ONGOING FORMATION PROJECT MONTHLY DOSSIER MARCH 2011 – YEAR 2 – No. 15 |
SECTION I: MONTHLY THEME |
Topic 3: Jesus Christ – the very first and greatest evangelizer (EN n.7-12) Comments, excerpts and questions by Ewald Kreuzer, SFO Pope Paul VI describes in a few, clear words how Jesus went about evangelizing … He proclaimed the “kingdom of God” and the “salvation of man”, key words in His message of evangelization, both of which are available to every human being. Accompanied by many signs, deeds and miracles, this proclamation of the Gospel had the power (and still has) to change the hearts and minds of people and to renew their lives. As Franciscans, we remember in particular how Francis of Assisi has been deeply touched by the words of the Gospel and how he was guided by the Holy Spirit to a radical conversion of his life. 7. Jesus – the first and greatest evangelizer. Jesus Himself, the Good News of God [Cf. Mk 1:1; Rom 1:1-3] was the very first and the greatest evangelizer; He was so through and through: to perfection and to the point of the sacrifice of His earthly life. To evangelize: what meaning did this imperative have for Christ? It is certainly not easy to express in a complete synthesis the meaning, the content and the modes of evangelization as Jesus conceived it and put it into practice. In any case the attempt to make such a synthesis will never end. Let it suffice for us to recall a few essential aspects. 8. The kingdom of God. As an evangelizer, Christ first of all proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that, by comparison, everything else becomes "the rest," which is "given in addition"[Cf. Mt 6:33]. Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative. The Lord will delight in describing in many ways the happiness of belonging to this kingdom (a paradoxical happiness which is made up of things that the world rejects) [Cf. Mt 5:3-12] the demands of the kingdom and its Magna Charta [Cf. Mt 5-7], the heralds of the kingdom [Cf. Mt 10], its mysteries [Cf. Mt 13], its children [Mt 18], the vigilance and fidelity demanded of whoever awaits its definitive coming [Cf. Mt 24-25]. 9. Christ proclaims salvation. As the kernel and center of His Good News, Christ proclaims salvation, this great gift of God which is liberation from everything that oppresses man but which is above all liberation from sin and the Evil One, in the joy of knowing God and being known by Him, of seeing Him, and of being given over to Him. All of this is begun during the life of Christ and definitively accomplished by His death and resurrection. But it must be patiently carried on during the course of history, in order to be realized fully on the day of the final coming of Christ, whose date is known to no one except the Father [Cf. Mt. 24:36; Acts 1:7; 1 Thess 5:1-2]. 10. Available to every human being. This kingdom and this salvation, which are the key words of Jesus Christ's evangelization, are available to every human being as grace and mercy, and yet at the same time each individual must gain them by force - they belong to the violent, says the Lord [Cf. Mt 11:12; Lk 16:16] through toil and suffering, through a life lived according to the Gospel, through abnegation and the cross, through the spirit of the beatitudes. But above all each individual gains them through a total interior renewal which the Gospel calls metanoia; it is a radical conversion, a profound change of mind and heart [Cf. Mt 4:17]. 11. Revealing the secret of God. Christ accomplished this proclamation of the kingdom of God through the untiring preaching of a word which, it will be said, has no equal elsewhere: "Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it" [Mk 1:27]. "And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips [Lk 4:22]. There has never been anybody who has spoken like him"[Jn 7:46]. His words reveal the secret of God, His plan and His promise, and thereby change the heart of man and his destiny. 12. Many signs, deeds and miracles. But Christ also carries out this proclamation by innumerable signs, which amaze the crowds and at the same time draw them to Him in order to see Him, listen to Him and allow themselves to be transformed by Him: the sick are cured, water is changed into wine, bread is multiplied, the dead come back to life. And among all these signs there is the one to which He attaches great importance: the humble and the poor are evangelized, become His disciples and gather together "in His name" in the great community of those who believe in Him. For this Jesus who declared, "I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God" [Lk 4:43] is the same Jesus of whom John the Evangelist said that He had come and was to die "to gather together in unity the scattered children of God" [Jn 11:52]. Thus He accomplishes His revelation, completing it and confirming it by the entire revelation that He makes of Himself, by words and deeds, by signs and miracles, and more especially by His death, by His resurrection and by the sending of the Spirit of Truth [Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 4: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 818-819.32. 1 Pt 2:9.31].
