Evangelii

Gaudium
RELaY

Malta
February 2014

CLARIFYING STATEMENT
16. Countless issues involving evangelisation today might be
discussed here, but I have chosen not to explore these many
questions which call for further reflection and study. Nor do I
believe that the papal magisterium should be expected to
offer a definitive or complete word on every question which
affects the Church and the world. It is not advisable for the
Pope to take the place of local Bishops in the discernment of
every issue which arises in their territory. In this sense, I am
conscious of the need to promote a sound
decentralisation.

CALL TO JOY
10. When the Church summons Christians to take up the task of
evangelisation, she is simply pointing to the source of authentic
personal fulfilment. For here we discover a profound law of reality:
that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in
order to give life to others. This is certainly what mission means.
Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has
just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our
enthusiasm, that delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even
when it is in tears that we must sow And may the world of our time,
which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be
enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are
dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the
Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of
Christ.

CALL TO JOY, LOVE AND MERCY

3. I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment,
to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at
least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all
of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think
that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since no
one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord. The
Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk;
whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to
realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open
arms.

3 Now is the time to say to Jesus: Lord, I have let

myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have
shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew
my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once
again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming
embrace. How good it feels to come back to him
whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God
never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of
seeking his mercy. Christ, who told us to forgive one
another seventy times seven (Mt 18:22) has given us
his example: he has forgiven us seventy times seven.

3 Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders.

No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us
by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness
which never disappoints, but is always capable of
restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up
our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the
resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what
will. May nothing inspire more than his life, which
impels us onwards!

DEFINITIONS OF NEW EVANGELISATION

10. those who enjoy life most are those who leave
security on the shore and become excited by the
mission of communicating life to others.[4] When the
Church summons Christians to take up the task of
evangelisation, she is simply pointing to the source of
authentic personal fulfilment. For here we discover a
profound law of reality: that life is attained and
matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to
give life to others. This is certainly what mission means.

14 15. The Synod reaffirmed that the new

evangelisation is a summons addressed to all and that
it is carried out in three principal settings:
- Ordinary pastoral ministry;
- The baptised whose lives do not reflect the demands
of Baptism;
- Those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have
always rejected him.

19. Evangelisation takes place in obedience to the

missionary mandate of Jesus: Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you (Mt 28:19-20). In these verses we see how the
risen Christ sent his followers to preach the Gospel in
every time and place, so that faith in him might
spread to every corner of the earth.

110. there can be no true evangelisation without

the explicit proclamation of Jesus as Lord, and
without the primacy of the proclamation of Jesus
Christ in all evangelising work.

176. To evangelise is to make the kingdom of God

present in our world.

EVANGELISATION PTOCESS
128. always keep in mind the fundamental message: the
personal love of God who became man, who gave himself
up for us, who is living and who offers us his salvation and his
friendship. This message has to be shared humbly as a
testimony on the part of one who is always willing to learn, in
the awareness that the message is so rich and so deep that it
always exceeds our grasp. At times the message can be
presented directly, at times by way of a personal witness or
gesture, or in a way which the Holy Spirit may suggest in that
particular situation..

128 If it seems prudent and if the circumstances are

right, this fraternal and missionary encounter could
end with a brief prayer related to the concerns which
the person may have expressed. In this way they will
have an experience of being listened to and
understood; they will know that their particular
situation has been placed before God, and that
Gods word really speaks to their lives.

CONTENT!!!
18. (These are)important practical implications for the
Churchs mission today. All of them help give shape to a
definite style of evangelisation which I ask you to adopt in
every activity which you undertake.
INTRO: THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL
CHAPTER ONE: THE CHURCHS MISSIONARY TRANSFORMATION
CHAPTER TWO: AMID THE CRISIS OF COMMUNAL COMMITMENT

CHAPTER THREE: THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL

CHAPTER FOUR: THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF EVANGELISATION
CHAPTER FIVE: SPIRIT-FILLED EVANGELISERS

INTRODUCTION: THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL

8. Thanks solely to this encounter or renewed
encounter with Gods love, which blossoms into an
enriching friendship, we are liberated from our
narrowness and self-absorption. We become fully
human Here we find the source and inspiration of all
our efforts at evangelisation. For if we have received
the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can
we fail to share that love with others?

CHAPTER ONE: THE CHURCHS MISSIONARY TRANSFORMATION

24. An evangelising community gets involved by word and
deed in peoples daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to
abase itself if necessary, and it embraces human life,
touching the suffering flesh of Christ in other. Evangelisers thus
take on the smell of the sheep and the sheep are willing to
hear their voice. An evangelising community is also
supportive, standing by people at every step of the way, no
matter how difficult or lengthy this may prove to be The
disciple is ready to put his or her whole life on the line, even to
accepting martyrdom, in bearing witness to Jesus Christ, yet
the goal is not to make enemies but to see Gods word
accepted and its capacity for liberation and renewal
revealed.

CHAPTER TWO: AMID THE CRISIS OF COMMUNAL COMMITMENT

51. I do exhort all the communities to an ever watchful
scrutiny of the signs of the times. This is in fact a grave
responsibility, since certain present realitiesare capable of
setting off processes of dehumanisation This involves not
only recognising and discerning spirits, but also and this is
decisive choosing movements of the spirit of good and
rejecting those of the spirit of evil.

CHAPTER THREE: THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL

112. It is important always to know that the first word, the
true initiative, the true activity comes from God and only by
inserting ourselves into the divine initiative, only begging for
this divine initiative, shall we too be able to become with
him and in him evangelisers. This principle of the primacy of
grace must be a beacon which constantly illuminates our
reflections on evangelisation.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF EVANGELISATION

198. I want a Church which is poor and for the poor in
their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let
ourselves be evangelised by them. The new evangelisation is
an invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in
their lives and to put them at the centre of the Churchs
pilgrim way. We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our
voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to
them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious
wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.

CHAPTER FIVE: SPIRIT-FILLED EVANGELISERS

259. Spirit-filled evangelisers means evangelisers fearlessly
open to the working of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Spirit
turned (the apostles) into heralds of Gods wondrous deeds...
The Holy Spirit also grants the courage to proclaim the
newness of the Gospel with boldness (parrhesa) in every time
and place, even when it meets with opposition. Let us call
upon him today, firmly rooted in prayer, for without prayer all
our activity risks being fruitless and our message empty. Jesus
wants evangelisers who proclaim the good news not only
with words, but above all by a life transfigured by Gods
presence.

LET US PRAY
We invoke you, Holy Spirit, come and renew the Church, to
stir and impel us to go forth boldly to evangelise all peoples.
We implore your grace today, and every day, asking you to
open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and
superficial existence.
Give us a holy courage to seek new paths,
that the gift of unfading beauty
may reach every man and woman.
We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(based on paragraphs 261, 264 & 288)