And the Lord Added to Their Number Day By Day

"And they devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching
and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
…And day by day, attending the temple together and
breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food
with glad and generous hearts and praising God
and having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to their number day by day those
who were being saved" (Acts 2:42, 46-47).

These verses from the Acts of the Apostles describe the earliest Christian communities, groups brought together by the newness of the Gospel and the warmth of the Holy Spirit. As we reflect upon them, we might realize that this is exactly what we are called to do as new evangelizers—to praise God with “glad and generous hearts” so that we have “favor with all the people” and invite them into our community with joy.

How can we revive this spirit of evangelization? How can we awaken our Christian brothers and sisters to the real and glorious Revelation of Jesus Christ?

Well, we are about to find out! This last reflection will summarize the remaining three chapters of the Instrumentum Laboris for the upcoming Synod on the New Evangelization, which we began to discuss earlier this week.

For the most part, responses to the Lineamenta suggest that changes must be made in response to modern circumstances. In order to re-propose the divine and the sacred, the Church must break through the secularized culture. The globalized world, economic divisions, polarized civic life, dependence on scientific discoveries and research, changes in new media and communications, and a misguided sense of spirituality present challenges as well.

With shared experiences throughout the Church, we learn that parents must respond by proposing the truth, beauty, and goodness of the Faith to their children. Priests must transmit the Faith through Sacramental preparation, pastoral care, and leadership from the pulpit. Lay movements must move the outside world with their joy and their unity. Catechists must pass along the freedom of the Gospel and the consecrated must discern how their charisms will fit into the New Evangelization. Finally, bishops must step up with courage—vivifying their dioceses, building up vocations, and discouraging scandals. 

In his letter proclaiming the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI said that in order for the faith to be transmitted, it must be "professed, celebrated, lived and prayed." The responses to the Lineamenta have given the bishops much to discuss and pray over these next three weeks, so that they may lead the Church in doing just that.

Let us pray with the Church, then, that “the celebration of the next Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops be for the Church like a new Upper Room, where the successors of the Apostles, gathered in prayer with the Mother of Christ, who has been invoked as the 'Star of the New Evangelization,' prepare the path of the new evangelization.”

Amen.