We are living in a moment of grace. Blessed John Paul II of happy memory continually spoke of the need for reviving and renewing the faith. Public life today gives too little evidence of religious convictions or moral principles derived therefrom. They find it difficult to “listen to others speaking of God” (Lineamenta on New Evangelization, 19). Soren Kierkegaard rightly pointed out the present condition of Christendom: “Christendom has done away with Christianity, without being quite aware of it. The consequence is that, if anything is to be done, one must try again to introduce Christianity into Christendom” (Kierkegaard 1941, 39).
The time of St. Vincent Pallotti witnessed revolutions, upheavals, and their consequences like declining of faith and love. In this dangerous and difficult situation, Vincent Pallotti felt the need to do something substantial to restore the image of God in every human person. Pallotti realized that the reparation is entrusted with everyone, using every means available, and aimed at reviving of faith and rekindling of charity. As a result, the Union of the Catholic Apostolate was born in response to the actual needs of the Church and the world. Through the Union of the Catholic Apostolate the laity could participate in the mission and play their role in defending the faith. When faced with similar situations, Pope John Paul II also adopted a method similar to that of Pallotti that is the revival of the faith of the Catholic, and termed it as ‘New Evangelization.’ During his apostolic visit to Poland in 1979, while delivering a homily at Sanctuary of the Holy Cross, Pope used the term, ‘New Evangelization,’ for the first time in history. Then, in 1983, he explained the expression more clearly in the Bishop’s Conference of Latin America. He was not thinking of merely a re-evangelization of the continent, but of a sharing of the faith which was new in its vigor, new in its methods and new in its expressions. The seventeenth General Assembly of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate took the first step to respond to the call of the Church for New Evangelization. The Assembly declared: “To all a new missionary response appeared to be urgent; a New Evangelization which, starting from a common openness to the Spirit, would lead to internal renewal and succeed in giving voice to the hopes of people as active and decisive subjects of their own faith and of their Christian maturity” (In the Union to Evangelize 1992, 15). Declaring thus the Assembly re-emphasized the role of Pallottines in the new missionary endeavor of the Church. For Pallotti, the project of New Evangelization was not just another theme in his life, but it was the centre of God’s will for his life and the goal of his foundations; the real solution for the crisis of his time; the purpose for which all efforts spiritual and temporal were to be directed; the fundamental project that would unite the clergy, religious and laity; and the instrument through which the hope for one flock and one shepherd would be realized. Having seen the impetus of New Evangelization in the charism of St. Vincent Pallotti, we are now in a position to spell out some expressions that Pallottines are familiar with in order to response to the call for a New Evangelization. Catholic Apostolate: Pallotti was convinced of the apostolic character of the entire people of God. Apostolate, therefore, is not restricted to the priestly class alone. Every idea and every suggestion put forward by Pallotti regarding the Catholic Apostolate is reflected in the Decrees of Second Vatican Council that came out 115 years after his death. Instrumentum Laboris on New Evangelization (n. 106) reiterates the participation of various persons (priests, parents, religious and catechists) in the evangelization, each exercising a proper task and responsibility. Pallotti asks everyone: “Can you pray for the salvation of men? Then pray. Can you give good example to others? Then show good example. Can you exhort your neighbor to do good? Then exhort him. Can you contribute something to help the missionary activities? This is how you become an apostle” (OO CC IV, 326). Thus you can be an agent of New Evangelization becoming an apostle yourself. The Cenacle Model: The Pallottine icon of the cenacle is quite capable of responding to the call of the Church today. The little Church gathered in the cenacle is a symbol of an ecclesial vision of communion, where all the faithful feel co-responsible for the mission of the Church and participate in it with equal dignity and right. In this model of the Church, there is no claim for superiority, but all are equal among equals (Gen. Stat. 29a, 31). Today, the churches are caught up in a situation of conflict and struggle within. There are many unevangelical values dominating our churches, for example, power politics, financial ambiguity, growing distance from the poor, excessive