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Webbplatsrubriksuzana monika Hem Blogg Om Kontakta ossreblog 30/10Kristet lärjungaskap – del I: ÖdmjukhetPostat: 11 januari, 2015 av olofedsinger i Lärjungaskap
Etiketter:Ödmjukhet, Frimodighet, Helgelse0”Saliga är de som är fattiga i anden, dem tillhör himmelriket” (Matt 5:3). Med dessa ord inleder Jesus sin så kallade bergspredikan, och den ”andens fattigdom” han förkunnar – som går som en röd tråd genom alla åtta saligprisningar – kan beskrivas som något av en nyckel in till Guds rike.Att vara fattig i anden är att se sitt behov av någon annan. Det är att ödmjukt peka vidare, bortom sig själv. Inte som en hyllning av vår torftighet eller oförmåga, utan som ett positivt bejakande av vår Skapare och hans betydelse för våra liv. Att vara fattig i anden är att erkänna sitt beroende av Gud och av hans Sons död och uppståndelse för vår skull. Det är att i ord och handling erkänna att det är Herren och inte vi människor som är den här världens centralpunkt. Som prästen Bengt Pleijel uttrycker det:[Ödmjukhet] är att vara mjuk inför Gud, så att han kan ta hand om mitt liv och forma det efter sin plan. Ödmjukhet är inte detsamma som att förakta sig själv, utplåna sig själv eller förneka sig själv. Så att säga bli en dörrmatta, som alla trampar på. Spelad och påklistrad ödmjukhet är äcklig. Att vara ödmjuk är istället att vara medveten om att man är så stor, så märklig, så fantastisk, att endast den störste specialist på mänskligt liv – Herren Kristus – bör få ta hand om mig och forma mig. Jag vågar inte utlämna mig själv åt mig själv. Endast Kristus får ta hand om mig. Därför vill jag vara mjuk inför honom.Detta budskap har i alla tider varit utmanande. Kallelsen att lägga livet i någon annans händer landar inte smärtfritt hos den i synd fallna människan. Redan i Bibelns tredje kapitel kan vi läsa om hur Adam och Eva lät sig frestas av den onde när de fick erbjudandet att de skulle ”bli som Gud” (1 Mos 3:5). Alltså i klartext: att de skulle klara sig själva utan sin Skapare; att de skulle säga nej till sitt beroende av Herren.Kampen mot vår egen självcentrering har av detta skäl varit en utmaning under hela mänsklighetens historia. För befolkningen i det romarrike som Jesus växte upp i hade ordet ”ödmjukhet” en direkt negativ klang. Ödmjukhet stod inte på listan över de så kallade kardinaldygderna; den starkes rätt ansågs som självklar. En religion som satte ödmjukheten och jagets kapitulation i centrum var därför provocerande.AnnonsIntegritetsinställningarOm vi i stället förflyttar oss till Sverige av i dag skulle man kunna säga att situationen är både lik och olik den i romarriket. Å ena sidan lever vi i en kultur där det i många lägen är de vassa armbågarna som premieras. Å andra sidan håller de flesta svenskar med om att ödmjukhet verkligen är en dygd. Att den visserligen är en både svår och utmanande konst, men att den ändå är beundransvärd när den väl träder fram.I vår del av världen kan vi därför behöva uppmärksamma ett snarlikt, men i grunden helt annorlunda, fenomen. Det har den obehagliga egenheten att det undviker att ifrågasätta ödmjukheten som sådan, samtidigt som det på ett effektivt sätt får den att erodera från insidan.Fenomenet i fråga är det som brukar kallas för den falska ödmjukheten.Den falska ödmjukheten är skrämmande i det att den är så förvillande lik originalet, samtidigt som den i realiteten är den sanna ödmjukhetens motsats. Redan i början av den här boken vill jag därför ägna några rader åt att beskriva denna avart av vår kristna kallelse.Vilket är ödmjukhetens sanna väsen? De flesta skulle nog besvara denna fråga med att rada upp egenskaper som ett fridsamt sinnelag, en självuppoffrande livsstil eller ett nedtonande av de egna förtjänsterna. Och utan tvekan kan dessa och liknande förhållningssätt vara genuina uttryck för en sann ödmjukhet. Jesus själv säger: ”Den som är störst bland er skall vara de andras tjänare. Var och en som upphöjer sig skall bli förödmjukad, och var och en som ödmjukar sig skall bli upphöjd” (Matt 23:11-12).Men problemet är samtidigt att det som på ytan ser ödmjukt ut, inte behöver motsvaras av en ödmjukhet på insidan. Det som vid en första anblick ger oss intrycket av att vara ödmjukhet, kan i själva verket vara en mer eller mindre medveten anpassning till vår omgivnings förväntningar, eller till den i Sverige så förhärskande jantelagen. Det på ytan ”klädsamma” kan i grunden vara ett maskerat högmod.AnnonsIntegritetsinställningarAv detta skäl behöver vi en djupare referenspunkt för vad som är den sanna ödmjukhetens väsen. Och eftersom det här är en bok om kristet lärjungaskap, har jag valt att använda mig av en unikt kristen definition av detta begrepp – nämligen att en sann, biblisk ödmjukhet handlar om en vilja att böja sig under Gud och hans vilja. Alltså att – i motsats till Adam och Eva – verkligen bejaka vårt beroende av Herren. Att till varje pris hålla fast vid det som Gud själv har talat in i våra liv. Som aposteln Petrus uttrycker det: ”Klä er i ödmjukhet mot varandra. Ty Gud står emot de högmodiga, men de ödmjuka ger han nåd. Ödmjuka er alltså under Guds mäktiga hand, så skall han upphöja er när hans tid är inne” (1 Pet 5:5-6).Vad riskerar att hända de gånger då vi inte håller fast vid denna definition? När ”ödmjukheten” har sin källa i något annat än de sanningar som Skaparen själv har uppenbarat? Jo, mer eller mindre medvetet börjar vi då förknippa ”ödmjukhet” med våra egna kulturmönster. Vi blandar ihop de saker som Jesus har kallat oss till med sådant som i samhället i stort uppfattas som måttfullt eller politiskt korrekt. I Sverige, med dess jantelag och lagom-mentalitet, riskerar ödmjukhet på så sätt att bli förväxlad med beteenden där vi aldrig gör något väsen av oss, aldrig sticker ut från mängden, aldrig skapar friktion genom att uttrycka politiskt inkorrekta åsikter. Och kanske värst av allt: ”ödmjukheten” riskerar att definieras inte som en lydnad inför Gud och hans Ord – det som Bibeln beskriver med ordet gudsfruktan – utan som en anpassning till vår omgivnings förväntningar, alltså det som Bibeln beskriver med ordet människofruktan (jfr Joh 5:44).Det som är mest skrämmande i allt detta är alltså att den falska ödmjukheten, i stället för att göra oss till en avbild av Kristus, gör oss till en avbild av våra politiska och sociala konventioner. Mycket kan man nämligen säga om Jesus från Nasaret, men knappast att han aldrig gjorde något väsen av sig, aldrig stack ut från mängden och aldrig skapade friktion genom att uttrycka politiskt inkorrekta åsikter!Testfrågan för vad som är en sann och gudagiven ödmjukhet skulle mot denna bakgrund kunna formuleras på följande sätt: gör den mig mer eller mindre lik Kristus, så som han framträder i de fyra evangelierna?Det är allvaret bakom denna fråga som får mig att inleda denna bok med det här budskapet. Om vi går fel här, kommer vi att gå fel under hela den väg som följer.[Denna artikel är hämtad ur min bok Korsets väg och korsets kraft. För mer info om denna och andra böcker, se fliken längst upp på sidan.]7 viktiga principer för andlig krigföringPostat: 9 februari, 2011 av Jonas Nordén i Bibeln, Lärjungaskap, Ledarskap
Etiketter:Andlig kamp1Gamla testamentets berättelser är en guldgruva för den som vill förstå det här med andlig krigföring.Utifrån berättelsen om Israels befrielse från slaveriet i Egypten, renings- och förberedelsetiden i öknen, erövringen av löfteslandet under ledning av Josua och bosättningen i Israel, undervisas vi av både Guds handlande och folkets kamp. Man skulle kunna tro att det viktiga för oss är att förbereda oss för strid, att slipa tekniker och vapen, men ökentiden visar på något helt annat och som är det första vi skall stanna upp inför.1. Guds folk är kallade till gudstjänst! (2Mos 5:1)Principen är att först söka Guds rike (Matt 6:33) d.v.s Guds närhet. Gud avskiljer ett folk för att bevisa sin kärlek och låta sitt folk växa i en intim relation med honom. Fokus ligger inte på striden utan på att älska Gud ”av hela ditt hjärta och av hela din själ och av all din kraft” (5 Mos 6:5). Andlig krigföring handlar först som sist om att hålla sitt hjärta fäst vid Gud, att inte låta fienden som vill skrämma och locka mitt hjärta bort från Herren, segra (Ords 4:23).Därför är den andliga kampens främsta vapen ordet, tillbedjan och bönen. När församlingen älskar Herren, vilket visar sig i tillbedjan och i ett nära umgänge med honom, är han deras tillflykt (5Mos 33:27). Vi skall också se konkret hur tillbedjan och lovsång är en avgörande faktor också på slagfältet. Herren är han som ”tronar på Israels lovsånger” (Ps 22:4).Tillbedjan: Vi ser att Guds folks avgörande uppgift är lovsång. Folket skulle med instrument tåga runt Jeriko. En nyckel i den andliga kampen är tillbedjan. Guds armé är en armé av tillbedjare. Francis