted His Church to be: universal, a great tree whose branches shelter the birds of the air,[88] a net which catches fish of every kind[89] or which Peter drew in filled with one hundred and fifty-three big fish,[90] a flock which a single shepherd pastures.[91] A universal Church without boundaries or frontiers except, alas, those of the heart and mind of sinful man.
62. Nevertheless this universal Church is in practice incarnate in the individual Churches made up of such or such an actual part of mankind, speaking such and such a language, heirs of a cultural patrimony, of a vision of the world, of an historical past, of a particular human substratum. Receptivity to the wealth of the individual Church corresponds to a special sensitivity of modern man.
Let us be very careful not to conceive of the universal Church as the sum, or, if one can say so, the more or less anomalous federation of essentially different individual Churches. In the mind of the Lord the Church is universal by vocation and mission, but when she puts down her roots in a variety of cultural, social and human terrains, she takes on different external expressions and appearances in each part of the world.
Thus each individual Church that would voluntarily cut itself off from the universal Church would lose its relationship to God’s plan and would be impoverished in its ecclesial dimension. But, at the same time, a Church toto orbe diffusa would become an abstraction if she did not take body and life precisely through the individual Churches. Only continual attention to these two poles of the Church will enable us to perceive the richness of this relationship between the universal Church and the individual Churches.
63. The individual Churches, intimately built up not only of people but also of aspirations, of riches and limitations, of ways of praying, of loving, of looking at life and the world, which distinguish this or that human gathering, have the task of assimilating the essence of the Gospel message and of transposing it, without the slightest betrayal of its essential truth, into the language that these particular people understand, then of proclaiming it in this language.
The transposition has to be done with the discernment, seriousness, respect and competence which the matter calls for in the field of liturgical expression,[92] and in the areas of catechesis, theological formulation, secondary ecclesial structures, and ministries. And the word “language” should be understood here less in the semantic or literary sense than in the sense which one may call anthropological and cultural.
The question is undoubtedly a delicate one. Evangelization loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration the actual people to whom it is addresses, if it does not use their language, their signs and symbols, if it does not answer the questions they ask, and if it does not have an impact on their concrete life. But on the other hand, evangelization risks losing its power and disappearing altogether if one empties or adulterates its content under the pretext of translating it; if, in other words, one sacrifices this reality and destroys the unity without which there is no universality, out of a wish to adapt a universal reality to a local situation. Now, only a Church which preserves the awareness of her universality and shows that she is in fact universal is capable of having a message which can be heard by all, regardless of regional frontiers.
Legitimate attention to individual Churches cannot fail to enrich the Church. Such attention is indispensable and urgent. It responds to the very deep aspirations of peoples and human communities to find their own identity ever more clearly.
64. But this enrichment requires that the individual Churches should keep their profound openness towards the universal Church. It is quite remarkable, moreover, that the most simple Christians, the ones who are most faithful to the Gospel and most open to the true meaning of the Church, have a completely spontaneous sensitivity to this universal dimension. They instinctively and very strongly feel the need for it, they easily recognize themselves in such a dimension. They feel with it and suffer very deeply within themselves when, in the name of theories which they do not understand, they are forced to accept a Church deprived of this universality, a regionalist Church, with no horizon.
As history in fact shows, whenever an individual Church has cut itself off from the universal Church and from its living and visible center- sometimes with the best of intentions, with theological, sociological, political or pastoral arguments, or even in the desire for a certain freedom of movement or action- it has escaped only with great difficulty (if indeed it has escaped) from two equally serious dangers. The first danger is that of a withering isolationism, and then, before long, of a crumbling away, with each of its cells breaking away from it just as it itself has broken away from the central nucleus. The second danger is that of losing its freedom when, being cut off from the center and from the other Churches which gave it strength and energy, it finds itself all alone and a prey to the most varied forces of slavery and exploitation.
The more an individual Church is attached to the universal Church by solid bonds of communion, in charity and loyalty, in receptiveness to the Magisterium of Peter, in the unity of the lex orandi which is also the lex credendi, in the desire for unity with all the other Churches which make up the whole- the more such a Church will be capable of translating the treasure of faith into the legitimate variety of expressions of the profession of faith, of prayer and worship, of Christian life and conduct and of the spiritual influence on the people among which it dwells. The more will it also be truly evangelizing, that is to say, capable of drawing upon the universal patrimony in order to enable its own people to profit from it, and capable too of communicating to the universal Church the experience and the life of this people, for the benefit of all.