Questions for reflection and discussing in fraternity 1. How would you explain the meaning of the two keywords used by Jesus Christ in evangelizing: “kingdom of God” and “salvation”? 2. What is “new” about the teaching of Jesus? What in his message can change the hearts of people and their destiny? 3. How can we Secular Franciscans give witness to God´s love and kindness? |
SECTION II: SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH |
Topic 3 of 3: World Day of Peace 2011 RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, THE PATH TO PEACE (n. 11-15) Reflection, excerpts and questions by Fr. Amando Trujillo Cano, TOR On March 7, the Church celebrates the memorial of Saints Perpetua, Felicity and companions, individuals who suffered martyrdom in 203, after being arrested in Thurubo minus, a small town of the Roman province of Africa. Five of them were young catechumens and were later joined voluntarily in Carthage’s jail by their catechist. Their arrest and martyrdom was the result of an edict of Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211) which forbade all imperial subjects, under severe penalties, to become Christians or Jews (Scrpitores Historiae Augustae, Severus, 17, 1). Perpetua (181-203) was a noble and young nursing mother, well-learned and intelligent. Her family was Christian, except for her father. Felicity was Perpetua’s servant, also married, and who gave birth to her first child during their imprisonment, just two days before their sacrifice. Their faith in Christ had made of them true sisters to each other. During their incarceration, the five catechumens were baptized by their catechist and were visited by other Christians. Perpetua was also visited by her father who tried to persuade her to relinquish her faith and save her life. All of these martyrs refused to worship the Emperor as god and witnessed instead to their faith in Christ. After being judged and condemned by the Procurator Hilarianus, who was violently anti-Christian, they endured increasing suffering with courage and patience. Perpetua and Saturus, one of the neophytes, had some visions during their imprisonment which prepared them for the final struggle. Perpetua then began writing a diary to describe her trial and the extraordinary experiences she went through during those days. Before she died, she passed on her diary to another Christian who finished the account of their martyrdom. On the day of their sacrifice, they were initially scourged and then thrown into the amphitheater to be killed by wild beast before a large and morbid crowd; before being put to death by the sword, they gave each other the final kiss of peace. The memorial of Saints Perpetua, Felicita and companions reminds us that the early Church endured persecution by the Roman empire for two and a half centuries because Christians refused to acknowledge the alleged divinity of the emperor. This attitude was seen both as an offense to the Roman religion and as a threat to national unity, signified and sustained by the divine homage to the emperor. Those martyrs gave an outstanding witness to our faith in the God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth, and to the great dignity he won for us which impel us not to worship anyone but God alone. This account also helps us to introduce the summary of the final part of the Pope’s message for World Day of Peace, 2011: Religious Freedom, The Path to Peace.
Dialogue as a shared pursuit Number 11 of the Pope’s message for World Day of Peace 2011 underscores dialogue between the followers of the different religions as an important means of cooperating for the common good. He evokes the principle that the Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in the various religions. In addition, he quotes Saint Thomas Aquinas who wrote: “every truth, whoever utters it, comes from the Holy Spirit”. At the same time, Benedict XVI states that in this dialogue, the path to take is not the way of relativism or religious syncretism, since the Church is bound to proclaim without fail Christ as the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6). In this context, the Pope also affirms that this year’s celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened in Assisi in 1986 by Pope John Paul II, gives reason to hope for a future in which all believers will see themselves, and will actually be, agents of justice and peace. Moral truth in politics and diplomacy Number 12 of this Message states that the great religions of the world offer a moral and spiritual patrimony that politics and diplomacy should take into consideration in order to acknowledge and affirm universal truths, principles and values proper to the dignity of the human person. This is the case of the 1945 Charter of the United Nations, which serves as a point of reference for the norms, institutions and systems governing coexistence on the national and international levels. In practical terms, to promote moral truth in the world of politics and diplomacy means: acting in a responsible way on the basis of an objective and integral knowledge of the facts; deconstructing political ideologies and fostering an unswerving commitment to base positive law on the principles of the natural law. Beyond hatred and prejudice Number 13 of this Message reminds us that cases of persecution, discrimination, acts of violence and intolerance based on religion are still taking place in today’s world despite the lessons of history and the efforts of many institutions and individuals. On the one hand, in Asia and in Africa, the chief victims are the members of religious minorities, who are prevented from freely professing or changing their religion by forms of intimidation and the violation of their rights. On the other hand, in Western countries, hostility to religion assumes more sophisticated forms such as the denial of history and the rejection of religious symbols which reflect the identity and the culture of the majority of citizens. Often these forms of hostility also foster hatred and prejudice. The Pope calls leaders of the great world religions and the leaders of nations to renew their commitment to promoting and protecting religious freedom, and in particular to defending religious minorities; these do not represent a threat – he adds – to the identity of the majority but rather an opportunity for dialogue and mutual cultural enrichment. Religious freedom in the world In number 14, Pope Benedict XVI assures the Christian communities suffering from persecution, discrimination, violence and intolerance of his paternal affection and prayers. He exhorts them not to lose heart, for witnessing to the Gospel is, and always will be, a sign of contradiction. He also asks all those in authority to act promptly to end every injustice against the Christians living in those lands where such suffering is taking place. Benedict XVI encourages believers to take to heart the Beatitudes: “… Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Mt 5:4-12). He also calls us to renew “the pledge we give to be forgiving and to pardon when we invoke God’s forgiveness in the Our Father. In addition, he expresses his hope that our cries of pain will always be accompanied by faith, by hope and by the witness of our love of God, and that in the West, and especially in Europe, there will be an end to hostility and prejudice against Christians because they are resolved to orient their lives in a way consistent with the values and principles expressed in the Gospel. Religious freedom, the path to peace The Pope ends his message in number 15 by affirming that the world needs God because it needs universal, shared ethical and spiritual values, and religion can offer a precious contribution to their pursuit, for the building of a just and peaceful social order at the national and international levels. He also reminds us that: peace is a gift of God and at the same time a task which is never fully completed. A society reconciled with God is closer to peace, which is not the mere absence of war or the result of military or economic supremacy, much less deceptive ploys or clever manipulation. Rather, peace is the result of a process of purification and of cultural, moral and spiritual elevation involving each individual and people, a process in which human dignity is fully respected. Questions for reflection and discussion in fraternity 1. What kind of dialogue is taking place where you live between the followers of the different religions in the search of the common good? 2. How can Christians promote moral truth in the world of politics and diplomacy? 3. What can you and your SFO fraternity do if there are cases of persecution, discrimination, acts of violence or intolerance based on religion where you live? |
