At 4:30pm yesterday, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the participants who are taking part in an international meeting known as The Evangelii gaudium pastoral project. This gathering has been organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and is taking place at the Vatican from September 18-20, 2014.
Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon.
I am happy to take part in your work and wish to thank Monsignor Rino Fisichella for his words of introduction. I also thank him for this framework of life: this is what it means to live! Thank you.
You are working in pastoral engagements in various Churches throughout the world, and you have gathered here to reflect together on the pastoral project proposed by Evangelii gaudium. In fact, I myself wrote that this document has a programmatic significance and important consequences (EG, 25). It cannot be any other way when we speak of the principal mission of the Church, to evangelize! There are some moments though, when the mission is more urgent and our sense of responsibility must be revived.
The first thing that comes to mind are the words of the gospel of Matthew where he says that Jesus seeing the crowds, felt compassion for them because they were tired and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt 9:36). How many people there are on the peripheries of existence today are tired and helpless and waiting for the Church, waiting for us! The question is how do we reach out to them? How do we share with them the experience of faith and the love of God, the experience of encountering Jesus? This is the responsibility of our communities and of our pastoral efforts.
The Pope doesn't have the capacity to offer a detailed and complete analysis of the contemporary situation (Evangelii gaudium, 51), but he invites the whole Church to welcome the signs of the times that the Lord constantly offers. There are many signs present in our communities and there are many possibilities that the Lord sets before us to recognize his presence in the world today! In the midst of negative atmospheres, which always are the cause of constant noise, we also see many signs which inspire courage and give hope. As we have read in Guadium et spes, these signs should be understood in the light of the gospel (cf GS, 4 and 44); this is the favourable time (cf 2 Cor 6:2), and the time for positive commitment, and the context within which we are called to work for the growth of the Kingdom of God (cf. Jn 4:35-36). Unfortunately, we see so much poverty and loneliness in the world today! Many people live in the midst of great suffering and ask the Church to be a sign of closeness, of goodness, of solidarity and of the mercy of God. This is a task which particularly belongs to those who have the responsibility for pastoral care: to the bishop within his diocese, to the pastor within his parish, to the deacons within the context of charitable service, to the catechists in their ministry of transmitting the faith ... In short, all those who are involved in various pastoral initiatives are called to recognize and to read these signs of the times and to provide wise and generous responses. Faced with so many pastoral challenges, with so many requests from men and women, we run the risk of growing scared and of turning in on ourselves out of fear and self defence ... and that is where the temptations of sufficiency and clericalism begin, diluting the faith into a system of rules and instructions, like the scribes, the pharisees and the doctors of the law used to do in the time of Jesus. Everything would be clear, neat and tidy but the people of faith who seek will continue to hunger and thirst for God. I have also said on a few occasions that the Church sometimes appears to be like a field hospital: many wounded people ask us to be close to them, many of them ask us the same things that were once asked of Jesus: closeness, proximity. With the attitude of the scribes, the doctors of the law and the pharisees, we will never be able to bear witness to such pastoral closeness.
There is a second word which causes me to reflect. When Jesus spoke about the owner of a vineyard who, needing labourers, went out of his house at various hours of the day to call workers into this vineyard (cf Mt 20:1-16) ... he did not just go out one single time. In the parable, Jesus says that he went out at least five times: at dawn, at nine o'clock, at noon, at three and at five in the afternoon - we still have time on our side! - There was so much need in the vineyard and this man spent almost all his time going into the streets and into the village squares in search of workers. Just think of those who were called at the final hour: no one had called; I wonder how they could still hear, because at the end of the day they would have had nothing to bring home to feed their children. Those who are responsible for pastoral care can find good example in this parable. Go out at various hours of the day to meet those who are searching for the Lord. Reach out to those who are most vulnerable and those who are the most disadvantaged; give them the support they need to feel useful in the vineyard of the Lord, even if it's just for one hour.
Another aspect: please don't chase after the voices of sirens that call us to make our pastoral activity a compulsive series of initiatives without being able to grasp the essential commitment to evangelization. Sometimes it seems that we are more preoccupied with multiplying our activities than we are with being attentive to people and to their encounter with God. Pastoral activity that does not possess this attention gradually becomes sterile. Don't forget to do like Jesus did with his disciples: after they had gone into the villages to proclaim the gospel, they returned satisfied by their successes, but Jesus took them away, to a deserted place to spend some time together with him and with each other (cf. Mk 6:31). Pastoral activity without prayer and contemplation can never reach the heart of the person. It will stop at the surface and will never allow the seed of God's word to take root, to sprout and to bear fruit (cf Mt 13:1-23).
I know that you are all hard workers, and for this reason I which to leave you with one last important word: patience. Patience and perseverance. The Word of God entered patiently at the moment of the Incarnation, and remained so even to the point of death on the cross. Patience and perseverance. We don't have a magic wand to make all things right, but we do have confidence in the Lord who accompanies us and never abandons us. In the midst of the difficulties and delusions that are not uncommon in our pastoral activity, we must never stop trusting in the Lord and in the prayer that sustains us. Let us not forget, however, that the help we seek is given to us in the first place by those who have drawn close to us and who support us. Let us do good, but let us never expect to be compensated. Let us sow and bear witness. Witness is the first step of evangelization that touches the heart and transforms it. Words without witness are never enough, they are never good enough! Witness gives validity to our words.
Thank you for your commitment! I bless you all, and please, don't forget to pray for me, because I have to speak so often and even I bear Christian witness once in awhile. Thank you.
