The split between Gospel and culture, wrote Blessed Paul VI, is without a doubt the drama of our time. Those words written by Pope Paul VI in 1975 in Evangelii Nuntiandi (On Evangelizing in the Modern World) are as much of a challenge to us today as then.
The beauty of Pope Francis, that so many find refreshing and inspiring, is that he is facing this drama head on with a renewed enthusiasm and tender-hearted approach that still causes people to take notice a year and half later. His enthusiastic approach has put the Gospel at center stage and it pulls at our hearts to follow the words of Jesus and participate in this work of evangelization.
To evangelize effectively it presupposes in the evangelizer an ever increasing love for those whom he evangelizes, Pope Paul VI tells us in Evangelii Nuntiandi. With his joyful attitude and open heart that reaches out to all, Pope Francis effectively evangelizes by example and shows us how to increase our love for each other. Let us continue to be inspired by the Pope and daily accept his invitation to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ so we too can be effective in making God’s loving mercy known in today’s world. For as Francis said in The Joy of the Gospel - with God’s love we are liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption. We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.
Love conquers all – let us too yield to love. Virgil