institutionalization, and eagerness for fame and recognition. In this situation, the cenacle model invites every Catholic to become an authentic apostle of Jesus for the transmission of Christian Faith. The presence and action of the Holy Spirit will be the hall mark of this project. Love of Christ Urges Us: St. Vincent Pallotti suggested the words of St. Paul as a motto for apostolic work: “The love of Christ urges us” (2 Cor 5:14). In order to be urged and motivated by the love of Christ, we need to be rooted in his love. New Evangelization is not possible without the motivation by the Spirit of Christ. Pope Francis states, in Lumen Fidei, n. 18, that it is the love of Christ that urges the Christians to live their lives in this world with ever greater commitment and intensity. According to Pallotti the love of God and Jesus should impel us to do everything and this must be the soul of any apostolic work. Pallotti emphasized this motto because of the emerging tendency among evangelists to seek prestige, honour and reward here on earth. This motto should lead us to the realization that we are only instruments in the hand of God. Thus, we have a paradigm shift in our approach to Evangelization. As Pallottines we are the ‘chosen’ people for this ministry and our charism impels us do it efficiently. It is the right time for us to respond to the situations according to the charism of our founder. Let the charism of St. Vincent Pallotti be spelled out through the apostolic activities we undertake to the revival of faith and rekindling of charity in the Church and in the world. May our founder St .Vincent Pallotti help us in our response to the call of the Project of New Evangelization. Bro. Shine Augustine, S.A.C. is a member of the Epiphany Province of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottine Fathers and Brothers) in Nagpur, India, and is in his fourth year of Theology studies in Prabodhana, Mysore.
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“Do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” - Luke 12:11-12
“Moses, however, said to the LORD, ‘If you please, LORD, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.’ The LORD said to him, ‘Who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Go, then! It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say.’" - Exodus 4:10-12 I wouldn’t necessarily go so far as to characterize myself “slow of speech and tongue” as Moses does, but I do face certain insecurities when it comes to speaking out (about the faith or any topic). I am a perfectionist. I often hold back from evangelizing out of fear that I will say the wrong thing, or even the right thing but not do it justice. This fear is the reason I prefer writing; I can revise until the text says (almost) precisely what I want. However, I am finding more and more that I am being thrown into situations which do not have space for revision. How can I be sure to respond in a way worthy of my baptismal call? When we volunteered together on a recent Confirmation retreat, my friend gave an eloquent reflection on the person of the Holy Spirit as a gift and an advocate to us and for us. The gifts of the Holy Spirit - including those which precede eloquent speech, such as knowledge and understanding - are truly the gift of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Trinity. We are given God, whom we can call to our side to provide us with whatever strength we currently need... even when we’re unsure what we truly need. St. Paul points out that “we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (Romans 8:26). My friend, who is a high school teacher, found that on the days when he remembered to pray to the Holy Spirit before class, the class had the most fruitful discussions. University of Notre Dame President Emeritus and civil rights champion Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, repeats the simple prayer “Come, Holy Spirit” hundreds of times throughout the day, in immediate preparation for every situation. If that prayer is good enough for him, it’s good enough for me. While comforting, the Spirit's guidance does not excuse us from all responsibility in developing the coherent response of the Church to the world. St. Peter reminds the faithful that we must "always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope" (1 Peter 3:15). Even with the Holy Spirit as our advocate, preparation is necessary. I must be disciplined and conscientious in my study for my upcoming comprehensive examinations. I must continue to grow in prayer, as well as increase my knowledge of my faith and I must be aware of my witness to the faith in word and deed with each person I encounter Yet once the critical moment of speech or witness arrives, just breathe a call to the Holy Spirit and take God’s own Word for it: Do not worry about what you are to say (Lk 12:11). Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and we shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Laura Berlage holds a M.A. in theology from the University of Notre Dame and currently works as a Pastoral Associate in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO. “For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”
