The New Evangelization is Not So New

christian, catholic, Jesus, sign of peace

To whom do we look at for faith? It is a curious question. The first apostles met Christ and all of us who came after have met someone who has brought us to Christ. As Pope Paul VI put it in 1975,

Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.

Sometimes I wonder what I am really living in front of reality. In front of Christ, am I really a witness for him? It is a great question. We hear so often about the new evangelization but what exactly is the New Evangelization? According to United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith.Pope Benedict XVI called for the re-proposing of the Gospel “to those regions awaiting the first evangelization and to those regions where the roots of Christianity are deep but who have experienced a serious crisis of faith due to secularization.” The New Evangelization invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.

Yes, we are called to live this ‘new’ evangelization, but I would submit that it is not so new. It has always existed.

Two Examples

I was reading about St. Leopold Bogdan Mandic, an unfamiliar saint. I had never known about him before until I read his story before mass one morning on his memorial. His physical weakness was a stark contrast to his spiritual strength. His stature was slight, but his faith was insurmountable. His early life in Dalmatia, today called Croatia,  brought him to his life in Padua, Italy. I have been to Padua many times and it is St. Anthony territory but, Father Leopold was a confessor for over forty years. People would come to him looking for forgiveness and answers and solace. “Have faith! Everything will be alright. Faith, Faith!” (St. Leopold Mandic).

Sounds a bit cliché to think that faith is so important since we hear about that all the time. It seems to be a buzzword, but it is not. Faith is a gift and people around us need to see it. It is like perfume that people notice without words. We receive new converts every year into the Church at Easter. How many of them are we attentive to? How many of them remain? Even the so-called cradle Catholics have become a challenge for the Church. The Church is questioned and criticized at every turn these days, yet it is still my home. I want people to see that.

Father Solanus Casey

Another out-of-the-way place I have visited was in Detroit, Michigan. I took my parents to see this peculiar place to discover the life of Fr. Solanus Casey. He was a simplex priest. In those days, there were abundant vocations I guess, and the Church could be a bit selective. However, he surprised them all.

He was such a simple man with an enormous heart. People came from all over to unload their problems and prayers on this man: yet there he was. He was ready to listen, and he had such a way about him that it was gobsmacking.

Mary gave birth to Christ in a manger at Bethlehem-the rest of us 33 years later-under the cross at Calvary (Fr. Solanus Casey).

This was Solanus Casey with the right answer to those who came to see him. Why? Because he was attached to Christ. It is only through him that we can answer someone in need. Would a person see this beauty in us? In me? I can only hope.

It is this kind of conviction that I am in awe of. It is this kind of simplicity that people need to see. Both great men were in the 20th century. We think of witnesses who were people who lived so long ago. Not true! Witnesses happen around us all the time. Are we even looking for them?

Talent Search

All these searches on television are looking for new talent and great singers. The hunt is on. However, the Catholic Church does not need to look too far to find talent. The Church has so many in front of us. Of course, they are not all saints. But we see these witnesses every day. There are people we want to follow, to be around to know better. Someone is coming to your mind right now maybe. We need to ask ourselves why that person is so attractive, not with regard to beauty but in the fragrance that is Christ.

The Church always evangelizes and has never interrupted the path of evangelization. She celebrates the Eucharistic mystery every day, administers the sacraments, proclaims the word of life—the Word of God, and commits herself to the causes of justice and charity. And this evangelization bears fruit: It gives light and joy, it gives the path of life to many people; many others live, often unknowingly, of the light and the warmth that radiates from this permanent evangelization (Pope Benedict XVI).

Witnesses

There are teachers, priests, religious, and simply the quiet person at mass who lives a difference in their life.

Carry your cross on your back and take it as it comes, small or large. Whether from friends or enemies, and whatever wood it be made (St. John Bosco).

Great words from a great man. Yes, our first instinct will be to say, this is too difficult, I cannot do it. However, the Lord will do it for you. He will. We only need to live simply and in silence in front of our God. Then, others will see this and wonder more about it. Once, a colleague told me that you reflect the company you keep. I did not understand that at first, but I saw this person in front of the tabernacle often. When I asked about it, I was told, my company is Jesus. He lives in that tabernacle.

I used to run here and there and fill my day with ‘busy’ things. It only leads to ruin. That peace we are searching for in our hearts comes only from one person – Christ. Every saint will say the same thing yet in a different way and always through their own experience. I have nothing in common with the Carmelite convent I visit. Absolutely nothing, yet it is always a joy to visit. I want my home to be the same thing, a place for Christ. Visitors need to see the difference when they walk into my home.

The Search is Over

The great C.S. Lewis said, “God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from ourselves, because there is no such thing”. What does this mean? For me, it means that the happiness that the world is searching for lies not in it but in Him. We want these temporal things, and we hoard in our lives such things in the hopes that it will make us happy. It never does. In 1959 Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen published a column with the saying: “The same is true of intellectual fashions: marry the spirit of the age, and you will be a widow in the next one”. This is a big order for us. It doesn’t work that way. It is the opposite. We want our lives to be filled with joy, but we search in the wrong place. I know I do.

Despite my attempts to be faithful, I fall so often and end up being attracted to useless things. We need to stand firm in our faith. I need to look at someone see that certainty that only God can give. It is only He who can give us that joy. The new Evangelization is not so new; it happens every day around us. I want to open my eyes

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5 thoughts on “The New Evangelization is Not So New”

  1. As always your deep words need to be read more then once. They’re so powerful to figure out what’s in myself. Glad to be one of your articles reader.

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  4. Sounds great ..esp the Capuchin references! Nes evangelization is not complicated. We repent and renew our lives out of a loving concern for all of God’s creation that we are part of. We must not forget our purpose or meaning, thanking God always!

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