Apostles for Today
August - Prayer and reflection
New Evangelisation and
Ireland Universal Church Being
Church
It is
also important to acknowledge, at all times, that our transformation or
conversion can only happen with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is by the grace
of God that we respond to the love that God has lavished upon us. We are called
to proclaim the Word and to sow seeds, but it is the Spirit who acts once the
seed is sown (Mk 4:26-29). To quote Pope Francis, ‘God’s word is unpredictable
in its power. [...] The Church has to accept this unruly freedom of the word,
which accomplishes what it wills in ways that surpass our calculations and ways
of thinking’ (Evangelii Gaudium 22).
In order to allow God to surprise us and to be open to his work, in ourselves
and in others, we need to prepare our own hearts by becoming closer to Jesus
and to his Word.
We must
not allow the sheer enormity of the task to paralyse us into inaction. Rather,
all big ideas are accomplished by a series of small steps right down to the
power of one of these. I believe that this is how God’s plan for us is worked
out over time. The mission of the Universal
Church
The Universal Call to Holiness
Our God
is a good and generous God as we see in the parable of the Labourers in the
Vineyard (Mt 20:3-4): “Going out about the third hour he saw others standing
idle in the marketplace and said to them ‘You go into my vineyard too’. This
call is as vibrant today as it was 2,000 years ago, and was re-echoed by
Vatican Council II and again in Christifideles Laici. It is addressed
not only to the clergy and religious but to every baptised person. Each one of
us receives from God a vocation and a mission to enter into collaboration for
the good of the Church and of the whole world. In founding the Union of
Catholic Apostolate, St. Vincent Pallotti realised the necessity of a structure
to facilitate such collaboration in order to revive faith and re-kindle charity
in our Church and in the world.
The first
reaction of many lay people, myself included, when asked to become involved in
evangelisation is to say, ‘I am not worthy or I am not holy enough to do this
work’. But Jesus came to heal sinners and we are all sinners. We are all human;
we disappoint ourselves and others in many areas of life; we often fail to
reach our potential; yet God always offers us another chance.
Reflecting
on the life of St. Peter helps illumine God’s work in us and offers great
encouragement to all. Peter was a layman whose first reaction to God’s call was,
‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man’. But Jesus said ‘Do not be afraid’ (Lk 5:8-10).
Peter shows his determination when he attempts to walk on water, but immediately
falls back once more into fear (Mt 14:8-32). Later on, Jesus tells him that he
is an obstacle to God’s plan of salvation, because he fails to understand that
suffering is part of Christ’s mission (Mt 16:23). Peter is also challenged by
the infinite mercy of God and the call to imitate him in his boundless
forgiveness (Mt 18:21-22) as he tries to get to grips with the far-reaching
implications of being a follower of Jesus.
Finally,
all of Peter’s human weaknesses and emotions come to the surface in Mt 26:
33-69. His great courage and loyalty are shown during the arrest of Jesus. His
failures and weakness are demonstrated by his inability to stay awake and pray
in the Garden and above all by his denial of Jesus in order to save himself.
These are all very human and natural traits. Yet God used his weakness and past
failures to transform Peter. In responding to the Universal Call to Holiness
each one of us ought to be inspired by the extraordinary transformation of
Peter, through the power of God, into the great leader and martyr that he became.
If new
evangelisation is to be realised it will not be through mere words, but by the
quality of our witness in our local faith communities and parishes. The process
of evangelisation will happen quickly if every person we encounter in our daily
lives and work feels welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged as Pope Francis
recommends. Our task locally is to help people to become aware or more aware of
God’s presence in our world. A world where many people have lost a sense of
mystery - where God and religion are being pushed out. A real awakening to a
sense of the sacred is necessary if new evangelisation is to succeed. A greater
awareness or sense of God’s presence is needed if people are to respond to the
universal call to holiness and act on their vocation.
I have
often spent time with young people exploring four lines of a poem by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning:
‘Earth's crammed with heaven,
And
every common bush afire with God,
But
only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The
rest sit round and pluck blackberries’
My two
and half year old granddaughter’s world is full of mystery and wonder which she
has no difficulty in embracing wholeheartedly. What happens to us as we get
older? Do we lose our sense of mystery? Do we settle for knowing how things work
without ever asking why? Do we lose that sense that there is always ‘more’? If
we do, we have become berry-pickers and we are in urgent need of being awakened
to a sense of having come from God and of returning to God. Richard Rohr says that
we ‘cannot attain the presence of God because we are already totally in the
presence of God. What is absent is awareness’ (‘Everything Belongs’). In trying to bring about an awakening to the Spirit
or a greater awareness of God’s presence we may discover that actions speak
louder than words. How we relate to each other may well hold the key.
This
focus on relationships is important because it is through relationships that
God’s love, mercy, joy and forgiveness will be encountered and experienced.
This is the real challenge that Christ puts before all of his followers. ‘It is
easier to immerse ourselves in doing a thousand things or getting involved in
various causes, especially if we can connect them to the Gospel, than to attend
to relationships; because relating to people demands a certain degree of trust,
openness and vulnerability, which can cause some discomfort’ (From a talk given by Rev. Ruth Patterson). Yet this is precisely what we will
have to do in order to be missionary disciples. Jesus gave us a perfect template
in the way he revealed the Kingdom
of God
In John
4:5-30, the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well is a
very good example of the Master at work. Jesus is humble and asks for a drink
of water. He spends time with her, they discuss her life, he listens and he
offers something of great value. It is in the dialogue that she recognises who
he is. After the encounter with Jesus, the woman immediately becomes a
missionary and, as a result, many Samaritans came to believe in him because of her
testimony. If we are to be effective in evangelising our neighbour, we will
first of all ourselves need to have encountered the risen Lord in a deeply
personal and life-changing way.
If our
communities, parishes and homes are truly places where God’s loving presence
can be encountered, where his Word is broken open and shared, where his actions
are experienced and his table fellowship is offered and real, then we can say
we are wholeheartedly engaged with New Evangelisation and beginning to make the
vision behind the Universal Call to Holiness a reality.
Questions for personal and/or group reflection:
·
Can you remember a particular time in your life when you experienced God’s call to holiness in a more deeply
personal way than before?
·
How has your experience of God’s call changed over the years? And your response to that call?
·
What communities of faith have helped you to nourish and deepen and respond to that call in relationship with
others? Your family? Your parish and
diocesan family? The Union of Catholic
Apostolate? Other groups? The Universal Church
·
In what ways are you, in your
local UAC group or another faith community,
involved in discerning the signs of the times and the needs of those around you and in responding to
them as apostles of the Infinite Love of
God through concrete practical initiatives?
Prayer:
Come Holy Spirit, burn away our selfishness and fill us with
your love.
Come Holy Spirit, burn away our anxiety and fill us with your peace.
Come Holy Spirit, burn away our jealousy and fill us with your generosity.
Come Holy Spirit, burn away our anger and fill us with your forgiveness.
Come Holy Spirit, burn away our unbelief and fill us with a faith in Christ that
transforms our lives.
Come Holy Spirit, burn
away all that prevents us from hearing your call in the cry of the poor and
from pouring out our lives in generous service of those who yearn for us to be
for them living witnesses and missionary disciples of your Word, of your justice
and peace, of your mercy and forgiveness, of your tenderness and compassion, of
your goodness and truth, of your joy and simplicity, of your love. Amen.
(Adapted from a prayer given to me
by the late Kevin Devlin RIP)
Pat
Maguire,
____________________________________________________
Segretariato Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org
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