–1 Corinthians 9:16 In a changing world, the Gospel does not change. The Good News always remains the same. Our vocation to be its bearers and our responsibility are always current. “The core of the proclamation always remains the same: the Kerygma of Christ who died and rose for the world’s salvation, the Kerygma of God's absolute and total love for every man and every woman” (Benedict XVI, Message for World Mission Day 2012). I ask myself, what do we, sons and daughters of St. Vincent Pallotti, need in this era of the New Evangelisation? Like everyone in the Church today, I need to re-examine, with courage and humility, my way of being an apostle, sent to evangelise, I need to understand the profound sense of insufficiency of my proclamation and my witness; otherwise, how can I explain the fact that so many people around me do not know God and live as if God did not exist? “God created human beings in time only in order to lead them happily to eternity. His desire is to see all of them saved, enlightened by his graces and by the exercise of his Providence. For this reason, St. Dionysiusthe Areopagite says that the most holy, most noble, most august, most divine work of all of the Divine, august, noble and holy works is to cooperate with the merciful plans, wishes and desires of God for the salvation of human beings” (OOCC IV, 124). At some point in the past, each one of us met Jesus, each one replied with love and courage, ‘Yes, send me’, to his invitation, ‘Follow me’. Each person lives out in their own state of life as mother, father, sister, brother, priest, young, sick etc., day after day, their being an apostle, sent by Jesus. All of us have the same desire, implanted in our hearts by our Creator, to be happy. As good Christians, we must desire the same happiness also for our brothers and sisters. We find the fullness of our happiness in Jesus Christ who is our Way, our Truth and our Life. Without the renewing breath of the Holy Spirit there can be no New Evangelisation. Without a deep desire for the Holy Spirit on my part, “the new man, the new woman”, true witness of God, cannot be born in me. I already realize from my life experience how risky and unpredictable it is to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit and his action within us But if we open our hearts and minds to the fire of the Holy Spirit who acted in the life and missionary activity of the first apostles, of St. Paul, of the saints of all times, including our holy Founder, we can experience unexpected change. Like the disciples of Emmaus, like the disciples who left the Cenacle after Pentecost transformed from simple chroniclers into passionate witnesses of the Risen One, from frightened apostles into courageous bearers of the Gospel to the very ends of the earth. It is the Holy Spirit who impels us to proclaim the great works of God. I really find the need to be changed into an ardent witness of the Risen Jesus from whom life springs for me and for the whole world. Not to be simply a chronicler of facts, of events immortalised in the pages of the Gospel, but to believe strongly in the extraordinary power, and feel the life, which the Gospel possesses. The most difficult thing today for each of us, for every Christian, I think, is to take seriously the Gospel which we have in our hands, to try to translate into practise what Jesus says to us about simplicity of spirit. But this is precisely what is being asked of us with great insistence in today. The Good News of the Gospel is always the love of God for each human person; we are expected to give concrete form to this message and it is only then that those close to us will be able to understand the message of love and hope. A “theology of the face”, meaning meeting and welcoming the other in a personalised way, seems more relevant and necessary. It is very much needed today in human relationships. The most effective way to share the Good News with others is to communicate it heart to heart. Every person wants to feel themselves to be worthy of our attention, our interest, our love, and many want to see in us people of God. This is a selection from an article titled, "The Year of Faith, The Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation, and the 50th Anniversary of the Canonisation of St. Vincent Pallotti" by Sr. M. Bozena Olszewska, S.A.C., who is a member of the General Council of the Pallottine Missionary Sisters As we enter into the Holy Triduum for the first time under the pastoral care of Pope Francis, we bring you the first Holy Thursday homily of Bl. John Paul II, given in the Basilica of St. John Lateran on April 12, 1979.