Frangipane skriver att ingen kan syssla med andlig krigföring som inte först har blivit en som lever i tillbedjan. Tillbedjan startar inte i en gudstjänst utan börjar i hjärtat. Ett hjärta som ärar Gud och vänder sig mot honom vill Gud gjuta sin Ande i.Tillbedjan är ett av de främsta skydden för hjärtat. Kan fienden få oss fokuserade på annat än att tillbe Gud, genom att störa och skapa splittring kring lovsångstjänsten, är mycket vunnet för honom. Här finns en av anledningarna till striden som finns överallt kring lovsångstjänsten. Därför är också ledarna för denna tjänst utsatta på ett särskilt sätt. Här behöver vi tillsammans stötta och bära denna tjänst i förbön. Vi får be om beskydd för frestelse och fall, be om inspiration och hängivenhet. Vi får också be att Guds folk på ett helhjärtat sätt får överlåta sig åt tillbedjan. Be att den helige Ande får göra oss till ett hjärta och en själ i tillbedjan.2. Överlåtna till striden.Varje dag och varje ögonblick rasar den andliga striden. Det finns ingen vapenvila eller fredsavtal som gör att vi kan dra oss ur kampen. När vi tror oss kunna göra det blir vi ett offer för striden. Detta ser vi när spejarna som Mose sänt ut för att bespeja landet övertalar folket att dra sig tillbaka. Konsekvensen blir ett andligt nederlag till följd av otron. När vi låter andra strida och själv dra oss tillbaka är det farligt. Den farligaste platsen är längst bak. Vi kan se det längre fram när David inte gick ut i strid som han brukade utan blev kvar hemma vid. Där, i fred och lugn, faller han för frestelsen och lider ett av sina största nederlag (2 Sam 11:1ff). På samma sätt som Israel skulle förgöra invånarna i landet säger Johannes att ”Guds son uppenbarades för att han skulle göra slut på djävulens gärningar” (1Joh 3:8). Det finns en tydlig fara i att vilja slå sig till ro och njuta av framgång och inte fullfölja Guds plan, i att inte fortsätta. Gud stannar inte upp, hans verk avstannar inte utan det går i uppfyllelse med eller utan dig och mig. Jesus stannade inte halvvägs utan fullbordade allt!Jesus har, som en parallell till Israel, gett lärjungarna makten att stå emot fiendens hela styrka (Luk 10:17f). Det innebär att vi har bara auktoritet i den grad som vi står under Guds auktoritet, under Guds löften och i hans vilja. När vi tar paus eller kliver av tåget riskerar vi att mist en väsentlig del av vårt beskydd och vår kraft. Den onde flyr inte dig och mig utan Jesus. Löftet från Gud är att det onda inte skall få makt över församlingen (Matt 16:18). När vi vandrar i endräkt och ödmjukhet har gemenskapen mellan lemmarna i kroppen och huvudet, det vi kallar församlingen, makt att stänga portarna som ger fienden tillträde till våra liv. Detta ser vi en tydlig bild av när Nehemja återuppbygger Jerusalem och dess mur (Neh 4). Detta för oss in på nästa princip.3. Ensam är maktlös.Utan Jesus är vi hjälplöst förlorade och utan Guds vägledning kommer vi aldrig att vinna några andliga segrar. Därför måste vi inse vår egen okunnighet och underordna oss Herren (jfr Jak 4:6ff). När Josua skulle inta Jeriko kom härhövitsmannen för den himmelska härskaran till honom för att vägleda honom och styrka honom, så att han förstod att den andliga kampen vinns med hjälp av Guds härskara. Synden är till sitt väsen något som gör oss ensamma. Den skiljer oss från Gud och varandra. Den skapar misstro mot Gud och andra människor och resulterar i att vi tror att vi måste lösa problemen själva. Vi luras att tro att vi är ensamma (jfr Elia 1Kung 19). När vi blir befriade från synden kan vi också se Gud och förlita oss på hans makt. Vi behöver inte bara Gud utan också varandra. Guds löften ges nästan alltid till en gemenskap – till hans folk.4. Vi måste veta vilken strid som är vår.Jesus kraft kom av att han gjorde Faderns vilja och verkade genom den helige Anden. När vi inte leds av Gud utan istället kämpar på alla fronter sker två saker. För det första blir frontlinjen uttänjd och omöjliga att hålla. Alla strider vinns genom strategiska slag. Kan man få en motståndare att stånga sitt huvud blodigt på något obetydligt är mycket vunnet. Det andra är att man går i vägen för varandra. Det har visat sig att vid vissa slag har majoriteten fallit för egen eldgivning. Det finns inget så förödande som kaos och förvirring och den fiende vi har att kämpa mot är en mästare på dessa områden. Han rör sig fritt i allt kaotiskt och mörker. Du och jag behöver inte ha en helhetsbild över slaget men vi behöver vara trogna på vår front – på vår post. Här finns också en gudomlig ordning som handlar om mognad och utrustning. Gud kallar oss till vissa uppdrag och till det förser han oss med utrustning och kraft.5. Förtrogna med vapenrustningen.Paulus talar om vapenrustning i Ef 6:10ff. Insikten att inget sker utan träning och överlåtelse måste få vinna insteg i vårt tänkande. En romersk soldat tränade varje dag, vårdade vapenrustningen och visste att all färdighet kommer genom innötning och upprepning. Först därefter finns friheten att improvisera. Jesus kunde inte Guds ord av sig själv. Han var tvungen att lära sig det som alla andra. Genom meditation och läsning memorerade han ordet och vid lärarnas fötter fick han undervisning.Jag tror vi gör det för enkelt för oss om vi tror att Anden skall förse oss med det utan ansträngning. Det gäller inte bara att ha utrustningen utan att använda den. Det var inte av en slump som Mose och sedan Josua föreläste hela lagen för hela Israels folk.6. Lär känna fienden.Josua och Mose sände ut människor att bespeja landet. Dessa skulle hitta fiendens befästa platser, deras försörjningslinjer och också vilka lägerplatser och vägar Guds folk skulle dra fram på. Här är det viktigt att den information vi samlar in inte blir till fascination eller överdrifter. Vi behöver också i andevärlden spejare som kan avslöja fienden och som har förmågan att se deras taktik och trupprörelser. Vår kamp handlar mycket om våra sinnen och långsamt men säkert mals Guds folks vaksamhet och känslighet ner. En lögn som upprepas tillräckligt många gånger blir lätt en vedertagen sanning. Så fungerar det i världen. Se bara på politiken eller reklamen. Vi är ofta alldeles för naiva och godtrogna, vilket är livsfarligt. När Israels barn skulle inta landet skulle det tillspillogivas. Det skulle inte bli någon blandning mellan israels folk och de andra folken, för Herren visste att hans folk då snart skulle förfalla till de värderingar som rådde hos kananèerna. Vi skall leva i världen men inte av världen. Den andliga kampen handlar mycket om vad som skall sätta smak på vad. Vi är saltet eller surdegen som skall influera världen – inte tvärtom.Med lögn och list vill frestaren få oss att kapitulera inför honom. Skilja oss från Jesus och Guds ord, som är det som gör oss kraftfulla och segerrika. Vi måste också vara medvetna om att en församling som är segerrik kommer att utsättas för större motstånd. Den församling som överflödar av Ande och liv kommer denna världen inte att jubla över utan förfölja, döma och försöka avrätta på samma sätt som med Jesus: ”Om världen hatar er, kom då ihåg att den har hatat mig före er. Om ni tillhörde världen skulle världen älska er som sina egna. Men nu tillhör ni inte världen, utan jag har kallat er ut ur världen, och därför hatar världen er” (Joh 15:18-19).7. Den som håller ut till slutet…Det märkliga, som Jesus visar, är att ett rättfärdigt lidande – ett martyrium – kommer att avväpna fienden. Den lidande kyrkan ger liv. ”Vetekornets lag” kan appliceras på alla områden av den andliga kampen. Jesus tog lidandet på sig och fick auktoritet att förmedla frälsning på de områden han själv drabbades (se Jes 53). Här lär vi oss att inte strida på denna världens vis med dess maktmedel utan låta Gud vara den som försvarar oss och kämpar för oss. Erfarenheten från kyrkans historia visar oss också att på de områden som vi blivit befriade, kan vi ofta få betjäna andra. Alkoholister som blivit frälsta tjänar bland missbrukare, svårt sjuka som blivit helade får tjäna i en helandetjänst osv.Denna punkt i den andliga kampen manar oss att inte slappna av halvvägs igenom utan hålla ut, vaka och be. Hela tiden måste vi gå vidare i Jesu efterföljd. När Jeriko var intaget så föll Israels folk direkt efter vid anfallet på den betydligt mindre staden Ai (Jos 7). Anledningen var att några inte trodde att Gud var så nogräknad. De trodde att man kunde sko sig själva och söka en trygghet i landet på annan grund än Gud. Detta ledde till ett nesligt nederlag. Guds strid förs alltid på Guds villkor och på Guds sätt. Detta gäller varje gång och på alla områden.The Holy SeeEnglish×The Holy SeeMagisterium Calendar Supreme Pontiffs Roman Curia and Other Organizations Liturgical Celebrations College of Cardinals Press Office Vatican News – Radio Vaticana L’Osservatore Romano Paul VI Apostolic Exhortations

