EMERGING TEACHINGS OF POPE FRANCIS Sandie Cornish Pope Francis On Mission

Two Themes Mission & Evangelization  General Audience 22 May Mission & Service  Homily 21 May  Homily 22 May  Homily 30 May

General Audience 22 May Evangelization is the mission of the Church The Holy Spirit is the engine of evangelization Unity, communion are effects of the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit gives us courage Evangelization starts from prayer We will look a little more closely at each of these key points …

Evangelization is Our Mission “Evangelization is the mission of the Church, not just of a few, but my, your, our mission. The Apostle Paul exclaimed: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16). Everybody must be evangelizers, especially through their life! Paul VI pointed out that “evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize.” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, n 14)” General Audience, 22 May

The Holy Spirit is the Engine of Evangelization “Who is the real engine of evangelization in our lives and in the Church? Paul VI wrote with clarity: “It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows themselves to be possessed and lead by Him. The Holy Spirit places on their lips the words which they could not find by themselves, and at the same time predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the Good News and to the Kingdom being proclaimed” (EN, n 75). To evangelize we must be open to the action of the Spirit of God …” General Audience, 22 May

Communion is the effect of the Holy Spirit “Here is a first important effect of the Holy Spirit that guides and inspires the proclamation of the Gospel: unity, communion. … The language of the Spirit, the language of the Gospel is the language of communion, which invites us all to overcome closure and indifference, division and conflict. We should all ask ourselves: how do I let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit so that my witness of faith is one of unity and communion?” General Audience, 22 May

Courage is the effect of the Holy Spirit “Here is another effect of the Holy Spirit: courage! … Never be closed to this action! May we live the Gospel with humility and courage! May we witness the novelty, the hope, the joy that the Lord brings to life … Because evangelizing, announcing Jesus, evangelizing brings us joy! It energizes us. Being closed up within ourselves brings bitterness. Proclaiming the joy and hope that the Lord brings to the world lifts us up!” General Audience, 22 May

Evangelization Starts from Prayer “I will only mention a third element, but it is particularly important: a new evangelization. A Church that evangelizes must always start from prayer, from asking, like the Apostles in the Upper Room, for the fire of the Holy Spirit. Only a faithful and intense relationship with God allows us to leave our enclosures and announce the Gospel with parrhesia (confidence). Without prayer our actions become empty and our proclamation soulless, it is not animated by the Spirit.” General Audience, 22 May

Being Salt, Not Museum Pieces “With the worship of the Lord, and with the proclamation of the Gospel I go out of myself to give the message. If we do not do this, the salt will remain in the bottle, and we will become ‘museum-piece Christians’. We can show the salt: this is my salt – and how lovely it is! This is the salt that I received at Baptism, this is what I received in Confirmation, this is what I received in catechesis – but look: museum-piece Christians! A salt without flavor, a salt that does nothing!” Homily 23 May

The Path of Jesus is Service “The path of the Lord is being in His service: as He carried out His service, we must follow Him, on the path of service. That is real power in the Church. I would like to pray today for all of us, so that the Lord gives us the grace to understand that: that real power in the Church is service. And also to understand the golden rule that He taught us by His example: for a Christian, progress, advancement, means being humble. We ask for this grace.” Homily, 21 May

Meet One Another in Doing Good “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace… We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.” Homily, 22 May

Be the Body of Christ “The Lord in the Eucharist makes us follow His path, that if service, of sharing, of giving – and what little we have, what little we are, if shared, becomes wealth. Because the power of God, which is that of love, descends into our poverty to transform it … Do I let myself be transformed by Him?” Homily, 30 May