The Joy of the Gospel

The Church “exists to evangelize” is perhaps the most quoted statement from Pope Paul VI’s 1975 Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi. The document was written a decade after the Second Vatican Council and a year after a synod of Bishops that convened to answer the question, “What do we mean by the word evangelization?” This question has only spurred others such as, “How do we evangelize?” and “To whom do we evangelize?” More than forty years later, we are still asking these questions.

The world has changed in the past four decades and so have our means and methods of evangelization. Not long ago, I woke up one morning, looked at my iphone and saw this message from Facebook: "Pope Francis has accepted your friend request." That would have been inconceivable in the 1970s.

Pontiffs and publishers alike have attempted to offer us guidance for evangelization in a contemporary world, from Rebuilt to Divine Renovation, from the Amazing Parish Conferences to Alpha. Many of these programs and strategies are designed to help the Church reignite itself. They affirm another statement in Evangelii Nuntiandi, “The church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself.” Still others are aimed at moving parishes from maintenance to mission.

Pope Francis envisions a church whose evangelization is directed outward. In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), he says,

“I dream of a missionary option, that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. #27

The Pope often speaks of a “culture of encounter” to encourage the baptized to move beyond our usual circles in order to bring the mercy of Jesus to the world, especially to the poor and to those often neglected by society.

 “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.” Evangelii Gaudium #120

Whenever we celebrate the liturgy, we are reminded of the call to be missionary disciples because each liturgy is an encounter with Jesus. We encounter Jesus in the hospitality, the sorrows and the joys of the People of God. We encounter Jesus in the Word proclaimed and in the prayers. We encounter Jesus in the sacred meal, the bread broken and the wine poured out. We encounter Jesus in ritual and symbol and gesture. These encounters are meant to season us to be the “salt of the earth,” to tenderize us to be the mercy of God. The liturgy strengthens us to build up the kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” So that when we are sent forth to our workplaces, our homes, our schools, our communities we might encounter people in a different way, whether we are on social media or in a social gathering.

After Easter

On this Mother’s Day I am grateful for my mother, my grandmothers, and all of my maternal ancestors, whose origins I will soon discover. I recently received the gift of a DNA testing kit. These kits, produced by 23andMe, Ancestry.com, and others are designed to help people trace their roots, connect with unknown relatives, and even indicate genetic medical trends from the swab of a person’s saliva. These products, along with the popularity of programs such as the PBS Television series, Tracing Your Roots, tell us that we are eager to determine our family tree.

The Easter season calls us to remember our spiritual ancestry. Whenever we are sprinkled with holy water, a sign of our baptism, we are reminded that we are all the beloved children of God, and that the community that surrounds us is a part of our spiritual family tree.

Those who were initiated at the Easter Vigil have spent these weeks of Easter reflecting on what it means to be a child of God and on how the rituals, symbols, and the entire experience of Holy Week transformed them. Here are some of their comments:

What were the peak moments for you?

The lighting of the fire helped usher in a new beginning for me

Taking communion …  I felt whole with the family and with Christ.

The “I do’s” felt like I was getting married!

[One candidate to another after he was confirmed] “Christ looks good on you!”

How did God speak to you? What did God say?

“You’re home, this is your family.”

[Through the Litany of the Saints] “The saints are always there to pray for you.” 

[Through the cello at the 7 Last Words] “I am here.”

Who was the God you experienced the night of the Easter Vigil? What did God say to you?

It felt like a homecoming.

God was smiling from ear to ear, wrapping his arms around us.

It felt as if a hand was being extended, as if to say, “Follow me, I’ll walk with you through this.”

What does baptism mean to you now?

Baptism washed away everything from before, which allowed the oil to seal the good of my new life within.

This is one night [The Easter Vigil] when water and oil do mix!

 How would you sum up your journey of conversion?

From confusion to clarity.

From darkness to light.

From being angry to forgiving everybody.

From feeling empty to feeling whole. 

From being disconnected to being connected, being part of the community.

From being lost to being found.

Mystagogy

I love to travel! You know what I like best? Looking at the pictures! The pictures of the people, the cultures, their rituals and symbols help me remember the trip and allow me to reflect not only on where I have traveled, but on how the journey affected me, how it moved me, and what difference it made in my life.

Our newly initiated members take the time after their initiation to reflect on their faith journey, in particular, on the celebrations of Holy Week and the experience of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. This process of reflection, officially called mystagogy, is a way of helping them to deepen their understanding of their experience. In the ancient Church, it was a way of teaching not only the newly initiated, but the whole community about the mysteries of faith.

Mystagogy isn’t only for the newly initiated. It is a powerful tool for everyone that can help us understand our faith in new ways. Try it yourself or with others the next time you go to Mass. Here are a few questions to get you started: What did you see, feel or hear? What one word or phrase captured your attention? What did you remember most?  What symbol spoke to you and why?  What did it mean to you?  What did that word or symbol or ritual say to you about God, the Church, yourself?  How did it change or challenge your perspective?

