CASTEL GANDOLFO (CNA/EWTN News)—Pope Benedict XVI called upon all Catholics Sept. 18 to participate in a New Evangelization of the world.
“Today’s liturgy reminds us that we are all called to work in the vineyard of the Lord,” he told pilgrims gathered to pray the midday Angelus at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
“He has given us diverse gifts, has assigned diverse tasks and determined diverse times for their performance. However, if we assume the work of our life with full dedication, we can expect the same pay: the joy of eternal participation in the goodness of the Lord,” he said.
The Pope based his comments on the Gospel reading in which Jesus recounts the parable of the vineyard owner who paid each of his workers the same wage regardless of how long they worked.
He also drew upon St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, written while the apostle was imprisoned and awaiting his death, in which he states that “for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
This “new sense of life” comes from communion with Jesus Christ who, said the Pope, is “not just a historical figure, a master of wisdom, a religious leader,” but is “a man in whom God dwells personally.”
“His death and resurrection is the good news that, starting from Jerusalem, is intended to reach all individuals and peoples,” said Pope Benedict. Thus, all cultures are changed by being open to the truth that “God is love, he became man in Jesus, and his sacrifice has redeemed humanity from the slavery of evil, making it a trustworthy hope.”
“Today we live in an era of New Evangelization,” Pope Benedict said, drawing a parallel between the era of St. Paul and today. New Evangelization is also a favored theme of his pontificate: the call to re-evangelize traditionally Christian parts of the world or, as the Pope put it Sept. 18, the need for “regions of ancient Christian tradition” to “rediscover the beauty of faith.”
“The protagonists of this mission are men and women who, like St. Paul can say: ‘For me to live is Christ.’ People, families and communities that agree to work in the vineyard of the Lord.”
These are people who are “humble and generous” and who do not “ask for any reward other than to participate in the mission of Jesus and the Church.”
“Dear friends,” concluded the Pope, “the Gospel has transformed the world, and still is turning, like a river that irrigates a huge field.”
After the Angelus, Pope Benedict addressed various language groups, including German pilgrims. He said he looked forward to his four-day visit to Germany later this week and hoped the people of his native land will “respond generously to the offer of the boundless love of God and work for the good that is in the world.”
Benjamin Wiker: Benedict XVI: Doctor of the Church
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Lord help us to respond to your call this day
1962 - John XXIII tells the Church there is to be New Pentecost.
Church goes into free fall
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2011 - Benedict XVI tells the Church: “Today we live in an era of New Evangelization,” Pope Benedict said, drawing a parallel between the era of St. Paul and today. New Evangelization is also a favored theme of his pontificate: the call to re-evangelize traditionally Christian parts of the world or, as the Pope put it Sept. 18, the need for “regions of ancient Christian tradition” to “rediscover the beauty of faith.”
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After what the New Pentecost has done to the Church, we don’t need to make things even worse with a New Evangelisation; we were doing fine with the original Pentecost (until V2 dropped a V2 on it); a new Evangelisation would merely make things even worse. Popes need to stop indulging their vanity by trying to improve on the work of the Holy Spirit; all they succeed in doing is to foul things up. They are not St. Paul, they are not the Holy Spirit, and the Gospel is neither “good” nor “News” for many people - that’s why they’ve given it up. The Pope needs to face the fact that Christianity has a very bad historical record, and is frankly incredible to a lot of people. The Gospel may sound good - but in practice it involves slavery to an arrogant, out-of touch, scandal-ridden, amoral clerical caste - and that is too high a price for the supposed benefits of Christianity.
- Any efforts at evangelisation that ignore these rather obvious points are doomed to failure before they’ve begun.
It is not the time…not the season…. for unusual efforts of evangelization because we are the Church of the sex scandal in the eyes of anyone who reads the news. Very low IQ people perhaps can be evangelized door to door in Tierra del Fuego….or Suarez….or in the African bush. But going door to door in the US, you may well meet with great politeness but after you’re gone the discussion will be about whether children are safe in that religion. It is the season for the Church to have international conferences on why so many leaders shunted perverted priests from parish to parish. Or at least a Vatican commission should be working on that question. Good luck….da Nile is our favorite river. We’re now the safest place for children according to Bill Donahue…...who has no little ones to test that out however.
Secondly 99% of us are constantly involved the St. Francis way “of convert by behaviour” with the fallen away members of our families. Show of hands…..full time job? Can I get a witness? Thirdly the Pope has no record that I have ever heard of of going door to door converting strangers. Like most clergy, people come to him….he does not go to them. We reversed Christ’s pattern as we became a mega institution except for the missionary orders. If the Pope does not go door to door as head giving example…..it will not happen except for sporadic groups of very social Catholics here and there. The Pope preaches from his window. I tried that but the neighbors called the police on me.
Manticore,
What if you’r the one that’s out of touch, and arrogant and amoral, since you don’t live with any hope?
Bill,
Donahue is right. I help run a youth ministry and we go through vigorous police checks on everybody involved.
Most of us go to churches without abuse. Sex abuse is found across a spectrum of churches, Jewish and Muslim organizations.
The newspapers spread hysteria. The people who actually attend a church know better.
Manticore,
What exactly is improving on the work of the Holy Spirit?
Savvy
Would you let a child of yours be alone with a priest even though over 90% of them are probably safe…..a child of yours….yours. If you say yes, you are young. The stats from the USCCB commissioned report were not a delusion…..and Philly, Kansas, and Cloyne flared up recently….not long ago.
Bill,
I know many good priests. The stats have shown that sexual abuse is highest in families than anywhere else.
Sexual Abuse in Social Context: Clergy and Other Professionals
http://www.catholicleague.org/rer.php?topic=The+Sex+Abuse+Scandal&id=110
All these sources can be contacted and verified.
Yes, I deplore all that has taken place, but I am not going to make false generalizations.
I am interested in facts, not with media and apostate Catholics that have an axe to grind, because they disagree with the church’s teachings on xyz.
I will also not use the guilty until proven innocent approach. My faith means a lot to me. Jesus will protect his church from attacks within and without.
Savvy
You didn’t answer at all whether you would leave your child with a priest alone even though over 90% of them are probably safe. But one in twenty or one in twenty five may not be and you don’t know which is which. And Rome has instituted no program designed to pro-actively find out who is dangerous now in each diocese. The result of that casual approach to administration (while the Pope writes his third NT book) is that we just had a priest pedophile arrested in Bishop Finn’s diocese months after Donahue pronounced us safest for children. One can believe in the Church and all it’s de fide doctrines… while obeying Christ’s dictum to be wise as serpents. And give up on mind reading your opponents as not believing as you do. St. John of the Cross noted that the devil can add or subtract to your imagination when you fret over other people…..and watch out if Donahue does exactly that as he did in the empire state building case where he read evil motives into a person who disagreed with him and would not do his bidding.
Bill,
I have no children. If I did I would be more worried about Canadian schools celebrating prostitution day and medical professionals who claim pedophilia is a sexual orientation that about a priest.
Where was the outrage over the secular pro-pedophia conference in Baltimore?
There are safeguards been put in many places, this is why it’s easier to identity people now that it was before.
Being wise is not the same as going out on a witch hunt.
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