Beginning of Synod on New Evangelization

Over the years, I have often repeated the summons to the new evangelization. I do so again now, especially in order to insist that we must rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardor of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost. We must revive in ourselves the burning conviction of Paul, who cried out: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).

-Blessed John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 2001

The summons to the new evangelization is finally here! Today the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will begin their council on “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.”

Let us ask Our Father to send His Holy Spirit down upon our Church as she discerns better ways to propose the Good News to the world, through the intercession of St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen who will be proclaimed Universal Doctors of the Church today, and through the intercession of Blessed John Paul II and Mary, Star of the New Evangelization.

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.

The Feast of St. Faustina Kowalska

Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of God for our time. By divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century we have just left behind. In fact, it was between the First and Second World Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the message of mercy.

…Sr. Faustina Kowalska wrote in her Diary:  "I feel tremendous pain when I see the sufferings of my neighbors. All my neighbors’ sufferings reverberate in my own heart; I carry their anguish in my heart in such a way that it even physically destroys me. I would like all their sorrows to fall upon me, in order to relieve my neighbor" (Diary, p. 365). This is the degree of compassion to which love leads, when it takes the love of God as its measure!

It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person. Thus the message of divine mercy is also implicitly a message about the value of every human being. Each person is precious in God's eyes; Christ gave his life for each one; to everyone the Father gives his Spirit and offers intimacy.

We Aren’t the Only Ones Preparing for the Synod

Here on Open Wide the Doors, we have been preparing for the upcoming Synod on the New Evangelization by working through the Lineamenta and Instrumentum Laboris for the council.

But we aren’t the only ones curious and excited about the Synod.

Fr. James Wehner, rector of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, wrote about why the Synod and the New Evangelization are important for U.S. Catholics.  Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, says he will focus on promoting the role of the family and the laity in the New Evangelization while at the Synod. U.S. Catholic shared a story about the record number of women named for the Synod. And Pope Benedict XVI reminded bishops before the Synod that they are to be “bold heralds of the New Evangelization.”

And do not forget St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen, who will be proclaimed as Doctors of the Universal Church during the opening Mass for the council.

Our hearts are ready, oh God, our hearts are ready! Your Church is ready for this Synod on the New Evangelization and for the inspiration of the Your Holy Spirit.

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary

October is the month of the Holy Rosary, so we will celebrate here on Open Wide the Doors by meditating on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Here’s what Blessed John Paul II said about The Joyful Mysteries in his letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae:

The first five decades, the “joyful mysteries”, are marked by the joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation. This is clear from the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to messianic joy: “Rejoice, Mary”. The whole of salvation history, in some sense the entire history of the world, has led up to this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary and makes her the Mother of his Son. The whole of humanity, in turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of God.

Exultation is the keynote of the encounter with Elizabeth, where the sound of Mary's voice and the presence of Christ in her womb cause John to “leap for joy” (cf. Lk 1:44). Gladness also fills the scene in Bethlehem, when the birth of the divine Child, the Saviour of the world, is announced by the song of the angels and proclaimed to the shepherds as “news of great joy” (Lk 2:10).

Enlarge the Place of Your Tent, Hold Not Back

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities (Isaiah 54:2, 3).

This is the Church’s destiny, Her calling: To bear witness to the Revelation of God and to unite God’s children, scattered throughout the world.

This has been the Church’s mission since the beginning. But the cold heart of modernity has given birth to many challenges, crippling this mission in a sense, barring old methods of evangelization, and quelling hope in what’s left of Christian communities.

In his work, “On First Principles,” Origen addressed the nature of such obstacles. He wrote:

…when we are shut out and hurled back, it calls us back to the beginning of another way, so that by gaining a higher and loftier road through entering a narrow footpath it may open for us the immense breadth of divine knowledge.

Now the early church theologian was discussing Scripture rather than culture. But there is a connection here, which helps us to understand the upcoming Synod on the New Evangelization.

The Lineamenta for the Synod was introduced here, so that we could see the task at hand and experience an invitation to participate in this Church-wide discernment.  With one week left until the Synod begins, we will look through the Instrumentum Laboris, which serves as a summary of responses to the Lineamenta and the working document for the council.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Pray for Us!

THE SCIENCE OF DIVINE LOVE, which the Father of mercies pours out through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, is a gift granted to the little and the humble so that they may know and proclaim the secrets of the kingdom, hidden from the learned and the wise; for this reason Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, praising the Father who graciously willed it so (cf. Lk 10:21-22; Mt11:25-26).

-Blessed John Paul II, Divini amoris scientia, 1997

During his pontificate, Blessed John Paul II declared Thérèse of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Universal Church. Let us turn to St. Thérèse on the day of her memorial, asking her to pray for our Church as we prepare for the coming Synod and Year of Faith.