65. It was precisely in this sense that at the end of the last Synod we spoke clear words full of paternal affection, insisting on the role of Peter’s Successor as a visible, living and dynamic principle of the unity between the Churches and thus of the universality of the one Church.[93] We also insisted on the grave responsibility incumbent upon us, but which we share with our Brothers in the Episcopate, of preserving unaltered the content of the Catholic faith which the Lord entrusted to the apostles. While being translated into all expressions, this content must be neither impaired nor mutilated. While being clothed with the outward forms proper to each people, and made explicit by theological expression which takes account of differing cultural, social and even racial milieu, it must remain the content of the Catholic faith just exactly as the ecclesial magisterium has received it and transmits it.
66. The whole Church therefore is called upon to evangelize, and yet within her we have different evangelizing tasks to accomplish. This diversity of services in the unity of the same mission makes up the richness and beauty of evangelization. We shall briefly recall these tasks.
First, we would point out in the pages of the Gospel the insistence with which the Lord entrusts to the apostles the task of proclaiming the Word. He chose them,[94] trained them during several years of intimate company,[95] constituted[96] and sent them out[97] as authorized witnesses and teachers of the message of salvation. And the Twelve in their turn sent out their successors who, in the apostolic line, continue to preach the Good News.
67. The Successor of Peter is thus, by the will of Christ, entrusted with the preeminent ministry of teaching the revealed truth. The New Testament often shows Peter “filled with the Holy Spirit” speaking in the name of all.”[98] It is precisely for this reason that St. Leo the Great describes him as he who has merited the primacy of the apostolate.”[99] This is also why the voice of the Church shows the Pope “at the highest point- in apice, in specula- of the apostolate.”[100] The Second Vatican Council wished to reaffirm this when it declared that “Christ’s mandate to preach the Gospel to every creature (cf. Mk. 16:15) primarily and immediately concerns the bishops with Peter and under Peter.”[101]
The full, supreme and universal power”[102] which Christ gives to His Vicar for the pastoral government of His Church is this especially exercised by the Pope in the activity of preaching and causing to be preached the Good News of salvation.
68. In union with the Successor of Peter, the bishops, who are successors of the apostles, receive through the power of their episcopal ordination the authority to teach the revealed truth in the Church. They are teachers of the faith.
Associated with the bishops in the ministry of evangelization and responsible by a special title are those who through priestly ordination “act in the person of Christ.”[103] They are educators of the People of God in the faith and preachers, while at the same time being ministers of the Eucharist and of the other sacraments.
We pastors are therefore invited to take note of this duty, more than any other members of the Church. What identifies our priestly service, gives a profound unity to the thousand and one tasks which claim our attention day by day and throughout our lives, and confers a distinct character on our activities, is this aim, ever present in all our action: to proclaim the Gospel of God.[104]
A mark of our identity which no doubts ought to encroach upon and no objection eclipse is this: as pastors, we have been chosen by the mercy of the Supreme Pastor,[105] in spite of our inadequacy, to proclaim with authority the Word of God, to assemble the scattered People of God, to teed this People with the signs of the action of Christ which are the sacraments, to set this People on the road to salvation, to maintain it in that unity of which we are, at different levels, active and living instruments, and unceasingly to keep this community gathered around Christ faithful to its deepest vocation. And when we do all these things, within our human limits and by the grace of God, it is a work of evangelization that we are carrying out. This includes ourself as Pastor of the universal Church, our brother bishops at the head of the individual Churches, priests and deacons united with their bishops and whose assistants they are, by a communion which has its source in the sacrament of Orders and in the charity of the Church.
69. Religious, for their part, find in their consecrated life a privileged means of effective evangelization. At the deepest level of their being they are caught Up in the dynamism of the Church’s life, which is thirsty for the divine Absolute and called to holiness. It is to this holiness that they bear witness. They embody the Church in her desire to give herself completely to the radical demands of the beatitudes. By their lives they are a sign of total availability to God, the Church and the brethren.
As such they have a special importance in the context of the witness which, as we have said, is of prime importance in evangelization. At the same time as being a challenge to the world and to the Church herself, this silent witness of poverty and abnegation, of purity and sincerity, of self-sacrifice in obedience, can become an eloquent witness capable of touching also non-Christians who have good will and are sensitive to certain values.
