Mirror 0114 by Aid to the Church in Need

Aid to the Church in Need

Proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel to the Poor of the World 14 - 1

Where goodness comes from

Holding the hands of the poor

They must have prayed a great deal, the Poor Clares of Dinajpur in Bangladesh.

Saint Joseph’s Sisters in Brazil care for old and young, big and small, poor and poorest.

First of all they give thanks to ‘God, and good Saint Joseph’ for this wonderful gift. Then, of course, they thank you too for ‘your generosity, and the hope that we have that from now on – with the new doors and windows fitted in the old convent – the mosquitoes, flies and even the rats will at last remain outside and no longer get into the kitchen, the dining room or the bedrooms.’

In doing so they generally forget about themselves. Without your financial support not only would they themselves be left destitute, but many other people whom they hold by the hand and lead to Christ would likewise be put at risk. ACN benefactors help Saint Joseph’s Sisters live their lives of active charity, by financing their travel by boat to visit the sick and bring the Good News to the Indians of the Amazon. •

And they promise ‘to bring all the intentions of our benefactors before the Tabernacle and to ask the Lord in the Eucharist’ to continue supporting our efforts ‘to raise money for the needs of the Church in the world’. Without doubt, prayer helps us to recognise where the goodness truly • comes from.

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Contents

Page

Religious sisters are a prophetic sign - Fr. Martin Barta ................................. 2 ACN, an auxiliary arm of the Holy Father - Johannes Freiherr Heereman ........ 3 An indispensable service of love - Uganda and South America ......................... 4 Sharing in the work of love - Eastern Europe . . . . . . . .......................................... 6 Light in the darkness - Democratic Republic of Congo ..................................... 7 Jesus looks only at love - Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................................... 8 Courage that demands our admiration - The Gulf Region ............................ 10 A LOOK IN THE

A chairde - The Joy of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................... 12 The authentic face of the Catholic Church - Pope Francis ........................... 12 On proclaiming the Good News to the World - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger ... 14 On being a true missionary - Pope Francis . . . . . . . . . . . ....................................... 19 The Church: The sacrament of Salvation offered by God - Pope Francis ..... 21 Evangelical Discernment, the Culture of Prosperity and the Idolatry of Money - Pope Francis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................ 22 Proclaiming the Good News to the World - Pope Francis ............................... 26 Proclaiming the Good News to the Poor - Pope Francis ................................. 29 Prayer to Mary, Star of the New Evangelisation. . ....................................... 32

Editor: JĂźrgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 KĂśnigstein, Germany. De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org

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Dear Friends, We are now at the beginning of a new calendar year. Yet the cycle of months is accompanied by a cycle that transcends time: the cycle of the Church Year. In the here and now, in our present time, the liturgical year unfolds for us the life of God with all the great riches of his gifts. The prayer of the Church anticipates the end of time – our final salvation – and proclaims the coming of the Lord.

The Apocalypse is the revelation of the new heaven and the new earth. Without this hope all our strivings and sufferings would have no real meaning. In the liturgy we celebrate and proclaim the coming kingdom. We need to pray, so that we do not lose sight of the ultimate goal of our lives.

In the early Church there was a real expectation that Jesus was coming imminently. This attitude of the first Christians has In the first Mirror of this New Year you will nothing to do with a fear of the end of find projects supporting religious Sisters. the world, nothing Often working out ‘Religious Sisters, their to do with macabre of sight, their hands hands joined in prayer, curiosity or sensation joined in prayer, they are a prophetic sign seeking. It is a hopeare a prophetic sign of of the world to come.’ filled confidence, the world to come. sustained by the watchful prayer and deeds of love. ‘You Consecrated Religious women do a great also must be ready, for the Son of Man deal for the welfare of people, but they is coming at an hour you do not expect’ are above all brides waiting for the Lord (Lk 12:40). with brightly burning lamps. The Lord comes to judge each of us according to our deeds. He was hungry and thirsty, a stranger and homeless, naked, sick and in prison. Have we helped him? We must remember that we meet our judge in every one of our fellow men. The person who truly loves will not be surprised by the coming of the Lord, but he will be surprised that Jesus has overlooked none of his small deeds and gestures and in return offers him heaven. 2

The transmission of the grace of redemption depends on faithful prayer. This is illustrated by the example of one particular Sister who cared for numerous soldiers in a field hospital during the Second World War. The soldiers made fun of her, because she prayed so much. One day, when she had suffered particularly from their mockery, she turned to the soldiers and said, ‘If you make it so difficult for me to care for you, then I will

make it difficult for you as well.’ Laughing, they told her, ‘But you’re not capable of doing that.’ ‘Oh yes I am’, she replied, ‘by leaving you out of my prayers’. From that day onwards no one laughed at her any more. Dear friends, let us make a New Year’s resolution to faithfully take time for prayer, for the holy Sacrament of Confes-

Dear Friends, On our pilgrimage to Rome in October 2013, to mark the Year of Faith and also the hundredth birthday of Father Werenfried, we were joined by over 600 benefactors and staff from almost all the national offices of ACN.

sion and above all for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. With my grateful blessing on you all,

Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant

Werenfried). They fled to Egypt. Today, Christians living there face great oppression.

The meeting with Pope Francis on Saint Peter’s Square, the Holy Masses in the great cathedrals and the evening of our encounter with our President, Cardinal Piacenza in Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls allowed us all to experience how, across all frontiers, we form a great community of solidarity with the Church in need. As a pontifical Foundation we may rightly see ourselves as an auxiliary arm of the Holy Father for poor and persecuted members of the Church.

‘Be strong; do not fear!’ Pope Francis recently told the Patriarch of the Coptic Catholics in Alexandria. His words apply to us also. In truth, fearless trust in God, who is our shared Father, is the foundation of solidarity. This trust makes us selfless – and generous. I thank you for this and wish you a blessed 2014.

‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph were the first refugees of the Christian era’ (Father

Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International

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An indispensable service of love -

Supporting our Sisters in Uganda and South America The Archbishop of Mbarara, in Uganda tells us: the congregation of the Poor Clares is 800 years old and the Sisters entrust themselves totally to God. Their presence in the archdiocese has been a blessing for 45 years, as they devote themselves to prayer and humble household duties behind their convent walls. And then he describes the reality of their life: As one Sister put it to him, ‘We can’t just sit around here all day, making a good impression. We also have to earn our living.’ And indeed they do so. Since 1984 they have baked the altar bread for the entire diocese, and for many neighbouring ones as well. They started off by baking twice weekly, now they bake six days a week, much of it on old manuSoon to be the Bread of Life – baking bread for the Eucharist in Bukavu, DR Congo.

Face to face with the Lord - Carmelite convent, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

ally operated machines. And the demand is rising constantly, as the number of Catholics grows. They have even had to enlist the help of two outside workers, who come to the convent, ‘and that cannot continue in the long term’, says their Superior, Mother Mary Andrew Kaggwa. On top of this, three of the 30-year-old machines have broken down, and spare parts are impossible to obtain, since the company that made them has long since ceased trading. But Mother Mary has no intention of sitting around doing nothing. Some of the old machines are to be moved to a hut next to the convent, while the three new ones will be housed in the convent itself. These new machines are absolutely necessary, but too expensive for the 23 Poor Clares. Together with it’s benefactors ACN will keep this income-

providing, altar bread baking ‘enterprise’ in business, leaving the Sisters with more time for prayer and the various dioceses with one less thing to worry about. Similarly indispensable is the work of the ‘Little Sisters of the Old and Needy’ in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Without the loving devotion of the 357 Sisters of this congregation, thousands of elderly people would be left to languish in solitude, or even to die in misery.

With our benefactors support ACN will help these sisters, scattered as they are throughout South America, to help the many old and infirm people in her care

•

Sister Pilar de San Luis Gonzaga, their Superior in Peru and Bolivia, has asked us to help each of the Little Sisters in her province, as well as those in Argentina, Chile and Brazil and is ‘praying to God our Father to move the hearts of your benefactors to keep supporting our work, as with so many vital ministries in other countries’.

Go out to the poorest - a Handmaid of Mary’ in Camagüey, Cuba.

Mission in the Andes – Sisters of the congregation ‘Jesus Word and Victim’.

Rich fruits – a discalced Carmelite in the convent garden, Kiev.

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Sharing in their work of love -

Supporting our Sisters in Eastern Europe

The opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference – so we are taught by the great Doctor of the Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas. So can we remain indifferent to the love shown by these Sisters? Should we not rather love with them? Of course we should; but how can we do that? We cannot go into the schools with the Holy Family Sisters of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Lviv and help teach the children and young people there. And we certainly can’t stay together with them, sleeping in camp beds, four or five to a room, because all the other rooms in the convent are too cold and damp. Nor can we help tend and care for the 15 elderly Sisters of their community who served the Church so faithfully and suffered so much in Soviet times. But we can ensure that the convent rooms are renovated, the draughty old windows replaced and the roof renewed. The 81 young Sisters, Small gestures of love – kitchen work for these Sisters in Serbia.

Voices raised in joy - Sisters and young people in Kazakhstan.

aged between 23 and 39, manage to earn €50 to €60 a month from their teaching work. That barely covers their living costs, let alone the remaining renovation work on the convent church, the only church in this part of town. Your help for them is also a gesture of love. Warmth is something you can also bring, quite literally, to the Franciscan School Sisters in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to those in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In Jajce most of the Sisters’ very modest

earnings go on heating their convent. It urgently needs full insulation. And in Almaty new government regulations have made a new heating system essential.

ing. As Pope Francis puts it, ‘Our smallest gesture of love benefits everyone!’ •

In Zhitnitsa, Bulgaria, it is not heating but a new car that the three Franciscan Sisters need for their many visits to the elderly, the young, the sick, the schools and kindergartens – a car that actually works and does not constantly need repairing.

Helping the old and sick – Sisters of the Redeemer, Kiev.

Thus you share and collaborate in their work of love. The results are beyond our imagin-

Light in the darkness - Delighting our Sisters in the Congo Goma, city of martyrs, town of darkness. How much suffering this town in the Democratic Republic of Congo has already seen! It is here that the Sisters of Saint Joseph have come, ‘to soothe the suffering and sow peace in the hearts of the sufferers’. This is how they describe their mission. They began their work here 14 years ago, visiting the refugee camps, helping the uprooted people from Rwanda who could no longer return to their villages following the genocide of 1994. There was constant fighting, bombs falling, land mines exploding (one Sister lost both legs). But they stayed on, and others joined them. Today there are seven Sisters and eight postulants here. What they need is bright light and clean water. During the daytime

Sunny smiles, thanks to the solar panels – Saint Joseph’s Sisters, Goma.

they help the families, the sick and the elderly in Goma, while in the evening they devote themselves to their formation, especially the younger Sisters. But night falls very quickly in Africa, and electricity is in short supply. A generator would need petrol or diesel. A solar plant is the answer, as it would supply light in the evening and energy during the day – sunlight is literally a gift from heaven. Then they could fulfil their mission of love. How could ACN refuse such a request. •

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‘Jesus looks only at love’ - Supporting our Brothers in Brazil That great Saint, Doctor of the Church and Patroness of the Missions, little Saint Therese of Lisieux has given us a piece of good advice: ‘We must sow the good seed without concerning ourselves whether it will grow.’ This almost certainly applies to the missions. Here are two examples from Brazil. In the northwest of this vast country they count the distances in ‘ship’s days’. And so, two ship’s days journey from Manaus, the great city on the middle reaches of the Amazon River, lies the parish of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Saint Gabriel of the Waterfalls. The diocese itself is about the size of Italy. The waterfalls and rapids here make the journey an adventure even for the river ships, while many villages can only be reached by aircraft, or in light boats that can also be carried overland.

Off to preach the Beatitudes Frei Gino and his mission boat,’Itinerante’.