AAADE – EN – ES – FR – HR – HU – IT – LA – LV – PTEVANGELII NUNTIANDIAPOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VITO THE EPISCOPATE, TO THE CLERGY
AND TO ALL THE FAITHFUL
OF THE ENTIRE WORLDVenerable 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 centuryWe 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 family, 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? The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effectiveness in preaching. Precisely because of this we are, to a certain extent, responsible for the progress of the Gospel that we proclaim.”What is the state of the Church ten years after the Council?” we asked at the beginning of this meditation. Is she firmly established in the midst of the world and yet free and independent enough to call for the world’s attention? Does she testify to solidarity with people and at the same time to the divine Absolute? Is she more ardent in contemplation and adoration and more zealous in missionary, charitable and liberating action? Is she ever more committed to the effort to search for the restoration of the complete unity of Christians, a unity that makes more effective the common witness, ”so that the world may believe”[119] We are all responsible for the answers that could be given to these questions.We therefore address our exhortation to our brethren in the Episcopate, placed by the Holy Spirit to govern the Church.[120] We exhort the priests and deacons, the bishops’ collaborators in assembling the People of God and in animating spiritually the local communities. We exhort the religious, witnesses of a Church called to holiness and hence themselves invited to a life that bears testimony to the beatitudes of the Gospel. We exhort the laity: Christian families, youth, adults, all those who exercise a trade or profession, leaders, without forgetting the poor who are often rich in faith and hope- all lay people who are conscious of their evangelizing role in the service of their Church or in the midst of society and the world. We say to all of them: our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life, and, as the Second Vatican Council suggests, preaching must in its turn make the preacher grow in holiness, which is nourished by prayer and above all by love for the Eucharist.[121]The world which, paradoxically, despite innumerable signs of the denial of God, is nevertheless searching for Him in unexpected ways and painfully experiencing the need of Him- the world is calling for evangelizers to speak to it of a God whom the evangelists themselves should know and be familiar with as if they could see the invisible.[122] The world calls for and expects from us simplicity of life, the spirit of prayer, charity towards all, especially towards the lowly and the poor, obedience and humility, detachment and self-sacrifice. Without this mark of holiness, our word will have difficulty in touching the heart of modern man. It risks being vain and sterile.77. The power of evangelization will find itself considerably diminished if those who proclaim the Gospel are divided among themselves in all sorts of ways. Is this not perhaps one of the great sicknesses of evangelization today? Indeed, if the Gospel that we proclaim is seen to be rent by doctrinal disputes, ideological polarizations or mutual condemnations among Christians, at the mercy of the latter’s differing views on Christ and the Church and even because of their different concepts of society and human institutions, how can those to whom we address our preaching fail to be disturbed, disoriented, even scandalized?The Lord’s spiritual testament tells us that unity among His followers is not only the proof that we are His but also the proof that He is sent by the Father. It is the test of the credibility of Christians and of Christ Himself. As evangelizers, we must offer Christ’s faithful not the image of people divided and separated by unedifying quarrels, but the image of people who are mature in faith and capable of finding a meeting-point beyond the real tensions, thanks to a shared, sincere and disinterested search for truth. Yes, the destiny of evangelization is certainly bound up with the witness of unity given by the Church. This is a source of responsibility and also of comfort.At this point we wish to emphasize the sign of unity among all Christians as the way and instrument of evangelization. The division among Christians is a serious reality which impedes the very work of Christ. The Second Vatican Council states clearly and emphatically that this division ”damages the most holy cause of preaching the Gospel to all men, and it impedes many from embracing the faith.”[123] For this reason, in proclaiming the Holy Year we considered it necessary to recall to all the faithful of the Catholic world that ”before all men can be brought together and restored to the grace of God our Father, communion must be reestablished between those who by faith have acknowledged and accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of mercy who sets men free and unites them in the Spirit of love and truth.”[124]And it is with a strong feeling of Christian hope that look to the efforts being made in the Christian world for this restoration of the full unity willed by Christ. St. Paul assures us that ”hope does not disappoint us.”[125] While we still work to obtain full unity from the Lord, we wish to see prayer intensified. Moreover we make our own the desire of the Fathers of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, for a collaboration marked by greater commitment with the Christian brethren with whom we are not yet united in perfect unity, taking as a basis the foundation of Baptism and the patrimony of faith which is common to us. By doing this we can already give a greater common witness to Christ before the world in the very work of evangelization. Christ’s command urges us to do this; the duty of preaching and of giving witness to the Gospel requires this.78. The Gospel entrusted to us is also the word of truth. A truth which liberates[126] and which alone gives peace of heart is what people are looking for when we proclaim the Good News to them. The truth about God, about man and his mysterious destiny, about the world; the difficult truth that we seek in the Word of God and of which, we repeat, we are neither the masters nor the owners, but the depositaries, the heralds and the servants.Every evangelizer is expected to have a reverence for truth, especially since the truth that he studies and communicates is none other than revealed truth and hence, more than any other, a sharing in the first truth which is God Himself. The preacher of the Gospel will therefore be a person who even at the price of personal renunciation and suffering always seeks the truth that he must transmit to others. He never betrays or hides truth out of a desire to please men, in order to astonish or to shock, nor for the sake of originality or a desire to make an impression. He does not refuse truth. He does not obscure revealed truth by being too idle to search for it, or for the sake of his own comfort, or out of fear. He does not neglect to study it. He serves it generously, without making it serve him.We are the pastors of the faithful people, and our pastoral service impels us to preserve, defend, and to communicate the truth regardless of the sacrifices that this involves. So many eminent and holy pastors have left us the example of this love of truth. In many cases it was an heroic love. The God of truth expects us to be the vigilant defenders and devoted preachers of truth.Men of learning- whether you be theologians, exegetes or historians- the work of evangelization needs your tireless work of research, and also care and tact in transmitting the truth to which your studies lead you but which is always greater than the heart of man, being the very truth of God.Parents and teachers, your task- and the many conflicts of the present day do not make it an easy one- is to help your children and your students to discover truth, including religious and spiritual truth.79. The work of evangelization presupposes in the evangelizer an ever increasing love for those whom he is evangelizing. That model evangelizer, the Apostle Paul, wrote these words to the Thessalonians, and they are a program for us all: ”With such yearning love we chose to impart to you not only the gospel of God but our very selves, so dear had you become to us.”[127] What is this love? It is much more than that of a teacher; it is the love of a father; and again, it is the love of a mother.[128] It is this love that the Lord expects from every preacher of the Gospel, from every builder of the Church. A sign of love will be the concern to give the truth and to bring people into unity. Another sign of love will be a devotion to the proclamation of Jesus Christ, without reservation or turning back. Let us add some other signs of this love.The first is respect for the religious and spiritual situation of those being evangelized. Respect for their tempo and pace; no one has the right to force them excessively. Respect for their conscience and convictions, which are not to be treated in a harsh manner.Another sign of this love is concern not to wound the other person, especially if he or she is weak in faith,[129] with statements that may be clear for those who are already initiated but which for the faithful can be a source of bewilderment and scandal, like a wound in the soul.Yet another sign of love will be the effort to transmit to Christians not doubts and uncertainties born of an erudition poorly assimilated but certainties that are solid because they are anchored in the Word of God. The faithful need these certainties for their Christian life; they have a right to them, as children of God who abandon themselves entirely into His arms and to the exigencies of love.80. Our appeal here is inspired by the fervor of the greatest preachers and evangelizers, whose lives were devoted to the apostolate. Among these we are glad to point out those whom we have proposed to the veneration of the faithful during the course of the Holy Year. They have known