Why do we exist - as a parish - ?
We exist to live and transmit the Gospel. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is not an idea, not a doctrine, not an abstract message. The Gospel (the evangelium) is the person of Jesus Christ himself. Evangelization...should be the goal of every parish...to bring others to Christ! Each of us can ask themselves: how many persons have I personally invited to come to Santa Maria? How many persons have I personally invited to pray and to read the Scriptures? Do I pray for my neighbors? Am I on the look out for an opportunity to invite an acquaintance at work, at my children’s sports games, at the Laundromat, at the supermarket? Do I truly long for others to come to know and love the Lord Jesus? Do I seek those who do not come to church - who appear lost, without direction, indifferent to God, overwhelmed? The Lord Jesus will come to be known in our neighborhood and our Santa Maria Parish will become a more vibrant community of faith that is alive and growing when all of us...have evangelization as our number one priority and mission.
"How can we communicate faith effectively today?”
I shall answer with just three words. The first: Jesus. What is the most important thing? Jesus. If we forge ahead with our own arrangements, with other things, with beautiful things but without Jesus we make no headway, it does not work. Jesus is more important. I would like now to make a small complaint, but in a brotherly way, just between ourselves. All of you in the square shouted “Francis, Francis, Pope Francis”; but where was Jesus? I should have preferred to hear you cry: “Jesus, Jesus is Lord, and he is in our midst!” From now on enough of “Francis”, just “Jesus”!
The second word is: prayer. Looking at the face of God, but above all — and this has to do with what I said earlier - realizing that he is also looking at us. The Lord looks at us. He looks at us first. My experience is what I feel in front of the tabernacle, when I go in the evening to pray before the Lord. Sometimes I nod off for a while; this is true, for the strain of the day more or less makes you fall asleep, but he understands. I feel great comfort when I think of the Lord looking at me. We think we have to pray and talk, talk, talk.... No! Let the Lord look at you. When he looks at us, he gives us strength and helps us to bear witness to him — for the question was about witnessing to faith, wasn’t it?
First “Jesus”, then “prayer” - let us think of God holding us by the hand. Then I would like to draw attention to this element: letting ourselves be led by him. This is more important than any calculation. We are true evangelizers when we let him guide us. Think of Peter; perhaps he was having a snooze when he had a vision, the vision of the sheet with all the animals, and he heard Jesus telling him something that he did not understand. At that moment some non-Jews came to call him to go to a certain house and he saw that the Holy Spirit was there.
Peter let Jesus guide him to that first evangelization of the Gentiles, who were not Jews, something inconceivable at the time (cf. Acts 10:9-33). So it has been, throughout history, throughout history! Letting ourselves be led by Jesus. He is our leader, our leader is Jesus.
And the third word: witness. Jesus, prayer – prayer, letting ourselves be led by him - and then witness. But I would like to add something. Letting oneself be led by Jesus leads to the surprises of Jesus. We might think we should work out programmes of evangelization carefully, thinking of strategies and making plans, but these are only tools, small tools. What matters is Jesus and letting ourselves be led by him. We can then plot our strategies but this is secondary.
Finally, witness: faith can only be communicated through witness, and that means love. Not with our own ideas but with the Gospel, lived out in our own lives and brought to life within us by the Holy Spirit. There is, as it were, a synergy between us and the Holy Spirit, and this leads to witness. The Church is carried forward by the Saints, who are the very ones who bear this witness. As both John Paul ii and Benedict xvi have said, today’s world stands in great need of witnesses, not so much of teachers but rather of witnesses. It’s not so much about speaking, but rather speaking with our whole lives: living consistently, the very consistency of our lives! This consistency means living Christianity as an encounter with Jesus that brings me to others, not just as a social label. In terms of society, this is how we are, we are Christians closed in on ourselves. No, not this! Witness is what counts!
From: ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square Saturday, 18 May 2013
We exist to live and transmit the Gospel. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is not an idea, not a doctrine, not an abstract message. The Gospel (the evangelium) is the person of Jesus Christ himself. Evangelization...should be the goal of every parish...to bring others to Christ! Each of us can ask themselves: how many persons have I personally invited to come to Santa Maria? How many persons have I personally invited to pray and to read the Scriptures? Do I pray for my neighbors? Am I on the look out for an opportunity to invite an acquaintance at work, at my children’s sports games, at the Laundromat, at the supermarket? Do I truly long for others to come to know and love the Lord Jesus? Do I seek those who do not come to church - who appear lost, without direction, indifferent to God, overwhelmed? The Lord Jesus will come to be known in our neighborhood and our Santa Maria Parish will become a more vibrant community of faith that is alive and growing when all of us...have evangelization as our number one priority and mission.
"How can we communicate faith effectively today?”
I shall answer with just three words. The first: Jesus. What is the most important thing? Jesus. If we forge ahead with our own arrangements, with other things, with beautiful things but without Jesus we make no headway, it does not work. Jesus is more important. I would like now to make a small complaint, but in a brotherly way, just between ourselves. All of you in the square shouted “Francis, Francis, Pope Francis”; but where was Jesus? I should have preferred to hear you cry: “Jesus, Jesus is Lord, and he is in our midst!” From now on enough of “Francis”, just “Jesus”!
The second word is: prayer. Looking at the face of God, but above all — and this has to do with what I said earlier - realizing that he is also looking at us. The Lord looks at us. He looks at us first. My experience is what I feel in front of the tabernacle, when I go in the evening to pray before the Lord. Sometimes I nod off for a while; this is true, for the strain of the day more or less makes you fall asleep, but he understands. I feel great comfort when I think of the Lord looking at me. We think we have to pray and talk, talk, talk.... No! Let the Lord look at you. When he looks at us, he gives us strength and helps us to bear witness to him — for the question was about witnessing to faith, wasn’t it?
First “Jesus”, then “prayer” - let us think of God holding us by the hand. Then I would like to draw attention to this element: letting ourselves be led by him. This is more important than any calculation. We are true evangelizers when we let him guide us. Think of Peter; perhaps he was having a snooze when he had a vision, the vision of the sheet with all the animals, and he heard Jesus telling him something that he did not understand. At that moment some non-Jews came to call him to go to a certain house and he saw that the Holy Spirit was there.
Peter let Jesus guide him to that first evangelization of the Gentiles, who were not Jews, something inconceivable at the time (cf. Acts 10:9-33). So it has been, throughout history, throughout history! Letting ourselves be led by Jesus. He is our leader, our leader is Jesus.
And the third word: witness. Jesus, prayer – prayer, letting ourselves be led by him - and then witness. But I would like to add something. Letting oneself be led by Jesus leads to the surprises of Jesus. We might think we should work out programmes of evangelization carefully, thinking of strategies and making plans, but these are only tools, small tools. What matters is Jesus and letting ourselves be led by him. We can then plot our strategies but this is secondary.
Finally, witness: faith can only be communicated through witness, and that means love. Not with our own ideas but with the Gospel, lived out in our own lives and brought to life within us by the Holy Spirit. There is, as it were, a synergy between us and the Holy Spirit, and this leads to witness. The Church is carried forward by the Saints, who are the very ones who bear this witness. As both John Paul ii and Benedict xvi have said, today’s world stands in great need of witnesses, not so much of teachers but rather of witnesses. It’s not so much about speaking, but rather speaking with our whole lives: living consistently, the very consistency of our lives! This consistency means living Christianity as an encounter with Jesus that brings me to others, not just as a social label. In terms of society, this is how we are, we are Christians closed in on ourselves. No, not this! Witness is what counts!
From: ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square Saturday, 18 May 2013
