Francis’ Call to Evangelize in EG is Staggering

Consider what he is saying, say, in 167-169. We have to exercise freedom to permit the beauty of the Face of Christ to appear so as to attract. The attitude of conservation of the Tradition can be – and has been – misunderstood as retrenchment. “Faithful” is understood semantically and culturally as holding on to what is already possessed, when in reality, it is the sure way to lose it. It’s like being on a roll in a ballgame (Carmelo’s 62 points the other night), or six strikes in bowling, or a no-hitter going, or a 59 going in a round of golf – and you stop and look back at yourself, objectify yourself and what you are doing – and you freeze. As soon as you visualize and fear not failing or being faithful, you freeze, fail and are unfaithful. The choke comes from the “self-referential.”

                “Attitude” is an important word. It is not thought or idea or concept. It is subjective orientation, or the direction in which the person or subject is facing. Wojtyla explains it in “Sources of Renewal” p. 17 as the characteristic of Vatican II. It’s the phenomenology that characterizes the whole of the Council. Once it turns back, it is killed. And it is so because it is such a deep reality in our very being. We are made in the image of the divine Persons who are totally out of themselves. They are a rush to service. Francis explained to the catechists in Buenos Aires that the word “enthusiasm” meant “en Theos,” in God, or God within. We cannot be afraid of failing – because you just can’t fail. You make mistakes and God picks up the pieces. The only mistake is not to chance it. We must be in a rush to service. You can’t wait for the security and insurance of getting it right. If you do, it means that you think you are in control when you’re not. And if you are,  you are wrong.

                Consider then that we have to use ingenuity and imagination to communicate the beauty that is Love Incarnate which strikes to the heart. Which means that you have to put your whole heart in it. Look at this  sentence: “Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization, building on the treasures of the past but also drawing upon the wide variety of contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new “language of parables”.[132]We must be bold enough  [parrhesia] to discover new signs and new symbols, new flesh [it sounds like a call to write songs like Richard Rogers {and I am thinking of “If I loved you” from Carousel] to embody and communicate the word, and different forms of beauty which are valued in different cultural settings, including those unconventional modes of beauty which may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove particularly attractive for others.” And this following sentence is an incredible piece of semantics. It should adorn fronispieces of altars so we always read it:

 “Rather than experts in dire predictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we should appear as joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.”

                And then friendship in a society characterized by the isolation of the individual in his possessions: “Some people think they are free if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain existentially orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and become drifters, flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere. To accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father.”

Here are just two numbers from the text of EG:

167. Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the “way of beauty” (via pulchritudinis).[129] Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendour and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties. Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus. This has nothing to do with fostering an aesthetic relativism[130] which would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it. If, as Saint Augustine says, we love only that which is beautiful,[131] the incarnate Son, as the revelation of infinite beauty, is supremely lovable and draws us to himself with bonds of love. So a formation in the via pulchritudinis ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith. Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization, building on the treasures of the past but also drawing upon the wide variety of contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new “language of parables”.[132]We must be bold enough to discover new signs and new symbols, new flesh to embody and communicate the word, and different forms of beauty which are valued in different cultural settings, including those unconventional modes of beauty which may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove particularly attractive for others.

168. As for the moral component of catechesis, which promotes growth in fidelity to the Gospel way of life, it is helpful to stress again and again the attractiveness and the ideal of a life of wisdom, self-fulfilment and enrichment. In the light of that positive message, our rejection of the evils which endanger that life can be better understood. Rather than experts in dire predictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every threat and deviation, we should appear as joyful messengers of challenging proposals, guardians of the goodness and beauty which shine forth in a life of fidelity to the Gospel.

Personal accompaniment in processes of growth

169. In a culture paradoxically suffering from anonymity and at the same time obsessed with the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly given over to morbid curiosity, the Church must look more closely and sympathetically at others whenever necessary. In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5). The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life.

170. Although it sounds obvious, spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever closer to God, in whom we attain true freedom. Some people think they are free if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain existentially orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and become drifters, flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere. To accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father.