It was here that Father Peter Shekleton journeyed on mission, accompanied by young Catholics. At the time he was working in the slums of São Paulo. But when he heard that many of the villages in this ‘diocese of the waterfalls’ had not seen a priest for over 10 years and that many old people were waiting, longing to be able to ‘die in peace’, he asked to be transferred to the parish of the Immaculate Conception. Now he is sowing the Gospel seed here and there is little prospect that the secular world will ever come to hear of it. But the seed of love always germinates – as indeed it did in his own case. After hearing Father Werenfried speak in London, he decided to become a priest. Now he travels across land and water, visiting the innumerable small communities on the river banks. Like all the other priests in this extremely poor diocese, he receives no salary and depends entirely on Mass intentions. ACN helped him to purchase his boat, and also paid for 30 young people from his parish to attend Rio for World Youth Day. A few hundred kilometres to the southwest lies the parish of Santo Antonio de Lisboa, at the confluence of the Rio Ica and the Rio Solimões. Here Franciscan priest, Frei Gino Alberati, together with

of the sick and prisoners, the catechetical instruction of children and young people, and also teaching and running a choir.

‘Perseverance’ is the name of his boat. Fr Peter relies on it wherever he goes.

two other Capuchin missionaries and two of the order’s novices, ministers to the parishes of the town of Santo Antonio as well as supporting a group of Alcoholics Anonymous and laying the foundations of a Fazenda – or Farm of Hope – for drug addicts. The Capuchin Fathers also make radio programmes, and Frei Gino additionally ministers to around three dozen riverside communities on the banks of the two rivers. He is involved in the pastoral care

On the river his boat chugs slowly along, in order to save fuel. Only in an emergency does he open up the throttle – as he did one time to save the life of a child that had been bitten by a snake, and another time for a girl with a ruptured appendix. Both were saved, thanks to the mission boat. Now Frei Gino needs new solar panels to supply the electricity for the boat – and a little help for his ‘diesel budget’ would also be welcome… Frei Gino and Father Shekelton work on the river in the true spirit of little Therese, who said, ‘Jesus does not look so much at how big or difficult our deeds are, but rather at the love with which they are done’ – and regardless of where in the world they are done, too. •

Source and summit of every action – Fr Peter says Mass with the young people.

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A message of joy – Frei Gino explains the Gospel message.

Courage that demands our admiration - Supporting our Brothers and Sisters in the Gulf Pope Benedict XVI asked ACN to particularly help all the Christians in Islamic countries. Thanks to your generosity, we are currently funding many projects, in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. But what is the situation of Christians in the Gulf region? Father Andrzej Halemba, who is responsible for all these countries, spoke about their situation, following a visit to the region. Q. The Arabian Gulf is an Islamic region. How many Christians actually live there? A. According to the more or less reliable statistical data available, the picture is an astonishing one. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone, the number of Catholics stands at around 800,000. In the past 30 years the number of Catholics in the entire Arabian peninsula has increased at least fivefold, to a total of some 3.1 million. This is due to the massive influx of foreign workers, for in fact almost all the

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We Fly to Thy Protectionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Shrine of Our Lady in Qatar.

Christians in the region are foreigners. They particularly come from India and the Philippines. We should not forget, however, that Christianity was in fact represented in the Arabian peninsular right from the beginning of its existence. As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, we can say very little, if only in order not to endanger projects there. But the very fact that the 1.5 million Catholics there still have the courage to live their faith, is something that demands our admiration. Q. How free are the Christians there? A. The Gulf States differ widely in this respect. In Saudi Arabia it is impossible to build churches or practise the Christian faith openly. Only the embassies can officially organise religious services, within their premises, for the citizens of their own countries.

Honouring Mary goes hand in hand with female dignity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from the earliest years.

In addition, in the port of Dubai, we are supporting a project called ‘Flying Angel’. This is a small ship that sails up to the other ships in the harbour and brings humanitarian aid, such as medicines, to the seamen who have to stay on board because they have no visas. ‘Now and at the hour of our death...’ - Chapel of Our Lady in Bahrain.

In the United Arab Emirates it is possible to obtain permits to build churches and to operate within the context of the Church structures. What is strictly forbidden is the conversion of Muslims. It is also forbidden for a Christian man to marry a Muslim woman. Nonetheless, thanks to the enormous work of the handful of priests, and above all of the many catechists, the Church in the Arabian peninsula is actually very lively. Altogether there are over 1,600 catechists. After Holy Mass, thousands of children come to the catechetical sessions. In fact in one parish in Dubai alone, 8,000 children take part!

At the same time we can also provide pastoral care. A priest can celebrate Holy Mass on board, administer the sacraments and help and counsel the seamen. He can also bring religious films and books on board. Q. Can we expect additional challenges here? A. Christians in the region are threatened by radical Islam, above all in the Yemen. Thousands of men come to this region from India, without their families, in order to work in the Arab countries. They live crowded together in giant hostel blocks like work camps. It is the only chance for them to be able to support their families. They face immense psychological pressures and need special pastoral support.• ‘Our Lady of Arabia’ - this is where her shrine will stand.

Q. What is ACN doing for our Christian brethren in the Gulf? A. We are helping them to build their own churches, for example the cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Bahrain, which will also be a centre for the life of the Church in other countries of the region.

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A LOOK IN THE

A chairde,

As always the case this issue of the Mirror contains inspiring stories of religious sisters, brothers, priests and laity who are giving heroic witness to the love of God as they proclaim the Joy of the Gospel to the world’s materially and spiritually poor.

ope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ (‘Evangelii Gaudium’ EG) presents each of us with the task of renewing our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ and calls upon each of us to become more authentic in our witness to His Word in our world.

In one sense in his exhortation Pope Francis is inviting all of us to become as committed in our missionary discipleship, in our homes, in our work and in our lives, as the many great witnesses we read about within the pages of our magazine.

The authentic face of the Catholic Church - Pope Francis Dear Friends, feel tremendous gratitude to all those who are committed to working in and for the Church. …in justice, I must say … that the contribution of the Church in today’s world is enormous. The pain and the shame we feel at the sins of some members of the Church, and at our own, must never make us forget how many Christians are giving their lives in love. • They help so many people to be healed or to die in peace in makeshift hospitals. • They are present to those enslaved by different addictions in the poorest places on earth. • They devote themselves to the education of children and young people. • They take care of the elderly who have been forgotten by everyone else. 12

• They look for ways to communicate values in hostile environments. • They are dedicated in many other ways to showing an immense love for humanity inspired by the God who became man. I am grateful for the beautiful example given… by so many Christians who joyfully sacrifice their lives and their time. This witness comforts and sustains me in my own effort to overcome selfishness and to give more fully of myself.

