Win, Build, Send

In his intervention during the synod’s proceedings last week, Curtis Martin, American founder and president of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, shared the three-step process FOCUS missionaries follow in order to form student disciples:

Win: We, who have encountered Jesus, go out and love people, because Christ first loved us. In the midst of our friendships with them, we introduce them to our greatest friend, Jesus.

Build: Once they have encountered Jesus, we build them up in the knowledge and practice of the faith. There is a crisis of faith and many Catholics have not embraced the teachings of the Church, they do not know that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, or of the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture. They have not accepted the difficult teachings, such as Humanae Vitae; without the fullness of Catholic faith, authentic renewal is impossible. We must be transformed.

Send: As these young disciples grow in their practice of the faith, they are sent out, with our continued care, to begin the process anew. Holiness will take a lifetime, but the work of evangelization can begin shortly after an authentic encounter with Jesus; think of the Samaritan woman at the well.

Perhaps we can take this “Win, Build, Send” process with us into our parishes and workplaces, forming personal relationships with others and inviting them to grow with us as disciples of Jesus Christ and evangelizers of His Word. 

Check back next week for a final analysis of the Synod and the results.

The Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it...

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers (Lk 2:41-47).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship: ‘Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s work?’ (Lk 2:49)” (CCC, 534).

While meditating on the finding of Jesus in the temple, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

It is the end of the month of the Holy Rosary, and we have now come to the end of our prayer. Conclude by reciting the Hail Holy Queen and by making a Sign of the Cross:

What They're Saying About the Synod

At the close of the Synod of the New Evangelization, our Church looks to the future with hope. We have come together as a Church, we have come together open to the Holy Spirit, and we have come together as a people earnestly seeking the Lord’s help in bringing a scattered people closer to Him.

Look at some of the helpful and hope-filled things our leaders said about the new evangelization in the past weeks:

The Gospel … is true and can therefore never wear out. In each period of history it reveals new dimensions … as it responds to the needs of the heart and mind of human beings, who can walk in this truth and so discover themselves…It is for this reason, therefore, that I am convinced there will also be a new springtime for Christianity.

-Pope Benedict XVI, Oct 15 afternoon session

Many Synod Fathers called for a new Pentecost…of seeing the action of the Church today, enlivened by the Holy Spirit. Many of the fathers spoke of the similarity between those early days of the Church and our moment in time today.

-Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, Oct 17 interview

Blessed John Paul II Witnesses to the Gospel

We started off the week with a celebration of Blessed John Paul II’s feast day. As we wrap up the Synod on the New Evangelization this week, perhaps it will be helpful to meditate on the life and legacy of the late Holy Father, who served as a witness to the New Evangelization.

This Vatican Radio program, which marked the anniversary of Blessed John Paul II’s election to the See of Peter last week, might be a good place to start. The program includes his own voice along with the personal stories of others who knew him. 

Cardinal Dolan on the New Evangelization

Society itself still may have this transcendental directive that we are not ready to give it up on. We are realistic and it's threatened but we are not ready to give up on it.

For more on Cardinal Dolan’s update on the Synod on the New Evangelization and how it should be addressed in America, check out this Rome Reports interview. 

The Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation in the Temple

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, 'Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord') and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons’ (Lk 2:21-24).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Jesus' circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, is the sign of his incorporation into Abraham's descendants, into the people of the covenant. It is the sign of his submission to the Law" (CCC, 527). And in this submission to the Law, He fulfills it!

While meditating on the Presentation, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

Pope Benedict XVI the New Evangelizer

Pope Benedict XVI is taking Wednesday catechesis back to basics during this Year of Faith:

Christians today often do not even know the central core of their Catholic faith, the Creed, thus leaving the way open to certain forms of syncretism and religious relativism, with no clarity about which truths must be believed and the salvific uniqueness of Christianity. We must go back to God, to the God of Jesus Christ, we must rediscover the message of the Gospel and cause it to enter more deeply into our minds and our daily lives.

In these catechesis during the Year of Faith I would like to help people make this journey, in order to regain and understand the central truths of faith about God, man, the Church, and all social and cosmic reality, by reflecting upon the affirmations contained in the Creed. And I hope to make it clear that these contents or truths of the faith are directly related to our life experience. They require a conversion of existence capable of giving rise to a new way of believing in God.