"The "hour" of Jesus has come. The hour of his passage from this world to the Father. The beginning of the Holy Triduum. The Easter mystery is again clothed, as every year, by its liturgical aspect, beginning with this Mass which—alone during the year—bears the name of "Coena Domini." Having loved his own who were in the world, "he loved them to the end" (John 13:1). The Last Supper is precisely the witness of this love with which Christ, the Lamb of God, loved us to the end. On that evening, the children of Israel, according to the old prescription, ate the lamb given by Moses on the eve of their exodus from slavery in Egypt. Jesus does the same with the disciples, faithful to the tradition which was only the "shadow of the good things to come" (Heb. 10:1), only the symbol of the New Covenant and of the new Law. What does it mean: "He loved them to the end"? It means: until that fulfillment which was to take place the following day, on Good Friday. On that day, God was to reveal how much he loved the world, and how, in that love, he had come to the extreme limit of giving, to the point, that is of "giving his only Son" (John 3:16). On that day, Christ showed that "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). The love of the Father was revealed in the giving of the Son. In the giving through death. Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper, is in some sense the prologue of this giving, and the last preparation for it. And, in some sense, what was accomplished on that day goes beyond such a giving. It was just on Holy Thursday, during the Last Supper, that the meaning of: "He loved to the end", was revealed. Rightly, in fact, we believe that loving to the end means until death, until the last breath. The last Supper teaches us, however, that, for Jesus, "to the end" means beyond the last breath. Beyond death. This is, indeed, precisely the significance of the Eucharist. Death is not its end, but its beginning. The Eucharist begins with death, as St Paul teaches: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (Cor. 11:26).The Eucharist is the fruit of this death. It recalls it constantly. It continually renews it. It always signifies it. It proclaims it. The death which has become the beginning of the new Coming: from the Resurrection to the Parousia, "until he comes”. The death which is the foundation of a new life. Loving "to the end" means therefore, for Christ, loving through death and beyond the barrier of death: loving as far as the extremes of the Eucharist! It was just in this manner that Jesus loved on that last evening. He loved his "own"—those who were then with him—and all those who were to inherit the mystery from them. — The words he pronounced over the bread, — the words he pronounced over the cup full of wine, — the words we repeat today with particular emotion, and always repeat when we celebrate the Eucharist, are precisely the revelation of this love through which, once and for all, for all time and until the end of the ages, he shared himself! Even before giving himself on the cross, as the "Lamb who takes away the sins of the world", he shared himself as food and drink: bread and wine, so that "they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). It was thus that he "loved to the end.” Therefore, Jesus did not hesitate to kneel before the Apostles to wash their feet. When Simon Peter opposed it, he persuaded him to let him do so. It was, in fact, a particular need of the moment's greatness. This washing of the feet, this purification before the Communion in which they were henceforth to participate, was necessary. It was necessary. Christ himself felt the need to humble himself at the feet of his disciples: a humbling which tells us so much of him at the moment. From that time onwards, by sharing himself in the Eucharistic Communion, would he not continually lower himself to the level of so many human hearts? Would he not always serve them in this way? “Eucharist" means "thanksgiving.”"Eucharist" also means "service," the reaching out towards man: the serving of so many human hearts. "I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you" (Jn 13:15). We cannot be dispensers of the Eucharist unless by serving! Now is the Last Supper. Christ prepares himself to depart through death, and through death itself prepares to remain. Thus, death has become the fulfillment of love: he loved us "to the end.” Would not the context of the Last Supper in itself be enough to give Jesus the "right" to say to us all: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12)?" Blessed John Paul II gave these words in his homily on Holy Thursday, 1979. “The Lord be with you!”
If you’re still tempted to respond “And also with you!” you’re not alone. We’re approaching six months since the third edition of the Roman Missal was introduced in the United States, and most Mass-goers seem to be getting the hang of it. But as the responses become more of a habit, there is a danger that we begin to overlook the significance of what we are saying. I’ll proudly admit it: I love the new translation of the Mass! It is so beautiful to praise God with such eloquence and majesty. But my favorite part is the end of Mass. Not because “yay, Mass is over,” but because we are commissioned and sent forth to do God’s work in the world. In the new translation, the priest or deacon has four options for the dismissal. Note that each begins with “Go!” We are being sent out. The new ones are particularly poignant: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life” and “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.” Amen! I am reminded of the words often attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary use words.” The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” Having received Christ during the Mass, we are sent forth as emissaries of the Gospel in the world. Each of us is called to be a modern day apostle, glorifying God in our everyday lives and “preaching” the good news of the Gospel through simple Christian witness. If we are to guard against the temptation to simply ‘go through the motions’ once we have committed the new mass responses to memory, we must continue to examine the import of the words that we are saying. Taking into account the words of the dismissal, how can we better glorify the Lord by our lives and announce the “good news” as Christian apostles in the world? Acting as leaven and enabled by God’s grace, we can raise up our fallen world to the glory of God. So what are you waiting for? Go! Nick Wagman is the Project Management & IT Coordinator for the Catholic Apostolate Center. |
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