24th November 2013

In another sense Pope Francis is asking us to support the work of all the Church’s missionaries through our prayers, through our spiritual sacrifices and in our material offerings.

from these writings is the continuity of thinking and teaching between that of Pope Benedict XVI and that of Pope Francis.

In all of this Pope Francis is in no doubt that our world has great need of Christ’s Church and His missionaries and Christ’s missionaries have a great need of your prayers, your support and your involvement in joyfully proclaiming by words and by works the Good News that ‘Jesus Christ loves you; He gave His life to save you; and now He is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.’ 1

Pope Benedict conceives evangelisation to mean teaching the world the art of living as dignified human beings and Pope Francis takes every opportunity to shake us out of our spiritual worldliness, live more joyously and do ‘a bit more’ to help our brothers and sisters in need.

n this ‘Look in the Mirror’ we have assembled from Pope Francis’ landmark papal text six articles which, taken together, provide a substantial introduction to the Exhortation. Notwithstanding this readers are encouraged to go online and access the full text in an attractive flipbook format via our website: www.acnireland.org. Accompanying Pope Francis’ six articles is an article by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now better known as Pope Benedict XVI) on the structure and method of a new evangelisation. Immediately evident

Since there is nothing preventing us from praying ‘a bit more’ or fasting ‘a bit more’ or abstaining ‘a bit more’ why don’t we do ‘a bit more’ and offer up all these prayers and personal sacrifices on behalf of many millions of marginalised Christians and non-Christians around the world who today and everyday suffer severely at the hands of cruel Godlessness. As Francis sees it there is a great joy to be had in such prayers and sacrifices and in coming to the assistance of others, for as St. Francis of Assisi is reputed to have said ‘it is in giving that we receive’. Beir Beannacht

J F Declan Quinn

Scan this code to read Evangelii Gaudium

1 Evangelii Gaudium (EG) para. 164. This basic statement of Faith is referred to as being kerygmatic. Kerygma [pronounced ki-rigmuh] refers to how the Gospel was first proclaimed within the early Church. It also refers to how the Gospel is first proclaimed to those in our world who have little or no knowledge of Christ and His Church.

A LOOK IN THE

On proclaiming the Good News to the World Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger2

uman life cannot be realised by itself. Our life is an open question, an incomplete project that has yet to be realised. The fundamental question facing every person is: How does one become fully human? How does one learn the art of living? Which is the way towards happiness? To evangelise means to show the way, to teach the art of living. At the beginning of his public life Jesus says, I have come to evangelise the poor (Luke 4:18), meaning, I have the answer to this fundamental question. I will show you the way to live; the way towards happiness, for indeed it is that I am the way.

‘We can learn from him that suffering and the gift of himself is an essential gift we need in our time’ Pope Benedict XVI

Our greatest poverty is joylessness and boredom with a life considered absurd and contradictory. Although expressed in different forms within materially rich and economically poor countries, such poverty is widespread in our world of today. Indeed it is such incapacity for joy that presupposes and results in that incapacity to love which generates jealousy, greed and all the vices which ruin people’s lives and the life of the world. This is why we need a new evangelisation for nothing will work satisfactorily in our lives or in the world if the art of living remains unknown. But this art of living cannot be taught as a science subject, rather it can only be communicated by the one who has life, He who is the Gospel personified.

The Church always evangelises and has never interrupted the path of evangelisation. She celebrates the Eucharistic mystery every day, administers the sacraments, proclaims the word of life—the Word of God, and commits herself to the causes of justice and charity. And this evangelisation bears fruit: It gives light and joy, it gives the path of life to many people; many others live, often unknowingly, of the light and the warmth that radiate from this ongoing evangelisation. orryingly, however, we observe a progressive process of de-Christianisation and the loss of essential human values. The fact is that today a large part of humanity does not find in the Church’s ongoing evangelisation the Good News, that is to say, the convincing answer to the question of How to live? For this reason, over and beyond the Church’s ever and always-present evangelisation activities, the Church seeks a new evangelisation, one which is capable of being heard by that world that does not access its ‘classic’ forms of evangelisation. Everyone needs the Gospel and the Gospel is meant for everybody, it is not be restricted to any particular group. It is because this is so that we are obliged to look for new ways to bring the Good News of Gospel to everybody.

A LOOK IN THE

In doing this however lies a hidden temptation, the temptation to impatience, the temptation to look for quick success, great success and big numbers. Such is not God’s way. For the Kingdom of God as well as for evangelisation, the instrument and vehicle of the Kingdom of God, the parable of the mustard seed is always applicable (see Mark 4:31-32). Under this sign the Kingdom of God always starts anew. The New Evangelisation cannot mean immediately attracting, by using new and more refined methods, large numbers of those who have distanced themselves from the Church. No, this is not what the New Evangelisation promises, (rather)…it means… (daring)…once again, …with the humility of a small mustard seed to leave (it) up to God when and how it will grow (Mark 4:26-29). Large things always begin from a small seed, for invariably mass movements are ephemeral. In his vision of the evolutionary process, Teilhard de Chardin mentions the ‘white of the origins’ (le blanc des origines): The beginning of a new species is invisible and undetectable by scientific research. Their origins are hidden, they are too small. Expressed in other words, great realities have humble origins. Let us put to one side whether Teilhard is correct in his evolutionary theories; the law of invisible origins does say a truth, a truth present in the very actions of God 15

in history: ‘The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you.’ God says [this] to the People of Israel in the Old Testament and thus expresses the fundamental paradox of the history of salvation: God does not count in large numbers; exterior power is not the sign of his presence. Most of Jesus’ parables indicate this structure of divine intervention and thus answer the disciples’ concerns, who were expecting other kinds of success and signs from the Messiah, successes of the type offered by Satan to the Lord: All these, the kingdoms of the world, I will give to you ... (Matthew 4:9).

tree or in the impatience of wanting a bigger, more vital tree instead of simply accepting the mystery that the Church is at once both a large tree and a very small grain. In the history of salvation it is always Good Friday and Easter Sunday at the same time.