Let us pray together to Our Lady, the mother of evangelization ... Hail Mary ...
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with participants in the
Evangelii gaudium pastoral project
Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon.
I am happy to take part in your work and wish to thank Monsignor Rino Fisichella for his words of introduction. I also thank him for this framework of life: this is what it means to live! Thank you.
You are working in pastoral engagements in various Churches throughout the world, and you have gathered here to reflect together on the pastoral project proposed by Evangelii gaudium. In fact, I myself wrote that this document has a programmatic significance and important consequences (EG, 25). It cannot be any other way when we speak of the principal mission of the Church, to evangelize! There are some moments though, when the mission is more urgent and our sense of responsibility must be revived.
The first thing that comes to mind are the words of the gospel of Matthew where he says that Jesus seeing the crowds, felt compassion for them because they were tired and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt 9:36). How many people there are on the peripheries of existence today are tired and helpless and waiting for the Church, waiting for us! The question is how do we reach out to them? How do we share with them the experience of faith and the love of God, the experience of encountering Jesus? This is the responsibility of our communities and of our pastoral efforts.
The Pope doesn't have the capacity to offer a detailed and complete analysis of the contemporary situation (Evangelii gaudium, 51), but he invites the whole Church to welcome the signs of the times that the Lord constantly offers. There are many signs present in our communities and there are many possibilities that the Lord sets before us to recognize his presence in the world today! In the midst of negative atmospheres, which always are the cause of constant noise, we also see many signs which inspire courage and give hope. As we have read in Guadium et spes, these signs should be understood in the light of the gospel (cf GS, 4 and 44); this is the favourable time (cf 2 Cor 6:2), and the time for positive commitment, and the context within which we are called to work for the growth of the Kingdom of God (cf. Jn 4:35-36). Unfortunately, we see so much poverty and loneliness in the world today! Many people live in the midst of great suffering and ask the Church to be a sign of closeness, of goodness, of solidarity and of the mercy of God. This is a task which particularly belongs to those who have the responsibility for pastoral care: to the bishop within his diocese, to the pastor within his parish, to the deacons within the context of charitable service, to the catechists in their ministry of transmitting the faith ... In short, all those who are involved in various pastoral initiatives are called to recognize and to read these signs of the times and to provide wise and generous responses. Faced with so many pastoral challenges, with so many requests from men and women, we run the risk of growing scared and of turning in on ourselves out of fear and self defence ... and that is where the temptations of sufficiency and clericalism begin, diluting the faith into a system of rules and instructions, like the scribes, the pharisees and the doctors of the law used to do in the time of Jesus. Everything would be clear, neat and tidy but the people of faith who seek will continue to hunger and thirst for God. I have also said on a few occasions that the Church sometimes appears to be like a field hospital: many wounded people ask us to be close to them, many of them ask us the same things that were once asked of Jesus: closeness, proximity. With the attitude of the scribes, the doctors of the law and the pharisees, we will never be able to bear witness to such pastoral closeness.
There is a second word which causes me to reflect. When Jesus spoke about the owner of a vineyard who, needing labourers, went out of his house at various hours of the day to call workers into this vineyard (cf Mt 20:1-16) ... he did not just go out one single time. In the parable, Jesus says that he went out at least five times: at dawn, at nine o'clock, at noon, at three and at five in the afternoon - we still have time on our side! - There was so much need in the vineyard and this man spent almost all his time going into the streets and into the village squares in search of workers. Just think of those who were called at the final hour: no one had called; I wonder how they could still hear, because at the end of the day they would have had nothing to bring home to feed their children. Those who are responsible for pastoral care can find good example in this parable. Go out at various hours of the day to meet those who are searching for the Lord. Reach out to those who are most vulnerable and those who are the most disadvantaged; give them the support they need to feel useful in the vineyard of the Lord, even if it's just for one hour.
Another aspect: please don't chase after the voices of sirens that call us to make our pastoral activity a compulsive series of initiatives without being able to grasp the essential commitment to evangelization. Sometimes it seems that we are more preoccupied with multiplying our activities than we are with being attentive to people and to their encounter with God. Pastoral activity that does not possess this attention gradually becomes sterile. Don't forget to do like Jesus did with his disciples: after they had gone into the villages to proclaim the gospel, they returned satisfied by their successes, but Jesus took them away, to a deserted place to spend some time together with him and with each other (cf. Mk 6:31). Pastoral activity without prayer and contemplation can never reach the heart of the person. It will stop at the surface and will never allow the seed of God's word to take root, to sprout and to bear fruit (cf Mt 13:1-23).
I know that you are all hard workers, and for this reason I which to leave you with one last important word: patience. Patience and perseverance. The Word of God entered patiently at the moment of the Incarnation, and remained so even to the point of death on the cross. Patience and perseverance. We don't have a magic wand to make all things right, but we do have confidence in the Lord who accompanies us and never abandons us. In the midst of the difficulties and delusions that are not uncommon in our pastoral activity, we must never stop trusting in the Lord and in the prayer that sustains us. Let us not forget, however, that the help we seek is given to us in the first place by those who have drawn close to us and who support us. Let us do good, but let us never expect to be compensated. Let us sow and bear witness. Witness is the first step of evangelization that touches the heart and transforms it. Words without witness are never enough, they are never good enough! Witness gives validity to our words.
Thank you for your commitment! I bless you all, and please, don't forget to pray for me, because I have to speak so often and even I bear Christian witness once in awhile. Thank you.
Let us pray together to Our Lady, the mother of evangelization ... Hail Mary ...
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