UNITY CONGRESS V –
APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF NORTHERN ARABIA (KUWAIT)
YEAR OF FAITH 11
OCTOBER 2012 – 24 NOVEMBER 2013
DOOR OF FAITH –
PORTA FIDEI Pope Benedict XVI
24th September 2012
Proclamation of Faith Through the New Evangelization
His Lordship Bishop Joel Baylon
Proclamation of Faith Through the New Evangelization
His Lordship Bishop Joel Baylon
The Holy Father is ushering the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith so we can be consistent witnesses to the faith. We are called to return to our faith and to reflect on it. We are called to look back as well as into our self and ponder our faith life.
MAJOR ELEMENTS OF PORTA FIDEI
1) Our faith life is one which is in communion with God and with the community of the Church. The door of faith is always open. God initiates the invitation to us and He reveals Himself to us by drawing us to Himself through faith. It is not a private experience but is deeply seated in the faith of the Christian community and this is what sustains it.
2) Faith is the act of believing not just the contents of our faith. After Abraham, Mary is the most perfect embodiment of obedience. It is an obedience prompted by faith to accept the invitation by God to enter into a relationship with Him. This is the very foundation of our life. Faith is seed that needs to grow and bear fruit. We cannot take our faith for granted. Today our faith is being challenged as people want a better understanding of what it is that we are called to believe.
3) Faith as both communion and witness. In his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation ECCLESIA IN MEDIO ORIENTE, of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the patriarchs, bishops, cloergy, consecrated persons andthe lay faithful on the Church in the Middle East: Commmunion and Witness,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20120914_ecclesia-in-medio-oriente_en.html
The Holy Father writes clearly about what we can do to revive faith as well as how we can witness to it in sometimes conditions that are often hostile. He urges us to hold on to what we have received and stresses that the more alive we our to our faith the stronger will our communion and witness be because it is born of conviction. The Holy Father reveals a paternal understanding towards the faithful in this region.
The proclamation of faith begins first within our families. Communion is an important experience.
God calls us to life and transforms and sends us out as witnesses.
The love of Christ urges us to on.
The purpose of the call to a new evangelization by the late Blessed Pope John Paul II at the dawn of the new millennium is to nourish ourselves with the Word in order to be servants of the Word. “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” It is not a new message. It speaks of Christ who is the unchanging message.
HUNGRY FOR GOD
Three Main Characteristics of the New Evangelization
A) It is CHRISTOCENTRIC
1. Centered on Jesus Christ as He is the Word of the Father.
2. He is the Answer
3. He is the Teacher
4. He is the Good Shepherd
5. He is our Savior
B) It is the responsibility of the entire people of God and involves every member of the Church.
Our baptism makes us witnesses
It calls for inculturation and involvement in human affairs
Widespread secularism competes with God today. God’s word is muffled and left unheard
“A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the 'I' and its whims as the ultimate measure."
C) The New Evangelization calls for a missionary spirituality.
We are called to enter into the lives of the disadvantaged, the least, the last, the lowest.
We must find Christ in the poor
Intimacy with Christ in prayer
We can become effective witnesses if we walk the talk.
We must not become impatient and must remember that the work of evangelization is God’s work we only participate in it.
We must encounter Jesus Christ in faith in ourselves and in others
We must lead a holy life. Personal holiness cannot be separated from missionary zeal.
We bear fruit according to His will
What is the New Evangelization?
MAJOR ELEMENTS OF PORTA FIDEI
1) Our faith life is one which is in communion with God and with the community of the Church. The door of faith is always open. God initiates the invitation to us and He reveals Himself to us by drawing us to Himself through faith. It is not a private experience but is deeply seated in the faith of the Christian community and this is what sustains it.
2) Faith is the act of believing not just the contents of our faith. After Abraham, Mary is the most perfect embodiment of obedience. It is an obedience prompted by faith to accept the invitation by God to enter into a relationship with Him. This is the very foundation of our life. Faith is seed that needs to grow and bear fruit. We cannot take our faith for granted. Today our faith is being challenged as people want a better understanding of what it is that we are called to believe.
3) Faith as both communion and witness. In his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation ECCLESIA IN MEDIO ORIENTE, of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the patriarchs, bishops, cloergy, consecrated persons andthe lay faithful on the Church in the Middle East: Commmunion and Witness,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20120914_ecclesia-in-medio-oriente_en.html
The Holy Father writes clearly about what we can do to revive faith as well as how we can witness to it in sometimes conditions that are often hostile. He urges us to hold on to what we have received and stresses that the more alive we our to our faith the stronger will our communion and witness be because it is born of conviction. The Holy Father reveals a paternal understanding towards the faithful in this region.
The proclamation of faith begins first within our families. Communion is an important experience.
God calls us to life and transforms and sends us out as witnesses.
The love of Christ urges us to on.
The purpose of the call to a new evangelization by the late Blessed Pope John Paul II at the dawn of the new millennium is to nourish ourselves with the Word in order to be servants of the Word. “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” It is not a new message. It speaks of Christ who is the unchanging message.
HUNGRY FOR GOD
Three Main Characteristics of the New Evangelization
A) It is CHRISTOCENTRIC
1. Centered on Jesus Christ as He is the Word of the Father.
2. He is the Answer
3. He is the Teacher
4. He is the Good Shepherd
5. He is our Savior
B) It is the responsibility of the entire people of God and involves every member of the Church.
Our baptism makes us witnesses
It calls for inculturation and involvement in human affairs
Widespread secularism competes with God today. God’s word is muffled and left unheard
“A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the 'I' and its whims as the ultimate measure."
C) The New Evangelization calls for a missionary spirituality.
We are called to enter into the lives of the disadvantaged, the least, the last, the lowest.
We must find Christ in the poor
Intimacy with Christ in prayer
We can become effective witnesses if we walk the talk.
We must not become impatient and must remember that the work of evangelization is God’s work we only participate in it.
We must encounter Jesus Christ in faith in ourselves and in others
We must lead a holy life. Personal holiness cannot be separated from missionary zeal.
We bear fruit according to His will
What is the New Evangelization?
The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on 're-proposing' the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith.Pope Benedict XVI called for the re-proposing of the Gospel "to those regions awaiting the first evangelization and to those regions where the roots of Christianity are deep but who have experienced a serious crisis of faith due to secularization." The New Evangelization invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.
Why do we need the New Evangelization?
The New Evangelization offers hope. Jesus grants all people rest and comfort from the world's burdens (Mt. 11:28) by offering us the hope of salvation and eternal life. Through the “re-proposing” of the Gospel, the Church seeks to comfort all those who are burdened. The New Evangelization offers the gifts of faith, hope, love and new life in Christ.
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