Of course, at the end of his life Paul believed that he had proclaimed the Gospel to the very ends of the earth, but the Christians were small communities dispersed throughout the world, insignificant in number by worldly standards. In reality however they were the leaven that penetrates the meal from within and they carried within themselves the future of the world (see Matthew 13:33).

So it is then that the appropriate method for the New Evangelisation must derive from this basic structure. Of course in all this we must make reasonable use of modern methods for making ourselves heard, or better still, making the Lord’s voice accessible and comprehensible. For certainly we are not looking a hearing for ourselves, nor we do not want to increase our power and the expansion of our institutions, on the contrary we simply wish to serve the good of every person and of all humanity by giving space to He who is Life.

n old proverb says: ‘Success is not one of the names of God.’ The New Evangelisation must submit itself to the mystery of the grain of mustard and not aspire to instantly become a large tree. We seem to live either too much in the security of an existing large

This ‘setting aside’ of one’s self and offering it to Christ for the salvation of men, is a fundamental condition of the true commitment for the Gospel. ‘I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive,’ says the Lord (John

5:43). The mark of the Antichrist is the fact that he speaks in his own name. The sign of the Son is his communion with the Father. The Son introduces us into the Trinitarian communion, into the circle of eternal love, whose persons are ‘pure relations,’ the pure act of giving oneself and of welcome. The Trinitarian plan, visible in the Son, who does not speak in his name, shows the form of life of the true evangeliser. For evangelising is not merely a way of speaking, but a form of living: living in the listening and giving voice to the Father. ‘He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak,’ says the Lord about the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). his Christological and pneumatological form of evangelisation is also, at the same time, an ecclesiological form: The Lord and the Spirit build the Church, communicate through the Church. The proclamation of Christ, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God presupposes listening to His voice in the voice of the Church. ‘Not speak on his own authority’ means: to speak in the mission of the Church.

A few years ago, I was reading the biography of a very good priest, Don Didimo, the parish priest of Bassano del Grappa. In his notes, golden words can be found, the fruit of a life of prayer and of meditation. About our concerns Don Didimo writes, ‘Jesus preached by day, by night he prayed.’ With these few words, he wished to say: Jesus had to acquire His disciples from God. This is always the case. We ourselves cannot gather disciples rather we must acquire them from God for God. Without prayer all methods of evangelisation are futile: proclaiming the Good News must always be drenched in an intense life of prayer. To this must be added a further step. Yes, Jesus preached by day and he prayed by night but this is not all. As described beautifully in St Luke’s Gospel, the entire life of Jesus was a path toward the cross, an ascension toward Jerusalem. Jesus did not redeem the world with beautiful words but by His Passion and His death. His Passion is the inexhaustible source of

Many practical consequences come from this law of ‘stepping aside’/‘letting-go’ of oneself. All reasonable and morally acceptable methods of communication should be considered and used appropriately. But words and the whole art of communication on their own are unable to convert a person to the degree required by the Gospel. A LOOK IN THE

of Jonah is the crucified Christ, they are the witnesses that complete ‘what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions’ (Colossians 1:24). Throughout all the periods of history, the words of Tertullian have always been verified: The blood of martyrs is a seed.

life for the world; His Passion gives power to His words. The Lord himself, extending and amplifying the parable of the mustard seed, formulated this law of fruitfulness in his teaching about the grain of wheat that falls to the earth and dies (John 12:24). This law also applies until the end of the world and it is, along with the mystery of the grain of mustard seed, fundamental for the New Evangelisation as all of history testifies. ndeed it is not difficult to demonstrate this in the history of Christianity, in which regard I would like to recall here only the beginning of evangelisation in the life of St. Paul. The success of his mission was not the fruit of great rhetorical skills or pastoral prudence but Paul’s fruitfulness was tied to his suffering, to his sharing in the sufferings of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; ... 2 Corinthians 11:30; Galatians 4:12-14). ‘But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah,’ said the Lord. The sign 18

St. Augustine says the same thing very beautifully when interpreting John 21, where the prophesy of Peter’s martyrdom and the institution of his primacy are intimately connected. St. Augustine comments [on] the text John 21:16 in the following way: ‘Tend my sheep,’ means suffer for my sheep.... A mother cannot give life to a child without suffering. Each birth requires suffering, is suffering, and becoming a Christian is a birth. Let us say this once again in the words of the Lord: The Kingdom of heaven necessitates violence (Matthew 11:12; Luke 16:16), but the violence of God is suffering, it is the cross. We cannot give life to others without giving up our own lives. The process of ‘stepping-aside’ of oneself / ‘letting-go’ of oneself is the concrete form (expressed in many diverse ways) of giving one’s life. And let us think about the words of the Saviour: ‘Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it’ (Mark 8:35). 2 Translated and adapted from GIUBILEO DEI CATECHISTI E DEI DOCENTI DI RELIGIONE, INTERVENTO DEL CARDINALE JOSEPH RATZINGER DURANTE IL CONVEGNO DEI CATECHISTI E DEI DOCENTI DI RELIGIONE. http://www.doctrinafidei.va/documents/rc_con_cfaith_ doc_20001210_jubilcatechists-ratzinger_it.html

On being a true missionary - Pope Francis The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.3 he primary reason for evangelising is the love of Jesus which we have received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts.4 We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence. ….How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament, and simply to be in his presence! How much good it does us when he once more touches our lives and impels us to share his new life! What then happens is that ‘we speak of what we have seen and heard’ (1 Jn 1:3).5 A LOOK IN THE

The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes from contemplating it with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with the heart. If we approach it in this way, its beauty will amaze and constantly excite us. But if this is to come about, we need to recover a contemplative spirit which can help us to realise ever anew that we have been entrusted with a treasure which makes us more human and helps us to lead a new life. There is nothing more precious which we can give to others.6 …Enthusiasm for evangelisation is based on this conviction. We have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or disappoint. It penetrates to the depths of our hearts, sustaining and ennobling us. It is a truth which is never out of date because it reaches that part of us which nothing else can reach.7

ut this conviction has to be sustained by our own constantly renewed experience of savouring Christ’s friendship and his message. It is impossible to persevere in a fervent evangelisation unless we are convinced from personal experience that it is: • not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known him, • not the same thing to walk with him as to walk blindly, • not the same thing to hear his word as not to know it, and • not the same thing to contemplate him, to worship him, to find our peace in him, as not to. • It is not the same thing to try to build the world with his Gospel as to try to do so by our own lights.

