Pope underlines urgency of evangelization
CWN - May 11, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI said that the need for evangelization is urgent today, “because after two millennia, a major part of the human family still does not acknowledge Christ, but also because the situation in which the Church and the world find themselves at the threshold of the new millennium is particularly challenging.”
Speaking on May 11 to leaders of the Pontifical Missionary Works, the Pope said that the Church “needs to renew its trust in the action of God; it needs to pray more intensely that his Kingdom will come.” The Pontiff reminded his listeners that evangelization means bringing people into contact with Christ and his Church:
Jesus, the Word incarnate, is always the centre of our announcement, the point of reference for our evangelizing mission and for its methodology, because He is the human face of God, Who wishes to meet all men and women so as to bring them into communion with Him, in his love.
In his remarks to the Pontifical Missionary Works the Pope recognized that evangelization sometimes entails great sacrifices, even occasionally martyrdom. “Announcing the Gospel often involves considerable difficulty and suffering,” he said, but “despite the problems and the tragic reality of persecution, the Church is not discouraged.”
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Posted by: ColmCille -
May. 12, 2012 2:32 AM ET USA
Viva il Papa! Persecution is an occasion of great graces for persecuted Christians, for which we ought to "rejoice and be glad" as our Lord taught us. The early Church put this into practice, giving thanks to God (and their persecutors) whenever He allowed them to suffer for the Name of Jesus. Persecution is only tragic for our persecutors, who in so doing commit grave sin; therefore we ought to offer up some of the graces we receive through persecution for their conversion and salvation.