how to overcome many obstacles to evangelization.Such obstacles are also present today, and we shall limit ourself to mentioning the lack of fervor. It is all the more serious because it comes from within. It is manifested in fatigue, disenchantment, compromise, lack of interest and above all lack of joy and hope. We exhort all those who have the task of evangelizing, by whatever title and at whatever level, always to nourish spiritual fervor[130]This fervor demands first of all that we should know how to put aside the excuses which would impede evangelization. The most insidious of these excuses are certainly the ones which people claim to find support for in such and such a teaching of the Council.Thus one too frequently hears it said, in various terms, that to impose a truth, be it that of the Gospel, or to impose a way, be it that of salvation, cannot but be a violation of religious liberty. Besides, it is added, why proclaim the Gospel when the whole world is saved by uprightness of heart? We know likewise that the world and history are filled with ”seeds of the Word”; is it not therefore an illusion to claim to bring the Gospel where it already exists in the seeds that the Lord Himself has sown?Anyone who takes the trouble to study in the Council’s documents the questions upon which these excuses draw too superficially will find quite a different view.It would certainly be an error to impose something on the consciences of our brethren. But to propose to their consciences the truth of the Gospel and salvation in Jesus Christ, with complete clarity and with a total respect for the free options which it presents- ”without coercion, or dishonorable or unworthy pressure”[131]- far from being an attack on religious liberty is fully to respect that liberty, which is offered the choice of a way that even non-believers consider noble and uplifting. Is it then a crime against others’ freedom to proclaim with joy a Good News which one has come to know through the Lord’s mercy?[132] And why should only falsehood and error, debasement and pornography have the right to be put before people and often unfortunately imposed on them by the destructive propaganda of the mass media, by the tolerance of legislation, the timidity of the good and the impudence of the wicked? The respectful presentation of Christ and His kingdom is more than the evangelizer’s right; it is his duty. It is likewise the right of his fellow men to receive from him the proclamation of the Good News of salvation. God can accomplish this salvation in whomsoever He wishes by ways which He alone knows.[133] And yet, if His Son came, it was precisely in order to reveal to us, by His word and by His life, the ordinary paths of salvation. And He has commanded us to transmit this revelation to others with His own authority. It would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about the following thought: men can gain salvation also in other ways, by God’s mercy, even though we do not preach the Gospel to them; but as for us, can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame- what St. Paul called ”blushing for the Gospel”[134] – or as a result of false ideas we fail to preach it? For that would be to betray the call of God, who wishes the seed to bear fruit through the voice of the ministers of the Gospel; and it will depend on us whether this grows into trees and produces its full fruit.Let us therefore preserve our fervor of spirit. Let us preserve the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow. May it mean for us- as it did for John the Baptist, for Peter and Paul, for the other apostles and for a multitude of splendid evangelizers all through the Church’s history- an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench. May it be the great joy of our consecrated lives. And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world.81. This then, brothers and sons and daughters, is our heartfelt plea. It echoes the voice of our brethren assembled for the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This is the task we have wished to give you at the close of a Holy Year which has enabled us to see better than ever the needs and the appeals of a multitude of brethren, both Christians and non-Christians, who await from the Church the Word of salvation.May the light of the Holy Year, which has shone in the local Churches and in Rome for millions of consciences reconciled with God, continue to shine in the same way after the Jubilee through a program of pastoral action with evangelization as its basic feature, for these years which mark the eve of a new century, the eve also of the third millennium of Christianity.82. This is the desire that we rejoice to entrust to the hands and the heart of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary, on this day which is especially consecrated to her and which is also the tenth anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council. On the morning of Pentecost she watched over with her prayer the beginning of evangelization prompted by the Holy Spirit: may she be the Star of the evangelization ever renewed which the Church, docile to her Lord’s command, must promote and accomplish, especially in these times which are difficult but full of hope!In the name of Christ we bless you, your communities, your families, all those who are dear to you, in the words which Paul addressed to the Philippians: ”I give thanks to my God every time I think of you- which is constantly, in every prayer I utter- rejoicing, as I plead on your behalf, at the way you have all continually helped to promote the gospel…. I hold all of you dear- you who…are sharers of my gracious lot…to defend the solid grounds on which the gospel rests. God himself can testify how much I long for each of you with the affection of Christ Jesus!”[135]Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8, 1975, the thirteenth year of our Pontificate.PAULUS PP. VINotes1. Cf. Lk 22:32.2. 2 Cor 11:28.3. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947.4. Cf. Eph 4:24, 2:15; Col 3:10; Gal 3:27; Rom 13:114; 2 Cor 5:17.5. 2 Cor 5:20.6. Cf. Paul VI, Address for the closing of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 October 1974): AAS 66 (19740, PP. 634-635, 637.7. Paul VI, Address to the College of Cardinals (22 June 1973): AAS 65 (1973), p. 383.8. 2 Cor 11:28.9. 1 Tim 5:17.10. 2 Tim 2:15.11. Cf. 1 Cor 2:5.12. Lk 4:43.13. Ibid.14. Lk 4:18; cf. Is 61:1.15. Cf. Mk 1:1; Rom 1:1-3.16. Cf. Mt 6:33.17. Cf. Mt 5:3-12.18. Cf. Mt 5-7.19. Cf. Mt 10.20. Cf. Mt 13.21. Mt 18.22. Cf. Mt 24-25.23. Cf. Mt. 24:36; Acts 1:7; 1 Thess 5:1-2.24. Cf. Mt 11:12; Lk 16:16.25. Cf. Mt 4:17.26. Mk 1:27.27. Lk 4:22.28. Jn 7:46.29. Lk 4:43.30. Jn 11:52.31. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 4: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 818-819.32. 1 Pt 2:9.33. Cf. Acts 2:11.34. Lk 4:43.35. 1 Cor 9:16.36. ”Declaration of the Synod Fathers”, 4: L’Osservatore Romano (27 October 1974), p. 6.37. Mt 28:19.38. Acts 2:41, 47.39. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 8: AAS 57 (1965), p. 11; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 5: AAS 58 (1966), pp 951-952.40. Cf. Acts 2:42-46; 4:32-35; 5:12-16.41. Cf. Acts 2:11; 1 Pt 2:9.42. Cf. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 5, 11-12: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 951-952, 959-961.43. Cf. 2 Cor 4:5; Saint Augustine Sermo XLVI, De Pastoribus: ccl XLI, pp. 529-530.44. Lk 10:16; cf. Saint Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae, 14: PL 4, 527; Saint Augustine, Enarrat. 88, Sermo, 2, 14: PL 37, 1140; Saint John Chrysostom, Hom. de capto Eutropio, 6: PG 52, 462.45. Eph 5:25.46. Rev. 21:5; cf. 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15.47. Cf. Rom 6:4.48. Cf. Eph 4:24-25; Col 3:9-10.49. Cf. Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18, 2:4.50. Cf. 53: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1075.51. Cf. Tertullian Apologeticum, 39: CCL, I, PP. 150-153; Minucius Felix, Octavius 9 and 31: CSLP, Turin 1963, pp. 11-13, 47-48.52. 1 Pt 3:15.53.Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1, 9, 48; AAS 57 (1965), pp. 5, 12-14, 53-54; Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 42, 45, AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1060-1061, 1065-1066; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1, 5: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 947, 951-952.54. Cf. Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18.55. Cf. Acts 17:22-23.56. 1 Jn 3:1; cf. Rom 8:14-17.57. Cf. Eph 2:8; Rom 1:16. Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaratio ad fidem tuendam in mysteria Incarnationis et SS. Trinitatis e quibusdam recentibus erroribus (21 February 1972): AAS 64 (1972), pp. 237-241.58. Cf. 1 Jn 3:2; Rom 8:29; Phil 3: 20-21. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 48-51: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 53-58.59. Cf. Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaratio circa Catholicam Doctrinam de Ecclesia contra nonnullos errores hodiernos tuendam (24 June 1973): AAS 65 (1973), pp. 396-408.60. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 47-52: AAS 58 (1966): pp. 1067-1074; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae: AAS 60 (1968), pp. 481-503.61. Paul VI, Address for the opening of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (27 September 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 562.62. Ibid.63. Paul VI Address to the Campesinos of Colombia (23 August 1968): AAS 60 (1968), p. 623.64. Paul VI, Address for the Day of Development at Bogota (23 August 1968): AAS 60 (1968), p. 627; Cf. Saint Augustine, Epistola 229, 2: PL 33, 1020.65. Paul VI, Address for the closing of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 October 1974); AAS 66 (1974), p. 637.66. Address given on 15 October 1975: L’Osservatore Romano (17 October 1975).67. Pope Paul VI, Address to the Members of the Consilium de Laicis (2 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 568.68. Cf. 1 Pt 3:1.69. Rom 10:14, 17.70. Cf. 1 Cor 2:1-5.71. Rom 10:17.723. Cf. Mt 10:27; Lk 12:3.73. Mk 16:15.74. Cf. Saint Justin, I Apol. 46, 1-4: PG 6, II Apol. 7 (8) 1-4; 10, 1-3; 13, 3-4; Florilegium Patristicum II, Bonn 1911, pp. 81, 125, 129, 133; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata I, 19, 91; 94; S. Ch. pp. 117-118; 119-110; Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 11: AAS 58 (1966), p. 960; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 17: AAS 57 (1965), p 20.76. Cf. Eph 3:8.77. Cf. Henri de Lubac, Le drame de l’humanisme athee, ed. Spes, Paris, 1945.78. Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 59: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1080.79. 1 Tim 2:4.80. Mt 9:36; 15:32.81. Rom 10:15.82. Declaration on Religious Liberty Dignitatis Humanae, 13: AAS 58 (1966), p 939; cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 5: AAS 57 (1965) pp. 7-8; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947.83. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 35: AAS 58 (1966), p. 983.84. Saint Augustine, Enarratio in Ps 44:23: CCL XXXVIII, p. 510; cf Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 947.85. Saint Gregory the Great, Homil. in Evangelia 19, 1: PL 76, 1154.86. Acta 1:8; cf. Didache 9, 1: Fund Patres Apostolici, 1, 22.87. Mt 28:20.88. Cf. Mt 13:32.89. Cf. Mt 13:47.90. Cf. Jn 21:11.91. Cf. Jn 10:1-16.92. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium 37-38: AAS 56 (1964), p. 110; cf. also the liturgical books and other documents subsequently issued by the Holy See for the putting into practice of the liturgical reform desired by the same Council.93. Paul VI, Address for the closing of the Third General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 October 1974): AAS 66 (1974), p. 636.94. Cf. Jn 15:16; Mk 3:13-19; Lk 6:13-16.95. Cf. Acts 1:21-22.96. Cf. Mk 3:14.97. Cf. Mk 3:14-15; Lk 9:2.98. Acts 4:8; cf. 2:14; 3:12.99. Cf. St. Leo the Great, Sermo 69, 3; Sermo 70, 1-3; Sermo 94, 3; Sermo 95 2: S.C. 200, pp. 50-52; 58-66; 258-260; 268.100. Cf. First Ecumenical Council of Lyons, Constitution Ad apostolicae dignitaties: Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, ed. Istituto per le Scienze Religiose, Bologna 1973, p. 278; Ecumenical Council of Vienne, Constitution Ad providam Christi, ed. cit., p. 343; Fifth Lateran Ecumenical Council, Constitution In apostolici culminis, ed. cit., p. 608; Constitution Postquam ad universalis, ed. cit., p. 614; Constitution Divina disponente clementia, ed. cit., p. 638.101. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 38: AAS 58 (1966), p. 985.102. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 22: AAS 57 (1965), p. 26.103. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 10, 37; AAS 57 1965), pp. 14, 43; Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 39: AAS 58 (1966), p. 986; Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 2, 12, 13: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 992, 1010, 1011.104. Cf. 1 Thess 2:9.105. Cf. 1 Pt 5:4.106. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 11: AAS 57 (1965), p. 16; Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem, 11, AAS 58 (1966), p. 848; Saint John Chrysostom, In Genesim Serm. VI, 2; VII, 1: PG 54, 607-68.107. Mt. 3:17.108. Mt. 4:1.109. Lk 4:14.110. Lk 4:O[18], 21; cf. Is 61:1.111. Jn 20:22.112. Acts 2:17.113 Cf. Acts 4:8.114 Cf. Acts 9:17.115. Cf. Acts 6:5, 10; 7:55.116. Acts 10:44.117. Acts 9:31.118. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 4:AAS 58 (1966), pp. 950-951.119. Jn 17:21.120. Cf. Acts 20:28.121. Cf. Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 13: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1011.122. Cf. Heb 11:27.123. Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 6: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 954-955; cf. Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 1: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 90-91.124. Bull Apostolorum Limina, VII: AAS 66 (1974), p. 305.125. Rom 5:5.126. Cf. Jn 8:32.127. 1 Thess 2:8; cf. Phil 1:8.128. Cf. 1 Thess 2:7-11; 1 Cor 4:15; Gal 4:19.129. Cf. 1 Cor 8:9-13; Rom 14:15.130. Cf. Rom 12:11.131. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Religious Liberty Dignitaties Humanae, 4: AAS 58 (1966), p. 933.132. Cf. Ibid., 9-14: Loc. Cit., pp. 935-940.133. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 7: AAS 58 (1966), p. 955.134. Cf. Rom 1:16.135. Phil 1:3-4, 7-8.© Copyright – Libreria Editrice VaticanaMånga svenskar har helt glömt bort att Systembolaget stänger under helgen.I Sverige finns idag cirka 450 Systembolagsbutiker plus cirka 480 ombud dit det går att beställa drycker.Att jobba i en av Systembolagets butiker innebär att du dagligen kommer i kontakt med hundratals kunder som vill köpa alkoholhaltig eller alkoholfri dryck. Många av de kunder som kommer in har inte alltid så bra koll på vilket vin som passar till vad och därför har medarbetarna i butikerna fått interna utbildningar kring just det ämnet.Men olikt andra butiker så ska Systembolaget aldrig syssla med merförsäljning och på så sätt få folk att köpa mer än de egentligen tänkt. Det är även en viktig del i Systembolagets marknadsföring.LÄS MER: Ica-chefens varning till frukost-älskare: ”Kan försvinna”I helgen är det Allhelgonadagen. Bildkälla: Henrik Montgomery/TT
I helgen är det Allhelgonadagen. Bildkälla: Henrik Montgomery/TT
Du har exempelvis aldrig sett en butik med röda ”REA”-skyltar eller ”Ta tre betala för två” utanför eller inne på Systembolaget.LÄS MER: Samsungs varning till alla med smart-tvI helgen stänger Systembolaget. Bildkälla: Pontus Lundahl/TT
I helgen stänger Systembolaget. Bildkälla: Pontus Lundahl/TT
Någonting som är i linje med det är att Systembolaget ändrar sina öppettider under högtider – då efterfrågan av alkohol är som absolut störst.Här är Systembolagets öppettider under Allhelgonahelgen 2025
Det vankas Allhelgonahelg vilket gör att Systembolaget ändrar sina öppettider.Fredag 31 oktober (allhelgonaafton): Ordinarie öppettid
Lördag 1 november (alla helgons dag): Stängt
Systembolaget brukar råda sina kunder att handla när det är som minst folk för att slippa köbildning och urplockade hyllor. Så har du möjlighet att handla under torsdagen – då är det nog en bra idé.Igår kom Aftonbladet med nyheten att Ulf Kristerssons (M) dotter för två år sedan hade grillkväll med sin studentföreningen på Harpsund. Är det något att uppröras över?Harpsund är ju sittande statsministers rekreationsbostad, men tänkt att användas för representation. I praktiken är Ulf Kristersson liksom alla tidigare statsministrar bara en tillfällig hyresgäst som för stunden förfogar över offentlig egendom. Han äger inte Harpsund, inte heller Sagerska. Det gör du och jag.Juridiskt har inget fel begåtts. Men moraliskt?Jag skulle vilja ställa tre frågor till dig om den saken.Ett perspektiv här är att Ulf Kristersson genom åren kan anses ha samlat ihop till denna granskning. Han har gång på gång uppvisat en egenmäktig relation till detta med mitt och ditt. Intrycket är att han gärna tar för sig om möjligheten uppstår, och att han har bristfällig impulskontroll vad gäller att hålla emot när olika intressesfärer kryper för nära varandra.För snart 20 år sedan avslöjades det att Ulf Kristersson, då socialborgarråd i Stockholm, kommit över en paradvåning till subventionerad hyra, trots att den egentligen ingick i ett bestånd avsett för sjuka och hemlösa kvinnor.Eller kommit över, han fick den av Thorbjörn Larsson, som då var direktör på den kristna välgörenhetsorganisationen Ersta Diakoni. Larsson utreddes för mutbrott i samband med den här affären. Så vad gör han idag?Han är ordförande för en stiftelse som ska bedriva retreat för ”existentiell hälsa” på en herrgård i Sörmland. Vem som äger herrgården? Det gör Ulf Kristerssons fru Birgitta Ed. Tillsammans med lobbyisten Göran Thorstenson. Som paret Kristersson/Ed brukade dela sommarstuga med.Till sist handlar det om hur en politiker betraktar sitt eget uppdrag.Hur den kan skilja demokratiskt förtroende från privat nätverkande.Ulf Kristersson har förtvivlat svårt med gränsdragningen.För bara några veckor sedan avslöjade Dagens Nyheter att en friskola i Strängnäs, Europaskolan, arrangerat en exklusiv middag – på Sagerska, alltså statsministerns officiella bostad. Birgitta Ed är vice ordförande och styrelseledamot i stiftelsen som driver skolan.Det här kan ingen vettig människa tycka är okej.Inte heller hur statsministerns stab hanterar sådana här situationer.”Detta nya modus operandi från Tidöpartierna när det gäller kriser, är värt att hålla ögonen på. Samma mönster syns om och om igen. När det gäller skandaler, det misslyckade klimatarbetet och allehanda politiska problem.”Så skriver Henrik Jalalian på Dagens ETC:s ledarsida. Han avser att en armé av politiska tjänstemän, förstärkta av statsråd, rusar ut i sociala medier för att ta sin statsminister i försvar. Ulf Kristerssons pressansvariga anklagar felaktigt – lögnaktigt – Aftonbladet för fake news, att de jagat hans dotter, att tidningen förvanskar sanningen. Moderata riksdagsledamöter mer än antyder att Aftonbladets nyhetsreportrar får sina order direkt från Sveavägen 68. Ulf Kristerssons fru skriver långt och upprört om att Aftonbladet genom att uppmärksamma en tillställning ”hemma hos oss” bidrar till hat och hot. Birgitta Ed jämför sig med Anna-Karin Hatt (C).Det här är rakt av trumpism.Att hela tiden försöka anklaga granskande medier.Att aldrig erkänna det minsta fel.Attack, attack, attack.Vi har en extraordinär valrörelse framför oss.Dagens kommer naturligtvis inte vika ned oss för den här sortens… ja, vad ska vi kalla det? Maktens huliganism? Tvärtom, vi ska granska mer än någonsin. Prenumeranter ger oss möjlighet att göra det genom att de blir fler och betalar för journalistik som inte backar undan när det blir kärvt.Nej, vi har ingen gräddfil genom bostadskön.Nej, vi äter inte lyxig middag med friskolor.Nej, vi driver inte retreat med lobbyister.Nej, vi flygs inte in till Tel Aviv för att fira festfixaren Micael Bindefelds födelsedag.Dagens ETC är och ska alltid vara motsatsen.Why Real Men Face the Truth — The Forgotten Power of Confession
In a world that hides from guilt, the brave seek mercy.
Oct 30READ IN APP