We know well that with Jesus life becomes richer and that with him it is easier to find meaning in everything. This is why we evangelise.8 A true missionary, …knows that Jesus walks with him, speaks to him, breathes with him, works with him. He senses Jesus alive with him in the midst of the missionary enterprise. Unless we see him present at the heart of our missionary commitment, our enthusiasm soon wanes and we are no longer sure of what it is that we are handing on; we lack vigour and passion. A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody.9 • 3 EG para. 1, 4 EG para. 264, 5 Ibid, 6 Ibid, 7 EG para. 265, 8 EG para. 266, 9 Ibid,

The Church: The sacrament of Salvation offered by God - Pope Francis he salvation which God offers us is the work of his mercy. No human efforts, however good they may be, can enable us to merit so great a gift. God, by his sheer grace, draws us to himself and makes us one with him. He sends His Spirit into our hearts to make us His children, transforming us and enabling us to respond to His love by our lives.10

No one is saved by himself or herself, individually, or by his or her own efforts.12

The Church is sent by Jesus Christ as the sacrament of the salvation offered by God. Through her evangelising activity, she cooperates as an instrument of that divine grace which works unceasingly and inscrutably.

Jesus did not tell the apostles to form an exclusive and elite group. He said: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’ (Mt. 28:19)… To those who feel far from God and the Church, to all those who are fearful or indifferent, I would like to say this: the Lord, with great respect and love is also calling you to be part of his people!13

Benedict XVI put it…: ‘It is important always to know that the first word, the true initiative, the true activity comes from God and only by inserting ourselves into the divine initiative, only begging for this divine initiative, shall we too be able to become – with him and in him – evangelisers’. This principle of the primacy of grace must be a beacon which constantly illuminates our reflections on evangelisation.11 The salvation which God has wrought, and the Church joyfully proclaims, is for everyone. God has found a way to unite himself to every human being in every age. He has chosen to call them together as a people and not as isolated individuals. A LOOK IN THE

od attracts us by taking into account the complex interweaving of personal relationships entailed in the life of a human community. This people which God has chosen and called is the Church.

Being Church means being God’s people, in accordance with the great plan of his fatherly love. This means that we are to be God’s leaven in the midst of humanity. It means proclaiming and bringing God’s salvation into our world, which often goes astray and needs to be encouraged, given hope and strengthened on the way. 14 The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel.15 • 10 EG para. 112, 11 Ibid, 12 EG para. 113, 13 Ibid, 14 EG para. 114, 15 Ibid.

Evangelical Discernment, the Culture of Prosperity and the Idolatry of Money - Pope Francis prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.16 I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures.17 If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life.18 More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up • within structures which give us a false sense of security, • within rules which make us harsh judges, • within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: ‘Give them something to eat’ (Mk 6:37).19 Today, we frequently hear of a ‘diagnostic overload’ which is not always accompanied by improved and actually applicable 22

methods of treatment. Nor would we be well served by a purely sociological analysis which would aim to embrace all of reality by employing an allegedly neutral and clinical method. What I would like to propose is something much more in the line of an evangelical discernment. It is the approach of a missionary disciple, an approach ‘nourished by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit’.20 It is not the task of the Pope to offer a detailed and complete analysis of contemporary reality, but I do exhort all the communities to an ‘ever watchful scrutiny of the signs of the times’. This is in fact a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanisation which would then be hard to reverse.21 e need to distinguish clearly what might be a fruit of the kingdom from what runs counter to God’s plan. This involves not only recognising and discerning spirits, but also – and this is decisive – choosing movements of the spirit of good and rejecting those of the spirit of evil.22 In this Exhortation I claim only to consider briefly, and from a pastoral perspective, certain factors which can restrain or weaken the impulse of missionary renewal in the Church, either because

they threaten the life and dignity of God’s people or because they affect those who are directly involved in the Church’s institutions and in her work of evangelisation.23 In our time humanity is experiencing a turning-point in its history, as we can see from the advances being made in so many fields. We can only praise the steps being taken to improve people’s welfare in areas

such as health care, education and communications. At the same time we have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences. • A number of diseases are spreading. • The hearts of many people are gripped by fear and desperation, even in the socalled rich countries. • The joy of living frequently fades, • Lack of respect for others and violence are on the rise, and • Inequality is increasingly evident. It is a struggle to live and, often, to live with precious little dignity. This epochal change has been set in motion by the enormous qualitative, quantitative, rapid and cumulative advances occurring in the sciences and in technology, and by their instant application in different areas of nature and of life. We are in an age of knowledge and information, which has led to new and often anonymous kinds of power.24 ust as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. • How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion.

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• Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalised: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.25 Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a ‘throw-away’ culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ‘leftovers’.26

In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system.27 eanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalisation of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of: • feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, • weeping for other people’s pain, and • feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.28 One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the

fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person!29 We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.30 While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control.31

thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenceless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.33 • Editor’s comment So it is that with an Open Heart Pope Francis proclaims: • No to an economy of exclusion • No to the new idolatry of money • No to a financial system which rules rather than serves and • No to the inequality which spawns violence. 16 21 25 29 33

EG para.49, EG para 51, EG para. 53, EG para 55, Ibid.

