“EVANGELII NUNTIANDI” AND THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.(Matthew 28:19-20)
Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975, an apostolic exhortation on evangelization called “Evangelii Nuntiandi” in English “On Evangelization In The Modern World.” This document was realized 10 years after the second Vatican Council. This is an inspirational document for Pope Francis. It is of no wonder Pope Francis has cited it at least 31 times on at least 11 different occasions, including 13 times in his new apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).
The document poses three questions: Firstly, 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? Secondly, to what extent and in what way is that evangelical force capable of really transforming the people of this century? And lastly, what methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have its effect?
Evangelii Nuntiandi focuses on what is essential in the life and mission of the Church. It states ‘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 a channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners to God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection”.
Evangelii Nuntiandi is so significant because it was the motivation for Catholics to get their faith outside of themselves and to share it with others. 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...."(Matthew 28:19)
Among the key themes of Evangelii Nuntiandi are human liberation, the cooperative personal and ecclesial dimensions of evangelization, the leadership role of the Holy Spirit, and the role of prayer (both liturgical and devotional) in equipping evangelizers for their task. Pope Paul also stresses the role that the local Church plays in evangelization.
The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. She has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel.
“In Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all people as a gift of God’s grace and mercy”. It identifies the Lord Jesus himself as the first “Evangelizer,” and it suggests eight methods for bringing the Gospel message to our contemporaries: the witness of life, a living preaching, Liturgy of the Word, catechesis, mass media, personal contact, the Sacraments, and popular piety.
The mastermind of Evangelii Nuntiandi is the willingness to ask the difficult questions, to call each person to deeper conversion, and to call us to put Christ at the center of all that we say and do as a Church, as a society, and as individuals. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life 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.
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.
Were you evangelized or catechized or both?
To Be Continued….
Mary, Queen of Patriarchs, Pray for us!!
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