In this perspective one perceives the role played in evangelization by religious men and women consecrated to prayer, silence, penance and sacrifice. Other religious, in great numbers, give themselves directly to the proclamation of Christ. Their missionary activity depends clearly on the hierarchy and must be coordinated with the pastoral plan which the latter adopts. But who does not see the immense contribution that these religious have brought and continue to bring to evangelization? Thanks to their consecration they are eminently willing and free to leave everything and to go and proclaim the Gospel even to the ends of the earth. They are enterprising and their apostolate is often marked by an originality, by a genius that demands admiration. They are generous: often they are found at the outposts of the mission, and they take the greatest of risks for their health and their very lives. Truly the Church owes them much.
70. Lay people, whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world and in charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must for this very reason exercise a very special form of evangelization.
Their primary and immediate task is not to establish and develop the ecclesial community- this is the specific role of the pastors- but to put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility latent but already present and active in the affairs of the world. Their own field of evangelizing activity is the vast and complicated world of politics, society and economics, but also the world of culture, of the sciences and the arts, of international life, of the mass media. It also includes other realities which are open to evangelization, such as human love, the family, the education of children and adolescents, professional work, suffering. The more Gospel-inspired lay people there are engaged in these realities, clearly involved in them, competent to promote them and conscious that they must exercise to the full their Christian powers which are often buried and suffocated, the more these realities will be at the service of the kingdom of God and therefore of salvation in Jesus Christ, without in any way losing or sacrificing their human content but rather pointing to a transcendent dimension which is often disregarded.
71. One cannot fail to stress the evangelizing action of the family in the evangelizing apostolate of the laity.
At different moments in the Church’s history and also in the Second Vatican Council, the family has well deserved the beautiful name of “domestic Church.”[106] This means that there should be found in every Christian family the various aspects of the entire Church. Furthermore, the family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates.
In a family which is conscious of this mission, all the members evangelize and are evangelized. The parents not only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can themselves receive the same Gospel as deeply lived by them.
And such a family becomes the evangelizer of many other families, and of the neighborhood of which it forms part. Families resulting from a mixed marriage also have the duty of proclaiming Christ to the children in the fullness of the consequences of a common Baptism; they have moreover the difficult task of becoming builders of unity.
72. Circumstances invite us to make special mention of the young. Their increasing number and growing presence in society and likewise the problems assailing them should awaken in every one the desire to offer them with zeal and intelligence the Gospel ideal as something to be known and lived. And on the other hand, young people who are well trained in faith and prayer must become more and more the apostles of youth. The Church counts greatly on their contribution, and we ourself have often manifested our full confidence in them.
73. Hence the active presence of the laity in the temporal realities takes on all its importance. One cannot, however, neglect or forget the other dimension: the laity can also feel themselves called, or be called, to work with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community for its growth and life, by exercising a great variety of ministries according to the grace and charisms which the Lord is pleased to give them.
We cannot but experience a great inner joy when we see so many pastors, religious and lay people, fired with their mission to evangelize, seeking ever more suitable ways of proclaiming the Gospel effectively. We encourage the openness which the Church is showing today in this direction and with this solicitude. It is an openness to meditation first of all, and then to ecclesial ministries capable of renewing and strengthening the evangelizing vigor of the Church.
It is certain that, side by side with the ordained ministries, whereby certain people are appointed pastors and consecrate themselves in a special way to the service of the community, the Church recognizes the place of non-ordained ministries which are able to offer a particular service to the Church.
A glance at the origins of the Church is very illuminating, and gives the benefit of an early experience in the matter of ministries. It was an experience which was all the more valuable in that it enabled the Church to consolidate herself and to grow and spread. Attention to the sources however has to be complemented by attention to the present needs of mankind and of the Church. To drink at these ever inspiring sources without sacrificing anything of their values, and at the same time to know how to adapt oneself to the demands and needs of today- these are the criteria which will make it possible to seek wisely and to discover the ministries which the Church needs and which many of her members will gladly embrace for the sake of ensuring greater vitality in the ecclesial community. These ministries will have a real pastoral value to the extent that they are established with absolute respect for unity and adhering to the directives of the pastors, who are the ones who are responsible for the Church’s unity and the builders thereof.
These ministries, apparently new but closely tied up with the Church’s living experience down the centuries – such as catechists, directors of prayer and chant, Christians devoted to the service of God’s Word or to assisting their brethren in need, the heads of small communities, or other persons charged with the responsibility of apostolic movements- these ministries are valuable for the establishment, life, and growth of the Church, and for her capacity to influence her surroundings and to reach those who are remote from her. We owe also our special esteem to all the lay people who accept to consecrate a part of their time, their energies, and sometimes their entire lives, to the service of the missions.