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Men, there is a moment in every man’s life when the noise stops. When the mask he wears in the world falls away. When the lies he tells himself no longer hold. In that silence, he must look into the mirror and see what he has become. Most men turn away. Few stand and face the truth.Confession is the forgotten weapon of men. It is not gentle. It is not comfortable. It is not modern. But it is true. And truth, as our Lord said, will set a man free.The Man Who Faces Himself
Every great man in Scripture was a man who faced his own sin. David, a warrior and king, fell into lust and murder, but when confronted, he did not excuse himself. He said simply: “I have sinned against the Lord.” Peter wept after denying Christ, not once but three times. These men were not made holy by success, but by repentance.Modern man has forgotten this. He is told to “forgive himself,” as if he were his own judge. He numbs his guilt with distractions—entertainment, work, the gym, the endless scroll of screens. He mistakes forgetfulness for forgiveness. But guilt, like an untreated wound, festers in the dark. Only the truth heals.The Priest as a Surgeon of the Soul
The Church gives men a sacrament that cuts deep but heals clean. In confession, Christ Himself waits, hidden behind the humble figure of a priest. The priest is not a bureaucrat of mercy; he is a surgeon of the soul. He does not scold. He absolves.To kneel and speak the truth aloud is an act of courage. It is a kind of battle—a man against his own pride. The confessional is not a place of weakness. It is a training ground for humility. The man who confesses learns to speak plainly, as soldiers do. No excuses. No half-truths. Just the wound, and the cure.Upgrade to paid
The Power the World Has Forgotten
We live in an age that worships therapy but fears confession. Therapy listens; confession absolves. Therapy may ease the mind; confession restores the soul. One soothes, the other sanctifies.And yet, many Catholics go months, even years, without confession. They live as if sin were an old superstition, or as if mercy were automatic. But a man who does not confess grows weaker in the fight. He begins to believe his own lies. He forgets that Christ did not die to make sin tolerable, but to destroy it.The saints went to confession often—men of battle, work, and sweat. St. John Vianney heard confessions for sixteen hours a day. St. Padre Pio called the confessional “the tribunal of mercy.” These were not soft men. They were warriors of grace.The Strength Born of Truth
There is a strange strength that comes from speaking the truth about oneself. A man who hides his sin is divided inside; he cannot stand firm. But a man who confesses stands whole before God. He can look other men in the eye. His word means something. His handshake has weight.To face the truth is to return to reality. To confess is to live in it. And reality, as the saints tell us, is the face of God.Confession does not make a man smaller; it makes him clean. The one who kneels rises taller. The one who admits defeat wins the greater victory.Because real men do not run from the truth.They meet it, name it, and lay it at the feet of Christ.Be the Creed
Nick | Catholic Manhood
A Divine Mercy message from St. Faustina every other dayTemptation of suicide
Diary 192W
Once, I took upon myself a terrible temptation of a student staying in our house in Warsaw. It was the temptation of suicide. For 7 days I suffered. After this Jesus granted her the grace being asked and the suffering stopped.O Blood and Water
O Blood and Water,
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus
as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You” (Diary 187).PrayedThe Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed(All Souls) 2025De Agustín Estrada Fernández en octubre 30, 2025Priamo della Quercia, La Divina Commedia di Dante, Inferno, Canto XX: The Diviners (15th century), The British Library (London)This year, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed falls on a Sunday. The rhythm of our weekly gathering and the memory of our beloved dead suddenly meet at the altar. It feels less like an interruption and more like a reminder: resurrection is not a marginal note in Christian life, but its very center. The Gospel speaks into this moment: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me… This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” These words are meant to be heard when we carry absence in our hearts. They are Christ’s way of saying: you, and those you love, are never forgotten. Dante knew something of this tension. In the Divine Comedy, he describes the journey of souls through shadow into light, always drawn forward by Love. The final line—“the Love that moves the sun and the other stars”—is less poetry than theology. It is the same Love Christ reveals today: the Father’s will that none should be lost. And sometimes music makes that promise more tangible than words. Mozart’s Requiem gives voice to both sides of the human heart: the terror of judgment in the Dies Irae, and the luminous hope of the Lux Aeterna. Listening, one discovers that even grief can carry a hidden radiance—because in Christ, death has already been answered by resurrection. So as we pray this Sunday for all the faithful departed, we hold fast to this promise: I will not reject anyone who comes to me. In that assurance, our mourning becomes intercession, and our intercession becomes hope • AEMozart’s Requiem in D minor is one of the most powerful pieces of sacred music ever composed. Written in 1791, during the final months of his life, it remained unfinished at his death and was later completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr. The work is filled with both drama and consolation: the thunder of the Dies Irae captures humanity’s fear of judgment, while the gentle Lacrimosa and Lux Aeterna breathe hope in God’s mercy. Far more than a funeral mass, the Requiem is a prayer set to music—a cry of the human heart that moves from darkness to light, from mortality to the promise of eternal life.________________________________St. Joseph Catholic Church (Dilley, TX) • Weekend ScheduleFr. Agustin E. (Parish Administrator)Saturday, November 1, 2025.10.00 a.m. Solemnity of All Saints (not a holiday of obligation on 2025)5.00 p.m. Sacramento de la Confesión6.00 p.m. Santa Misa.Sunday, November 2, 2025The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
(All Souls)8.00 a.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation8.30 a.m. Holy Mass.10.30 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation.11.00 a.m. Holy Mass.________________________________Conmemoración de Todos los Fieles Difuntos (2025)Andrea Mantegna, Cristo desciende al Limbo (1470–1475), óleo sobre tabla, Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection, en préstamo a la Colección Frick (Nueva York)El Evangelio de este domingo, en que conmemoramos a todos los fieles difuntos nos ofrece una promesa que atraviesa la niebla de la muerte: “La voluntad de mi Padre es que todo el que ve al Hijo y cree en Él tenga vida eterna, y yo lo resucitaré en el último día.” La fe cristiana no es una teoría acerca del más allá, sino una certeza fundada en Cristo resucitado. Cuando nos reunimos para rezar por nuestros difuntos, no lo hacemos para calmarnos con palabras bonitas, sino para afirmar algo mucho más radical: que el amor de Dios es más fuerte que la muerte. Hay un aspecto profundamente humano en esta liturgia. Recordar a los que se han ido despierta lágrimas y vacíos. Pero en el corazón de la Iglesia, esas lágrimas se convierten en oración. Somos un pueblo que no llora solo: nuestras voces se entrelazan en la Eucaristía y en la intercesión, convencidos de que el vínculo con quienes nos precedieron no se rompe, sino que se transforma. La literatura también lo intuyó. En las páginas de Pedro Páramo, Juan Rulfo nos muestra un pueblo habitado por voces de los muertos, un espacio donde el pasado no deja de hablar. Aunque esa obra está marcada por el desgarro y la desolación, la fe nos enseña a escuchar esas mismas voces con esperanza: no como ecos de condena, sino como llamados a la comunión definitiva que Cristo promete. Y la música puede llevarnos aún más lejos. Brahms, en su Requiem Alemán, no siguió el esquema litúrgico del réquiem católico, sino que eligió pasajes de la Escritura que hablan de consuelo y vida. En lugar de comenzar con el “día de la ira”, abre con palabras luminosas: “Bienaventurados los que lloran, porque ellos serán consolados.” La obra entera es una meditación en música sobre la esperanza que brota en medio del duelo. Escuchándola, comprendemos que la fe no niega el dolor, pero lo transforma en confianza. Por eso este domingo, que une el ritmo habitual de la Misa dominical con la memoria de todos los fieles difuntos, no es un día de luto sin salida. Es una proclamación de fe: Cristo no rechaza a nadie que viene a Él. Y si nuestro corazón sigue recordando con nostalgia a quienes amamos, es porque Dios mismo nos hizo para reencontrarnos en la vida eterna. Hoy, entre lágrimas y oraciones, repetimos con confianza la certeza más simple y más grande: Él nos resucitará en el último día • AEEl Réquiem Alemán de Johannes Brahms (1868) no sigue la misa de difuntos tradicional, sino que reúne textos bíblicos que hablan de consuelo y esperanza. En lugar de comenzar con el temor del juicio, se abre con una bienaventuranza: “Bienaventurados los que lloran, porque ellos serán consolados.” Es una obra escrita más para los vivos que para los muertos: música que abraza el dolor, lo eleva, y lo convierte en confianza. Una oración en notas que nos recuerda la promesa de Cristo: “Yo lo resucitaré en el último día.” La versión que compartimos aquí está dirigida por el gran Herbert von Karajan, grabada en el Großes Festspielhaus de Salzburgo en 1978, una de las interpretaciones más intensas y conmovedoras de esta obra.________________________________¿Qué Lees?Bed för TanzaniaAv pedherskoog den 30 oktober, 2025Vi får rapporter att det är oroligt i Tanzania. Enda landet som inte haft krig efter sedan det blev självständigt. Våra missionärer Rebecca och Benjamin Nyman med familj finns i Arusha. Det gör att man blir extra orolig. Men det är ettland som nye behöver detta just nu. Valet är just nu på gång. Så det är orsaken till det.Vi behöver be att lugnet får lägra sig över landet igen. Staten har stängt internet för att kunna styra över kommunikationen. Det är inte bara odelat positivt.Jag tänker också på alla som bor i landet. Man ha bränt mackar och bilar. Polis och militär har mist livet. Man lär ha Man har förbjudit någon eller några oppositionspolitiker att delta i valet. Så det rör ju upp känslorna också.Så låt oss denna dag och några dagar lyfta landet inför Gid. Be för alla missionärer där. Be för alla kristna som lätt blir utsatta. Vi vet att Gud för mår att stilla vreden som just nu finns.«Judas Iscariot»abril 14, 2025
Meditation of the dayThere is a name that no one would give to their newborn son: “Judas.” The name “Judas” is associated with betrayal and greed.He was chosen among twelve disciples to be by Jesus’ side. In a short time, Judas became the administrator of the resources. He ate from the same plate as the Master; his closeness was evident, and Jesus called him “his friend.”But this character had other plans: He envisioned the Savior as the future king of the Jews and perhaps aspired to hold an important position.When he concluded that this was not going to happen, he became bitter and handed over his Master in exchange for 30 pieces of silver, and in an unexpected ending, he hanged himself.Who is Jesus to you? Just someone who can fulfill all your personal projects? To Judas, that was all he represented: A means to achieve his own purposes.But Jesus is more than that. He has chosen us to be by his side and to be his friends. The Savior has precious plans for us, plans for well-being and not for calamity, to give us a future and a hope.Let’s not trade that for “30 pieces of silver,” as Judas did.Jaime EchevarriaVERSE OF THE DAY:“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.”— Matthew 27:3-5Share the day’s meditation with your friends on social networks. A timely message can make a difference in theirForwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