A recent visitor to our parish engaged in mystagogy without knowing it. He noticed that we prayed for those on death row. He was a lawyer who was all too familiar with criminal punishment. He was deeply moved by the prayer. It spoke to him about the abundance of God’s love and motivated him to seek a deeper understanding of our beliefs on capital punishment. His perspective about who Catholics are and what we believe was challenged and changed.

Mystagogy shows us how the liturgy teaches, reinforcing a key concept of the Second Vatican Council. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy:

“Although the liturgy is above all things the worship of the divine majesty, it likewise contains rich instruction for the faithful.” Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 33

The liturgy teaches us a lot about our faith, but it requires that we come to Mass with eyes and ears wide open, with attentiveness and presence, ready to be amazed, challenged and changed. 

Apostles' Creed

Every Sunday during the Easter Season we are professing the Apostles’ Creed rather than the Nicene Creed. The Apostles’ Creed is so named because legend has it that each of the Apostles contributed to its composition. It is shorter and simpler than the Nicene Creed. The Apostles’ Creed, which summarized the teaching of the Apostles, was originally a baptismal creed that was given to the Elect before they were baptized and was part of their formation.  At Baptism, each line was put into the form of a question to which the Elect gave their assent, indicating their acceptance of the faith in which they were about to be baptized.  We still use this type of dialogue with those about to be baptized, with those about to be confirmed, and with the entire community on Easter Sunday.  

Like the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed begins with a profession of faith in God the Father, includes our belief that Jesus died and rose, and ends with the sure faith that we too will experience resurrection.  As in the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed expresses our faith in the Paschal Mystery, the death resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

The word “creed” comes from the Latin cor dare, meaning “to give one’s heart.”  Let us pray that as we profess the Apostles’ Creed we might give our heart to deeper faith and trust in the living God.

Happy Earth Day!

It seems like everything these days is green. We have green energy, green cars, green cleaning products, green appliances, green businesses and green burials, to name a few. 

We could even say we have a green Pope! Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si,was published in 2015. The title, which means “Praise Be to You,” is taken from the “Canticle of the Sun,” a song written by Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment. In the encyclical Pope Francis calls us to be attentive to, to respect, and to care for all creation. He presses for a change in “lifestyle, production, and consumption” in order to ensure the survival of the earth.

If we look closely and listen attentively, we will see and hear how the liturgy helps us to attend, to respect, and to care for creation, for the liturgy and creation are deeply intertwined.

The entire liturgical calendar is governed by the cosmos. The full moon of spring determines the date of Easter, from which the entire year is ordered. The Easter Vigil, the most significant liturgy of the year, begins outside in the darkness under the spring moon and the stars. A fire  lights up the night sky symbolizing Christ as the light of the world who overcame the darkness of sin. The fire, one of earth’s primal elements, is blessed and is used to light the large paschal candle which is made from the wax of honey bees. After the candle is incensed, the Easter Proclamation, filled with images of creation is sung:

  “Receive it (the paschal candle) as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights                of heaven. May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star.”

The candle stands next to the ambo from which the lectionary readings are proclaimed. On this night, we hear how creation played a part in the stories of salvation. We begin with the creation account in Genesis and hear how God called everything “good.” In the Exodus reading, the waters of the Red Sea are seen as the waters of salvation for the people of Israel. Isaiah calls all who are thirsty to “come to the water,” and Ezekiel assures us that God will cleanse our hearts with clean water. 

In the liturgy of baptism, water, another of earth’s elements, is blessed. Then the elect are baptized in the blessed water, marking their death and resurrection into Christ. They are then anointed with oil extracted from olives in the sacrament of confirmation.

Apart from the Easter Vigil, our Sunday liturgies, what we call “little Easters,” are also filled with the elements of the natural world. We are renewed with water in the sprinkling rite. In the Creed, we profess our faith in the God who created heaven and earth, through whom all things were made. In the Sanctus,we proclaim in song that heaven and earth are “full of God’s glory.” We bless and eat bread, “fruit of the earth.”  We bless and drink wine, “fruit of the vine.” 

The liturgy not only uses elements of our good earth, it demonstrates a reverence and respect for them. Water is blessed, bread and wine are incensed, oil is sanctified, altars made of material from the earth are dedicated and consecrated. These rituals teach us how to be good stewards of creation. They also tell us that God’s presence permeates the environment, that all of creation reveals the divine, that not the smallest component of our planet is to be taken for granted. All is holy and is to be treated as sacred. If we do this, we will heed the call of Pope Francis, to look broadly, to live simply, and to care deeply.