Praised be Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
One of the main themes of the
Year of Faith is that of the New Evangelization. The New Evangelization is
about preaching the Gospel to the people of the new millennium…most
particularly to Christians who have abandoned their faith due to secularism.
Many people have the false impression that the New Evangelization is all about
new methods and new gadgets. How do we modernize our preaching? Should we use
the power point for our homilies? Should we make use of the social networking
sites? What gadgets should we use? Pope Francis opens for us a new perspective
of the New Evangelization. In the Chrism Mass 2013, he admonished priests: “We need to ‘go out’, then, in order to experience our own
anointing, its power and its redemptive efficacy: to the ‘outskirts’ where
there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in
thrall to many evil masters.” “…grace, (which) comes alive and flourishes to
the extent that we, in faith, go out and give ourselves and the Gospel to
others, giving what little ointment we have to those who have nothing, nothing
at all.” The Pope constantly reminds us that the Church must not wait for
people to come to her. Rather, the Church should go out to search for and meet
people. Before speaking of new gadgets and methods, we must bring the gospel to
people by meeting and knowing the people we serve personally. This is a more
effective way of evangelizing. This is the way that the Lord Jesus shows us in
today’s feast of his Sacred Heart. Today, the Lord shows us that his Sacred
Heart is the heart of the Good Shepherd. His Heart is a Shepherd’s Heart that
does not only make sure that his sheep graze in good pasture or drink from
flowing waters. His Heart is one that searches for the lost. He does not let up
in searching until he finds that one that got away and carries it in his arms
and places it back within the fold. Frustrated with the negligence of the
shepherds of Israel, the Lord declares: I will do it myself. I myself will look
after and tend my sheep…I will rescue them from every place where they are
scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will bring them back to their own
country. The Heart of Christ is open to accept all people. So must also be the
heart of the Church. The Church must open her arms to all people. She must go
in search for the lost and welcome those who she finds. In fact, Pope Francis
criticizes certain pastoral customs that have made the Church look unwelcoming.
He puts as an example certain churches that do not admit to baptism the
children born out of wedlock. Why deny children the salvation that Baptism
accords simply because their parents are not married. Or consider some parish
secretaries who, at first meeting with applicants for weddings, immediately
discuss fees and requirements. The Pope asks: should we not first express joy
that the couple is coming to Church to get married?
The
Heart of Jesus is an open heart. He searches for the lost and he welcomes those
he finds. Our work is to go to the highways and byways of the world in search
for the lost. Our work is to search and to bring them back to the fold. It will
be the Holy Spirit’s work to bring about the conversion of those we find. Let
us not limit the church to the number of the pious and devout. The Church is
also for sinners and especially for sinners. It is not for us to look down at
people and say: his kind is not for this place. When Christ mounted the wood of
the Cross, he stretched out his arms to embrace all men. “Everything given to
me by my Father will come to me and no one who comes to me will I ever reject.”
Let us open our arms and our hearts as Christ opened his arms and heart.
“The HEART OF JESUS is an open heart. Spend your time there...It is not
an ordinary school...It is a school of Jesus where you come to learn. What have
we to learn? To be meek and humble; if we are meek and humble we will learn to
pray. If we learn to pray we will belong to Jesus. If we belong to Jesus we
will learn to believe and if we believe we will learn to love and if we love we
will learn to serve." - Bl. Mo. Teresa
Sacred Heart of
Jesus, may your kingdom come!
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