17 22 26 30

Ibid, 18 Ibid, 23 Ibid, 27 Ibid, 31

Ibid, 19 Ibid, 20 EG para 50, Ibid, 24 EG para 52, EG para. 54, 28 Ibid, EG para. 56, 32 Ibid,

new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realise the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power.32 To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The A LOOK IN THE

Proclaiming the Good News to the World - Pope Francis he Lord’s missionary mandate includes a call to growth in faith: ‘Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Mt 28:20). Hence it is clear that that the first proclamation also calls for ongoing formation and maturation.34

ing of the law’ (Rom 13:8, 10). These are the words of Saint Paul, for whom the commandment of love not only sums up the law but constitutes its very heart and purpose: ‘For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Gal 5:14).37

Evangelisation aims at a process of growth which entails taking seriously each person and God’s plan for his or her life. All of us need to grow in Christ. Evangelisation should stimulate a desire for this growth, so that each of us can say wholeheartedly: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ (Gal 2:20).35

To his communities Paul presents the Christian life as a journey of growth in love: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (1 Th 3:12). Saint James likewise exhorts Christians to fulfil ‘the royal law according to the Scripture: You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (2:8), in order not to fall short of any commandment.38

It would not be right to see this call to growth exclusively or primarily in terms of doctrinal formation. It has to do with ‘observing’ all that the Lord has shown us as the way of responding to his love. Along with the virtues, this means above all the new commandment, the first and the greatest of the commandments, and the one that best identifies us as Christ’s disciples: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you’ (Jn 15:12).36 Clearly, whenever the New Testament authors want to present the heart of the Christian moral message, they present the essential requirement of love for one’s neighbour: ‘The one who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the whole law… therefore love of neighbour is the fulfill26

n the other hand this process of response and growth is always preceded by God’s gift, since the Lord first says: ‘Baptise them in the name…’ (Mt 28:19). The Father’s free gift which makes us his sons and daughters, and the priority of the gift of his grace (cf. Eph 2:8-9; 1 Cor 4:7), enable that constant sanctification which pleases God and gives him glory. In this way, we allow ourselves to be transformed in Christ through a life lived ‘according to the Spirit’ (Rom 8:5).39 In catechesis too, we have rediscovered the fundamental role of the first announcement or kerygma, which needs to be the centre of all evangelising activity and all efforts at Church renewal.40

The kerygma is trinitarian. The fire of the Spirit is given in the form of tongues and leads us to believe in Jesus Christ who, by his death and resurrection, reveals and communicates to us the Father’s infinite mercy. On the lips of the catechist the first proclamation must ring out over and over: ‘Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.’ 41 This first proclamation is called ‘first’ not because it exists at the beginning and can then be forgotten or replaced by other more important things. It is first in a qualitative sense because it is the principal proclamation, the one which we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment.42 For this reason too, ‘the priest – like every other member of the Church – ought to grow in awareness that he himself is continually in need of being evangelised’.43 We must not think that in catechesis the kerygma gives way to a supposedly more ‘solid’ formation. Nothing is more solid, profound, secure, meaningful and wisdom-filled than that initial proclamation. All Christian formation consists of entering more deeply into the kerygma, which is reflected in and constantly illumines, the work of catechesis, thereby enabling us to understand more fully the significance of A LOOK IN THE

every subject which the latter treats. It is the message capable of responding to the desire for the infinite which abides in every human heart.44 The centrality of the kerygma calls for stressing those elements which are most needed today: • it has to express God’s saving love which precedes any moral and religious obligation on our part; • it should not impose the truth but appeal to freedom; • it should be marked by joy, encouragement, liveliness and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than evangelical.45 All this demands on the part of the evangeliser certain attitudes which foster openness to the message: approachability,

readiness for dialogue, patience, a warmth and welcome which is non-judgmental.46 s for the moral component of catechesis, which promotes growth in fidelity to the Gospel way of life, it is helpful to stress again and again the attractiveness and the ideal of a life of wisdom, self-fulfilment and enrichment.47 In the light of that positive message, our rejection of the evils which endanger that life can be better understood. Rather than experts in dire predictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we should appear as joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.48 • 34 38 42 47

EG para. 160, 35 Ibid, 36 EG para. 161, 37 Ibid, Ibid, 39 EG para. 162, 40 EG para. 164, 41 Ibid, Ibid, 43 Ibid, 44 EG para.49, 45 Ibid, 46 Ibid, EG para. 168, 48 Ibid.

‘Place ourselves at the service of the poor’ Pope Francis

Proclaiming the Good News to the Poor - Pope Francis ur faith in Christ, who became poor, and was always close to the poor and the outcast, is the basis of our concern for the integral development of society’s most neglected members.49 To evangelise is to make the kingdom of God present in our world. … I would now like to share my concerns about the social dimension of evangelisation, precisely because if this dimension is not properly brought out, there is a constant risk of distorting the authentic and integral meaning of the mission of evangelisation.50 • To believe in a Father who loves all men and women with an infinite loves means realising that ‘he thereby confers upon them an infinite dignity’. • To believe that the Son of God assumed our human flesh means that each human person has been taken up into the very heart of God. • To believe that Jesus shed his blood for us removes any doubt about the boundless love which ennobles each human being. Our redemption has a social dimension because ‘God, in Christ redeems not only the individual person, but also the social relations existing between men’.51

A LOOK IN THE

To believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in everyone means realising that he seeks to penetrate every human situation and all social bonds: ‘The Holy Spirit can be said to possess an infinite creativity, proper to the divine mind, which knows how to loosen the knots of human affairs, even the most complex and inscrutable’. Evangelisation is meant to cooperate with this liberating work of the Spirit. The very mystery of the Trinity reminds us that we have been created in the image of that divine communion, and so we cannot achieve fulfilment or salvation purely by our own efforts.52 od’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so that he himself ‘became poor’ (2 Cor 8:9). The entire history of our redemption is marked by the presence of the poor.53 • Salvation came to us from the ‘yes’ uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire. • The Saviour was born in a manger, in the midst of animals, like children of poor families; • he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the offering made by those who could not afford a lamb (cf. Lk 2:24; Lev 5:7); • he was raised in a home of ordinary workers and worked with his own hands to earn his bread.