A serious preparation is needed for all workers for evangelization. Such preparation is all the more necessary for those who devote themselves to the ministry of the Word. Being animated by the conviction, ceaselessly deepened, of the greatness and riches of the Word of God, those who have the mission of transmitting it must give the maximum attention to the dignity, precision and adaptation of their language. Everyone knows that the art of speaking takes on today a very great importance. How would preachers and catechists be able to neglect this?
We earnestly desire that in each individual Church the bishops should be vigilant concerning the adequate formation of all the ministers of the Word. This serious preparation will increase in them the indispensable assurance and also the enthusiasm to proclaim today Jesus Christ.
74. We would not wish to end this encounter with our beloved brethren and sons and daughters without a pressing appeal concerning the interior attitudes which must animate those who work for evangelization.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul, we wish to exhort all those who, thanks to the charisms of the Holy Spirit and to the mandate of the Church, are true evangelizers to be worthy of this vocation, to exercise it without the reticence of doubt or fear, and not to neglect the conditions that will make this evangelization not only possible but also active and fruitful. These, among many others, are the fundamental conditions which we consider it important to emphasize.
75. Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descends on Jesus of Nazareth at the moment of His baptism when the voice of the Father- “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”[107]- manifests in an external way the election of Jesus and His mission. Jesus is “led by the Spirit” to experience in the desert the decisive combat and the supreme test before beginning this mission.[108] It is “in the power of the Spirit”[109] that He returns to Galilee and begins His preaching at Nazareth, applying to Himself the passage of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” And He proclaims: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled.”[110] To the disciples whom He was about to send forth He says, breathing on them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”[111]
In fact, it is only after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that the apostles depart to all the ends of the earth in order to begin the great work of the Church’s evangelization. Peter explains this event as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel: “I will pour out my spirit.”[112] Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit so that he can speak to the people about Jesus, the Son of God.[113] Paul too is filled with the Holy Spirit[114] before dedicating himself to his apostolic ministry, as is Stephen when he is chosen for the ministry of service and later on for the witness of blood.[115] The Spirit, who causes Peter, Paul and the Twelve to speak, and who inspires the words that they are to utter, also comes down “on those who heard the word.”[116]
It is in the “consolation of the Holy Spirit” that the Church increases.[117] The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. It is He who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teaching of Jesus and of His mystery. It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by Him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the Good News and to the kingdom being proclaimed.
Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit. The most perfect preparation of the evangelizer has no effect without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the most convincing dialectic has no power over the heart of man. Without Him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psychological basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless.
We live in the Church at a privileged moment of the Spirit. Everywhere people are trying to know Him better, as the Scripture reveals Him. They are happy to place themselves under His inspiration. They are gathering about Him; they want to let themselves be led by Him. Now if the Spirit of God has a preeminent place in the whole life of the Church, it is in her evangelizing mission that He is most active. It is not by chance that the great inauguration of evangelization took place on the morning of Pentecost, under the inspiration of the Spirit.
It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization: it is He who impels each individual to proclaim the Gospel, and it is He who in the depths of consciences causes the word of salvation to be accepted and understood.[118] But it can equally be said that He is the goal of evangelization: He alone stirs up the new creation, the new humanity of which evangelization is to be the result, with that unity in variety which evangelization wishes to achieve within the Christian community. Through the Holy Spirit the Gospel penetrates to the heart of the world, for it is He who causes people to discern the signs of the times- signs willed by God- which evangelization reveals and puts to use within history.
The Bishops’ Synod of 1974, which insisted strongly on the place of the Holy Spirit in evangelization, also expressed the desire that pastors and theologians- and we would also say the faithful marked by the seal of the Spirit by Baptism- should study more thoroughly the nature and manner of the Holy Spirit’s action in evangelization today. This is our desire too, and we exhort all evangelizers, whoever they may be, to pray without ceasing to the Holy Spirit with faith and fervor and to let themselves prudently be guided by Him as the decisive inspirer of their plans, their initiatives and their evangelizing activity.
76. Let us now consider the very persons of the evangelizers.
It is often said nowadays that the present century thirsts for authenticity. Especially in regard to young people it is said that they have a horror of the artificial or false and that they are searching above all for truth and honesty.
These “signs of the times” should find us vigilant. Either tacitly or aloud- but always forcefully- we are being asked: Do you really believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you really preach what you live?
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