Pope Saint Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation -- Evangelii Nuntiandi, On Evangelization in the Modern World (1975) -- spoke of the Church’s duty to proclaim as Jesus did the Kingdom of God. I recall especially his words:
The Church is an evangelizer, but
she begins by being evangelized herself. She is the community of believers, the
community of hope lived and communicated, the community of brotherly love, and
she needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe, to her reasons for
hoping, to the new commandment of love. She is the People of God immersed in
the world, and often tempted by idols, and she always needs to hear the
proclamation of the “mighty works of God” which converted her to the Lord; she
always needs to be called together afresh by Him and reunited. In brief, this
means that she has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to
retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel.
In this year of our Lord, 2020, the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” are not Jews but Christians, and especially nominal Catholics. Among our many peculiarities is a readiness to identify as Catholic without even a vague connection to the Church. If someone says they’re Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Evangelical Protestant, they probably attend a Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Evangelical Protestant church. Self-identified Baptists attend a church at least occasionally. But many Catholics cannot tell you where to find a church. Some people are "Catholic" because their grandmothers said the rosary. They have it at home in a curio box.
The Church as evangelizer begins by evangelizing herself. So hoped the sainted pope. “…and she needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe.”
The same Holy Father ran into a buzz saw of American opposition with his 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae. In that fabled year, laymen and women, priests, and bishops stormed out of the Church rather than accept the pronouncement. Unused to the challenges of the Gospel, and unfamiliar with the soul-searching process of conversion, they took their Catholic identity as an entitlement and walked out.
Until that moment, they assumed they agreed with the Church and the Church agreed with them on everything important. Progress was both inevitable and evolutionary; and the human animal was clearly evolving chemically when the birth control pill appeared. Why would anyone doubt its benefits?
- “She is the People of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, and she always needs to hear the proclamation of the “mighty works of God” which converted her to the Lord.”
- “In brief, this means that she has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel.”
Fifty years later, much to everyone's surprise, the Church is still here. As Jesus said, “Remember, I am with you always, even unto the end of time.” We don’t go away. The Spirit remains and, like magnetized pellets from a beanbag, we stick around.
Humanae Vitae might not be the best first place to encounter
the Gospel, but everyone must discover and address their particular hard knot
of resistance. It might be racism, sexism, envy, greed, or fear. It might be a
need to control birth, sex, and the definition of marriage -- and an unwillingness to let God be God.
Every Christian is to called to live the Gospel. We are the Gospel; to know us is to
know the Lord. We retain our freshness so long as we are willing to be
challenged, upset, and redirected by the authority of our apostolic Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.