Descent Into Light
V: The Displaced Weight of Ab…
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Listen nowV: The Displaced Weight of AbuseOct 29

READ IN APPHow does the weight of abuse get displaced onto those who least deserve it?In Episode Five of Descent Into Light, “The Displaced Weight of Abuse,” we follow Sr. Theresa Aletheia as she navigates depression, loneliness, and the crushing burden of responsibility that often falls on survivors when others fail to act. After the first abuse case at the Vatican was decided in a way that she believed left others vulnerable, Sr. Theresa Aletheia prepares for her final vows in Italy. Carrying both grief and hope, she faces a decision she never expected to make.This episode explores:How depression and loneliness emerge as part of the grief process for survivorsThe dynamics of mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism and how they’re related to abuseHow practices like memento mori and grounded faith can provide clarity, resilience, and courage in the face of spiritual betrayalProfessor Luke Burgis explains the human patterns behind scapegoating that take place in most institutions and communities unless they are worked against intentionally.Counselor Paul Fahey illuminates how abuse of power can operate subtly within spiritual settings.This episode asks hard questions: Why does the burden so often fall on survivors, and how can communities take responsibility instead? It’s an invitation to reflect, to name what is happening, and to break cycles of silence.Stay with us as Descent Into Light continues releasing a new episode each week—moving through grief with honesty, toward a hope rooted in Christ.The Narrow GateGospel Reflection for Wednesday October 29th, 2025Today’s Gospel is a hard one. Our Lord addresses the fewness of the saved. I reflected on this Gospel a while back, and you can find that here.I want to bring up just a couple of things from that reflection and consider them today.The question is asked of Our Lord:“Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.”Luke 13:23-24Our Lord’s answer reminds us that heaven is not a guarantee. It is also not something that can just be wandered into or accidentally gained. So many people simply expect to be saved because they are a “good person” in their estimation. Our current thought is that heaven is the default position and only the really evil go to hell. I do not believe that we can read Our Lord’s words here and come to that conclusion. When He uses the term narrow gate, He is indicating that it is hard to enter heaven, and we can only do it through the arduous path.We must not fall into the sin of presumption by already assuming that we are saved. If that were the case, He would not have spoken in such serious terms. Heaven is not owed to anyone. Faith alone is not sufficient. Being a “good person” alone is not sufficient. Our Lord speaks of those who expect to be saved:“After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.’
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.”Luke 13:25-28Many will knock on the door and expect to be let in because they ate and drank with the Lord, or they heard His teaching. No. This is not enough. Because they were not conformed to Him in their entirety, they are cast out. Just hearing is not enough. We must be utterly transformed into Christ so that “it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me…”¹ Unless we are conformed to Christ in the virtue of Charity, we will not be saved. This is the narrow gate by which we must enter. Charity is what conforms us to Christ since God is Charity.²I will end this reflection that same way I did the last time I wrote on this passage, and that is with a reminder to trust in the mercy of God. Yes, we must go up through the narrow gate, but we cannot do it of our own power. We need God. Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange reminds us that we must trust in God’s providence and not dwell on the number of the saved:“We cannot arrive at a certitude in this question. It is better to acknowledge our ignorance than to discourage the faithful by a doctrine which is too rigid, or to expose them to danger by a doctrine which is too superficial… Let us put our confidence in Jesus Christ, ‘the victim of propitiation for our sins,’ ‘the lamb of God,… who taketh away the sin of the world.’ ‘Let us go with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid.”³Upgrade to paid Share Leave a commentFor more from Dr. McGovern, visit his Substack at A Thomist, Dedicated to the Theological tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Exploring Thomas’ Spiritual Theology and topics in Christology and Mariology.1Galatians 2:20.2Cf. 1 John 4:8.3Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Life Everlasting and the Immensity of the Soul, 203.MenyPåve Vatikanen Kyrka Värld På YouTube Följ dig på Instagram RSSTitta efterTitta efter"Låt oss be att var och en av oss ska finna tröst i en personlig relation med Jesus och att vi ska lära oss av hans hjärta att ha medkänsla med världen." Detta är innehållet i påven Leo XIV:s första böneintention för juni, som han uttalade på engelska i ett videomeddelande som publicerades idag, den 3 juni, av påvens World Prayer Network. Denna månad, som traditionellt ägnas åt hängivenhet till Jesu Heliga Hjärta, uppmuntrar påven de troende att personligen känna Kristi kärlek för att kunna förmedla den till alla, och för att trösta särskilt dem som lider i en värld som ofta präglas av splittring, ojämlikhet och fattigdom. Efter påvens ord kan man också höra en ny bön tillägnad Jesu Heliga Hjärta i videomeddelandet för att hjälpa de troende i deras meditationer."Herre, i dag kommer jag till ditt ömma hjärta", lyder inledningen av bönen, "till dig som utgjuter medlidande över de små och de fattiga, över dem som lider och över varje mänskligt elände. Du har visat oss Faderns kärlek genom att älska oss gränslöst av ditt hjärta, gudomligt och mänskligt." Dessa ord i videon ackompanjeras av scener från kyrkan av Jesu Allraheligaste Namn (Chiesa del Gesù) i Rom och från National Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus i Makati, Filippinerna. "Ge alla dina barn nåden att träffa dig" och sedan "skicka oss på ett uppdrag: ett uppdrag av medkänsla för världen, där du är källan från vilken all tröst flödar", är de ord som bönen avslutas med.Medkänsla som svar på världens problemJesuiten Cristóbal Fones, internationell ledare för påvens World Prayer Network, kommenterade påven Leo XIV:s ord och betonade att det bara är genom en personlig relation med Jesus som varje människas hjärta blir mer likt Kristi och av honom lär sig människan att ha sann medkänsla för andra. "Jesus visade villkorslös kärlek till alla, särskilt till de fattiga, de sjuka och de som lider. Påven uppmuntrar oss att efterlikna denna medkännande kärlek genom att sträcka ut en hand till dem som befinner sig i svårigheter", förklarade fader Fones och tillade: "Med medkänsla försöker vi lindra lidande och främja mänsklig värdighet. Därför måste den omsättas i konkreta åtgärder som syftar till att undanröja orsakerna till fattigdom, ojämlikhet och utestängning för att bidra till att bygga en mer rättvis och stödjande värld. Jesuiten påpekade också att arbetet i påvens världsbönenätverk är kopplat till jubelåret, då det bland annat är nödvändigt att be för den Helige Faderns avsikter för att få jubelavlatens nåd.Påven Franciskus och hängivenhet till Jesu Heliga HjärtaHängivenheten till Jesu Heliga Hjärta utvecklades på 1600-talet med uppenbarelserna till den heliga Margareta Maria Alacoque och deras tolkningar som hennes biktfader, jesuiten St. Claudius de La Colombière, gav. År 1856 proklamerade påven Pius IX det heliga hjärtats högtid, och senare betonade påven Leo XIII, som den nuvarande påven valde namnet efter, dess betydelse och höjde det till en högtidlig nivå 1889. Sedan, 1899, skrev han encyklikan Annum sacrum, i vilken han vigde hela mänskligheten till Jesu Hjärta. Olika påvar, som Pius XI och Pius XII, ägnade sina encyklikor åt denna hängivenhet. År 2024 publicerade påven Franciskus encyklikan Dilexit nos, i vilken han förespråkade hängivenhet till Jesu Heliga Hjärta som ett svar på kulturen av avvisande och likgiltighet.Bön till Jesu Heliga Hjärta från videomeddelandet:Herre, idag kommer jag till ditt ömma hjärta.Till dig som har orden som tänder mitt hjärta,Till er som utgjuter barmhärtighet över de små och de fattiga,Till dem som lider och till allt mänskligt elände.Jag vill lära känna dig bättre, observera dig i evangeliet,Att vara med dig och lära av digoch kärleken du låter den beröra dignågon form av fattigdom.Du har visat oss Faderns kärlek genom att älska oss gränslöstmed sitt hjärta, gudomligt och mänskligt.Ge alla dina barn nåden att få träffa dig.Förändra, forma och transformera våra planer,så att vi endast kan söka dig, i alla omständigheter:I bön, i arbetet, på möten och i vår vardag.Efter det mötet kan du skicka oss på ett uppdrag:Ett uppdrag av medkänsla för världen.där du är källan från vilken all tröst flödar.Amen.(Vatican News - ihc; md) Zaklada „Sveta Maravillas od Isusa”

