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7 Ways to Engage in the New Evangelization [Video]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/-Indlp95eQc] If you ever heard someone use the phrase "New Evangelization" and wondered what that is and how you can get involved, this is one of the best hours you can spend learning all about it. It was a pleasure to be part of a discussion with three amazing witnesses for the New Evangelization.
Topics discussed include:
What is the New Evangelization? The Importance of Knowing Your Audience New Evangelization and New Media Blessed James Alberione, Patron Saint for the New Evangelization The New Evangelization and the Parish The New Evangelization and the Eucharist Personal Holiness How do you avoid being an isolated Catholic?
The Crew:
Check out these three Catholic bloggers and the great work they are doing in the New Evangelization!
Amanda Mortus: WorthyOfAgape.com Sr. Theresa Noble: PursuedByTruth.blogspot.com Ryan Eggenberger: EntreCatholic.com
Blessed James Alberione, Pray for Us!
Who are You Evangelizing?
The Church's deepest identity and reason for existence is to evangelize. (See Evangelii Nuntiandi par. 14) And Jesus commanded and commisioned all of us to "Go and make disciples of all nations". (Matt 28:19) But who are we called to evangelize? In the Church document "Mission of the Redeemer" (or Redemptoris Missio for you Latin lovers), Pope John Paul II points out three contexts in which the Church is called to evangelize.
According to Pope John Paul II, there are really only three types of people in the world:
1) Those who have never heard Christ or the Gospel. These people don't know about the Gospel, and therefore through no fault of their own they don't care about the Gospel. The missionary activity, or mission ad gentes of the Church is focused here.
2) Those who have heard the Gospel and are committed to Christian living and striving for holiness. These people know the Gospel and Christ and care about the Gospel and Christ. The pastoral activity of the Church is focused here.
3) Those who have heard about Christ and the Gospel to some extent, but have "lost a living sense of faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel." The third context, as a kind of middle position between the previous two ends of the spectrum, consists of people who know the Gospel, or at least have come in contact with it to some extent. And, for some reason or another, they don't care about the Gospel they have been presented. They are the third generation Catholics in a postChristianity Europe and America whose parents only went to Mass on Christmas and Easter, and who become atheists or casual agnostics by the end of college. Or they are the children of ex-Catholics who are told that Catholics worship Mary and the Pope and don't believe the Bible.
What is required in this third case? "In this case what is needed is a 'new evangelization' or a 're-evangelization'". In this third case, a jarring from previously conceived notions is required. For this third case Christianity (or Catholicism) has been tried and found wanting, or so they think.
These activities of the Church's evangelization are related. "Each of them influences, stimulates and assists the others." (Redemptoris missio par. 34) But each context does require a different approach. Each type of person brings with them a different lens through which they see the Church and the Gospel and Christ. Some see Christ for the first time, others know Christ and need to better understand Him. Still others have rejected what they thought was Christ, or have intentionally rejected Christ whom they really did know. Each requires different sensitivities, approaches, and methods.
Whether we are Catholic writers or speakers or missionaries or Priests or Mothers or lawyers or businessmen, the question we should all be asking ourselves when we attempt to participate in the Church's call to evangelize is:
Who are we evangelizing?
Redemptoris missio Paragraph #33
The fact that there is a diversity of activities in the Church's one mission is not intrinsic to that mission, but arises from the variety of circumstances in which that mission is carried out. Looking at today's world from the viewppoint of evangelization, we can distinguish three situations.
First, there is the situation which the Church's missionary activity addresses: peoples, groups, and socio-cultural contexts in which Christ and his Gospel are not known, or which lack Christian communities sufficiently mature to be able to incarnate the faith in their own environment and proclaim it to other groups. This is mission ad gentes in the proper sense of the term.
Secondly, there are Christian communities with adequate and solid ecclesial structures. They are fervent in their faith and in Christian living. They bear witness to the Gospel in their surroundings and have a sense of commitment to the universal mission. In these communities the Church carries out her activity and pastoral care.
Thirdly, there is an intermediate situation, particularly in countries with ancient Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is needed is a "new evangelization" or a "re-evangelization."
Mother Teresa and God's Thirst
15 years ago today Blessed Mother Teresa died, but the impact of her life still echoes throughout the darkness of our world. In honor of this saint's relentless mission to embody the love of Christ to the poor and needy, I wanted to share her guided meditation on God's intense love for us that might only be described as a thirst. In every chapel of the order she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, the words “I thirst” can be found next to the crucifix. Take some time in front of a crucifix to pray through this letter from God's heart and realize God's infinite thirst - for you.
I Thirst for You
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock… (Rev. 3, 20)
It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter.
And I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do come – always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, and bringing the many gifts of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension – a love every bit as great as the love I have received from the Father ("As much as the Father has loved me, I have loved you…" (Jn. 15:10) I come - longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and bind all your wounds. I bring you My light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts. I come with My power, that I might carry you and all your burdens; with My grace, to touch your heart and transform your life; and My peace I give to still your soul.
I know you through and through. I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings. I know every one of your problems. I know your needs and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you – not for what you have or haven’t done – I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity My Father gave you by creating you in His own image. It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed My Blood to win you back. If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing in your life, and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power.
I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations, I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? "Come to Me all you who thirst…" (Jn. 7: 37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine – to the point of dying on a cross for you.
I Thirst for You. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you. I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me. I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials I THIRST FOR YOU. You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you. I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I THIRST FOR YOU. Open to Me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to My Heart.
Don’t you realize that My Father already has a perfect plan to transform your life, beginning from this moment? Trust in Me. Ask Me every day to enter and take charge of your life. – and I will. I promise you before My Father in heaven that I will work miracles in your life. Why would I do this? Because I THIRST FOR YOU. All I ask of you is that you entrust yourself to Me completely. I will do all the rest.
Even now I behold the place My Father has prepared for you in My Kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim in this life, on a journey home. Sin can never satisfy you, or bring the peace you seek. All that you have sought outside of Me has only left you more empty, so do not cling to the things of this life. Above all, do not run from Me when you fall. Come to Me without delay. When you give Me your sins, you gave Me the joy of being your Savior. There is nothing I cannot forgive and heal; so come now, and unburden your soul.
No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life; there is one thing I want you to always remember, one thing that will never change. I THIRST FOR YOU – just as you are. You don’t need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day – standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at My Heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood My cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there – for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: "I THIRST…"(Jn 19: 28). Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the psalm – verse I was praying says of Me: "I looked for love, and I found none…" (Ps. 69: 20). All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love you and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you ever have before.
Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit. "No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to Me, for I THIRST FOR YOU…"
"Jesus is God, therefore His love, His Thirst, is infinite. He the creator of the universe, asked for the love of His creatures. He thirsts for our love… These words: ‘I Thirst’ – Do they echo in our souls?”
Mother Teresa
Imprimatur Mons. G. Sergio De la Cerda Z. Vicar General Tijuana, B. C. México.