#relatable Ep2: Evangelii Gaudium

This is part of a 8-part series where I take a closer look at Vatican documents and distill some gems that you can take with you on your own journey to knowing and loving Him.

My first experience with Vatican documents dates back to my time in University when my chaplaincy often held talks on various encyclicals and apostolic exhortations. I was never one of those people who took an interest in these talks though the Latin names intrigued me. I recall my chaplain encouraging us to attend a talk on "Humanae Vitae" and caught snippets from dinner conversation on its contents - "family life", "love", "relationships" but I never really engaged with the documents at a deeper level.

Fast forward a couple of years and while learning more about the teachings of St John Paul II, I was amazed to discover that he had written an entire document on the dignity of women (which I will cover in an upcoming article). I had always thought that Vatican documents were way out of my reach and that I could not understand them. A friend of mine challenged me to record a series on the podcast on these documents and to inspire others to take some time to read them in more detail. Sure, they are more than a few pages long in length but I was astounded at the wisdom contained within them - it was a visible representation of the Church's teachings and I could see that as society progressed, we were all experiencing the fundamentals in new ways. It was incredibly exciting and timely then to delve into the first document of this series - Evangelii Gaudium.

Evangelii Gaudium literally translates to "joy of the gospel" and speaks to the role of each and every Christian to evangelise. I find it a fitting start as I have been navigating this space of what it means to evangelise and I will focus on 3 key areas which touched me deeply and which you may consider for reflection too!

1. Eternal Newness

“Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others”

The message of the gospel has not changed, but the means in which we are communicating them have undergone radical transformation. St John the Evangelist used to walk from town to town, proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. Those that followed, the writers of the books of the Bible were divinely inspired to record the story of Salvation. St Paul addressed the various nations of his time and instructed them. We had the resurgence of art as a medium to form a spiritual language for the illiterate masses. Archibishop Fulton Sheen was the first Catholic priest to take faith to radio and nationwide TV. And now, we have different tools to evangelise - we have Ascension Press, podcasts, websites. Yet the message is still the same, we are simply finding new ways to reach out to more people who are searching and seeking the Truth. The newness also takes the form of our own experience with the faith, with scripture, with teachings - the same verse can "inspire, provide, guide and accompany in a thousand ways". Our faith deepens when we see with new eyes, when we glimpse these new possibilities and our faith becomes a living thing - continuously renewed.

2. Go forth

Let us try a little harder to take the first step and to become involved. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The Lord gets involved and he involves his own, as he kneels to wash their feet. He tells his disciples: “You will be blessed if you do this” (Jn 13:17). An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people’s 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 others.

The spirit of openness that evangelisation calls for motivates us to action. Many of us are accustomed to a "passive" faith where we participate selectively and to our own convenience. We are reminded that to bear witness to others we are called to be "involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice". It is easy to be passive, it takes little effort. The active practice of our faith involves an engagement with others - we must learn to live in community and to embrace those who are in our midst. This involves getting "fully engaged" with what it means to live out our faith - to seek out opportunities to help others and to demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit. It is one thing to proclaim His goodness, but to simply say that we "love" God is not enough - it is not convincing in the least. Action is the fruit of a deep faith and we are reminded to put what we profess into action, much like how Jesus did not simply say "love your neighbour as yourself", He embodied it by washing the feet of His disciples.

3. A personal encounter, inflamed with the Spirit

What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts. We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence. Standing before him with open hearts, letting him look at us, we see that gaze of love which Nathaniel glimpsed on the day when Jesus said to him: “I saw you under the fig tree” (Jn 1:48).

All this evangelisation, stepping out of our comfort zones takes a great deal of courage. It's no secret many of us are afraid to venture out. I can attest to that fact, the first time I recorded an episode and uploaded it. My heart was beating like mad and I was brimming with uncertainty. Where did my strength come from? A personal relationship I was discovering with Him. An active form of evangelisation has no meaning, if we are divorced from the true source of Life. He is the vine, we are the branches, apart from Him, we can do nothing, we are simply vessels. Our witness is animated by the workings of the deep relationship we are building with Him. We can proclaim His goodness, if we know He, the author of all goodness. If not, we are talking about something we ourselves have not experienced. We are called to remain open to the workings of the Holy Spirit and to derive our strength and courage from Him. We may not have the words to speak in various circumstances but if we keep our minds and hearts open to His divine inspiration, He will work wonders and use us as His vessels.

There is much wisdom to be gleaned from the document and I have only just scratched the surface. I attach a simple Infographic I created that summarises some key points that you might find useful too as you read the document in greater detail, and with prayerfulness.

Here is a link to the document in full: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html

Thank you for coming on this journey with me as we delve deeper into the wisdom of these documents as we start to learn how truly it is #relatable!