MOLITVE PRESVETOM SRCU ISUSOVU

Svakog dana predaj Srcu Isusovu ove molitve:

Znak križa.
Čin pokajanja

Uvodna molitva

O, Bože, klanjam se pred Tvojom svevišnjom prisutnošću. Želim ujediniti svoje srce s onim tvoga Sina kako bih ti predao jednu čistu molitvu koja će biti ugodna Tvojim božanskim očima. Presveta Djevice, moj anđele čuvaru i svetci koje štujem, zagovarajte me kako bih mogao razmatrati vrijednost Kristove ljubavi. Amen.

Zazivi

O, Srce Isusovo, prepuno ljubavi! Poradi Tvoje otvorene rane kako bi se prepustilo mjesto plamenu Tvoje neizmjerne ljubavi, učini da vatra ljubavi pročisti naša srca od prljavštine grijeha.

Očenaš, Zdravomarijo i Slava Ocu.

O, najsvetije Srce Isusovo! Poradi Tvoje trnove krune koja te je mučila okrutnim vrškovima naših grijeha, udijeli nam sveto i iskreno kajanje za naše grijehe.

Očenaš, Zdravomarijo i Slava Ocu.

O, preslatko Srce Isusovo! Poradi Tvojega križa, znaka Tvoje goruće želje da budeš raspet, posađenog poput stabla prepunog listova, hranjenog božanskom krvlju, udijeli nam da se u potpunosti predamo Božjoj volji.

Očenaš, Zdravomarijo i Slava Ocu.

Posveta Srcu Isusovu:

O, preslatko Srce Isusovo, Kralju ljubavi! Posredstvom Tvoje i moje Majke, Presvete Djevice, radosno prihvaćam savez koji mi predlažeš da Ti čuvaš mene i moje te da ja čuvam Tebe i brinem o Tvojoj slavi. Sve svoje stavljam u Tvoje ruke: svoju obitelj, sve poslove, svoje tijelo i osjetila, zdravlje i život; svoju dušu s njezinim moćima, krepostima i zaslugama; svoje vlastito spasenje i posvećenje. Čuvaj me, a ja ću čuvati Tebe, koliko god mogu. Čuvaj me, a ja ću te što više nastojati proslaviti primanjem sv. pričesti, misama, krunicama i zazivima; strpljivim podnošenjem svakodnevnih životnih križeva, vjernim izvršavanjem obveza svog poziva, djelima milosrđa, davanjem milostinje, žrtvovanjem, promicanjem vjere. davanjem primjera riječima djelima. Obećavam da ću ti, koliko god budem mogao, dati što veću slavu i zadovoljštinu. Želim po svem svijetu proširiti Tvoje kraljevstvo Ljubavi. Učini da te savršeno ljubim te da budem apostol Tvog Srca prepunog ljubavi. Amen.

Presveto Srce Isusovo, uzdam se u Tebe!

Slatko Srce Marijino, budi moje spasenje!