• When he began to preach the Kingdom, crowds of the dispossessed followed him, illustrating his words: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor’ (Lk 4:18). • He assured those burdened by sorrow and crushed by poverty that God has a special place for them in his heart: ‘Blessed are you poor, yours is the kingdom of God’ (Lk 6:20); • he made himself one of them: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food to eat’, and • he taught them that mercy towards all of these is the key to heaven (cf. Mt 25:5ff.).54 or the Church, the option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one. God shows the poor ‘his first mercy’.55 This divine preference has consequences for the faith life of all Christians, since we are called to have ‘this mind… which was in Jesus Christ’ (Phil 2:5). Inspired by this, the Church has made an option for the poor which is understood as a ‘special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity, to which the whole tradition of the Church bears witness’.56 This option – as Benedict XVI has taught – ‘is implicit in our Christian faith in a God who became poor for us, so as to enrich us with his poverty’. This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor.57 30

They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the sensus fidei, but in their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelised by them. The new evangelisation is an invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in their lives and to put them at the centre of the Church’s pilgrim way.58 We are called: • to find Christ in them, • to lend our voice to their causes, but also • to be their friends, • to listen to them, • to speak for them and • to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.59 ur commitment does not consist exclusively in activities or programmes of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit mobilises is not an unruly activism, but above all an attentiveness which considers the other ‘in a certain sense as one with ourselves’.60 This loving attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their person which inspires me effectively to seek their good. This entails appreciating the poor: • in their goodness, • in their experience of life, • in their culture, and • in their ways of living the faith.

rue love is always contemplative, and permits us to serve the other not out of necessity or vanity, but rather because he or she is beautiful above and beyond mere appearances: ‘The love by which we find the other pleasing leads us to offer him something freely’. The poor person, when loved, ‘is esteemed as of great value’, and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ from any other ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own personal or political interest.61 Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation. Only this will ensure that ‘in every Christian community the poor feel at home. Would not this approach be the greatest and most effective presentation of the good news of the kingdom?’ 62 Without the preferential option for the poor, ‘the proclamation of the Gospel, which is itself the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words which daily engulfs us in today’s society of mass communications’.63 ince this Exhortation is addressed to members of the Catholic Church, I want to say, with regret, that the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them: A LOOK IN THE

• • • •

his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and • a journey of growth and maturity in the faith. Our preferential option for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.64 No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles.65 hile it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice: ‘Spiritual conversion, the intensity of the love of God and neighbour, zeal for justice and peace, the Gospel meaning of the poor and of poverty, are required of everyone’.66 • 49 52 56 61 65

EG para. 186, 50 EG para. 176, 51 EG para. 178, Ibid, 53 EG para. 197, 54 Ibid, 55 EG para. 198, Ibid, 57 Ibid, 58 Ibid, 59 Ibid, 60 EG para. 199, Ibid, 62 Ibid, 63 Ibid 64 EG para. 200, EG para. 201, 66 Ibid.

Star of the New Evangelisation ary, Virgin and Mother, you who, moved by the Holy Spirit,

M welcomed the word of life in the depths of your humble faith: as you gave yourself completely to the Eternal One, help us to say our own “yes” to the urgent call, as pressing as ever, to proclaim the good news of Jesus. illed with Christ’s presence, you brought joy to John the Baptist, making him exult in the womb of his mother. Brimming over with joy, you sang of the great things done by God. Standing at the foot of the cross with unyielding faith, you received the joyful comfort of the resurrection, and joined the disciples in awaiting the Spirit so that the evangelising Church might be born.

btain for us now a new ardour born of the resurrection, that we may bring to all the Gospel of life which triumphs over death. Give us a holy courage to seek new paths, that the gift of unfading beauty may reach every man and woman.

of listening and contemplation, Mother of love, V irgin Bride of the eternal wedding feast, pray for the Church, whose pure icon you are, that she may never be closed in on herself or lose her passion for establishing God’s kingdom. tar of the new evangelisation, help us to bear radiant witness to communion, service, ardent and generous faith,justice and love of the poor, that the joy of the Gospel may reach to the ends of the earth, illuminating even the fringes of our world.

of the living Gospel, wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones, M other pray for us.

Amen. Alleluia!

I’m happy… and I hope…

...Thank you

Bringing a smile to someone’s face Although I’m happy to hear that I’m the first person from Costa Rica to have donated via online, I am also sad because I would like more people from my country to help our Church to reach more people around the world. I know that my donation is a small amount of money, but I hope that this can bring a smile on the face of someone who maybe is losing his faith and hope. I want to keep helping your organisation. Thank you very much for the great work of ACN. A benefactor in Costa Rica

Dear Friends,

Making sacrifices for Syria By refraining from buying unnecessary things, we are now able to send you 100 Euros for Homs in Syria. We are in the middle of buying a house at the moment, and we feel we can’t do this without first sharing something of what we already have with those who have lost everything. We’ve been showing our six children some ACN videos about Syria, so that they will think about this country and develop a well formed political and Christian conscience. A family in France Don’t let the enthusiasm falter! It is always moving to read your reports, to see with what selfless commitment the Christian message is supported and propagated. I still recall how Father Werenfried preached in our own region in the post-war years, with that enthusiasm unique to him, and how hard he worked for the hungry population. If this enthusiasm for the Gospel is not to falter in the future it will need not only an upright spirit of prayer but also financial support. For my part too this will continue to be the case, whenever possible, in future. A benefactor in Austria

Each year thanks to the • Donations • Legacies and • Mass offerings of its benefactors in Ireland and around the world, ACN is able to: • Provide sustenance and the means of survival for approx. 20,000 priests • Support approx. 18,000 seminarians and religious and • Distribute approx. 1.5 million catechetical books for children in over 170 languages. Heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support provided to Christ’s Suffering and Persecuted Church. May the Good Lord continue to bless you and your family, past and present, now and always.

J F Declan Quinn Director Aid to the Church in Need (Ireland) Where to send your contribution for the Church in Need: Please use the Freepost envelope. Aid to the Church in Need, 151 St. Mobhi Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. TEL (01) 837 7516. EMAIL info@acnireland.org WEB www.acnireland.org Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.

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Stand firm in the faith, be strong. (1 Cor. 16:13)

‘Religious Sisters, their hands joined in prayer, are a prophetic sign of the world to come.’ Father Martin M. Barta, ACN Ecclesiastical Assistant.

A daughter kneels before her mother in the convent of the Carmelite nuns in Sofia.

‘May looking at the Last Judgement never frighten us. Rather, may it impel us to live the present better. God offers us this time with mercy and patience so that we may learn every day to recognise him in the poor and in the lowly. Let us strive for goodness and be watchful in prayer and in love’ Pope Francis, General audience, 24 April 2013

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