Dear Friends
This past week, the Church celebrated the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. As we focus on Mission during the month of October, I am reminded of wise words attributed to Francis: ‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words!’ Many claim that there is no evidence that Francis ever said this… a bit like Augustine saying that, ‘The one who sings, prays twice’ – no evidence of that either. Had Francis or Augustine thought of these wise sayings, I’m sure that they would have said them anyway!
Francis was a zealous preacher of the Gospel in many ways. Certainly, his lifestyle and actions offered a great model of evangelisation, particularly in a society where many clergy enjoyed extravagant lifestyles. Francis’ commitment to poverty gave powerful witness to the Gospel and in his dealings with others he met, he preached the Gospel simply and eloquently.
As a high school student, I was a member of the YCS (Young Christian Students), a movement which still exists today and focuses on ‘Catholic action’ through an effective method of discernment called ‘See, Judge, Act’. At the time, the Church was often more confrontational in witnessing to the Gospel and I recall my mates and I matching wits with the Sunday, soap-box speakers in Centenary Park in Brisbane – atheists, communists and the rest. Things are different today where, for the most part, the public conversation is against faith in general and against church in particular.
As Church, we remain committed to ‘mission’ – working with God in the completion of the creation of the world. The Second Vatican Council was a ‘missionary Council’ where Pope John XXIII called for ‘aggiornamento’ – a ‘bringing up to date’, a spirit of change and open-mindedness, a modernisation or refreshment of the Church’s traditions. This does not mean going soft on the Gospel but of constantly deepening our insights into our faith and seeking fresh understanding of Jesus’ teaching. Pope Benedict XVI puts it this way: ‘It is not a matter of preaching a word of consolation, but rather a word which disrupts, which calls to conversion and which opens the way to an encounter with the one through whom a new humanity flowers’ (Verbum Domini n. 93).
Recall the theme of our recent Plenary Council: ‘How is God calling us to be a Christ-centred Church that is Missionary and Evangelizing?’ Of course we need to find words to engage with our modern, secular world but the witness of our lives remains paramount: ‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words!’… and let’s include songs as well!
Let’s remember that evangelisation is always God’s work. In Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), Pope St Paul VI describes Jesus as ‘the first and greatest evangeliser’ (n. 7). Might our prayer this week be the disciples’ words to Jesus in last Sunday’s Gospel: ‘Increase our faith!’ Mission and evangelisation are about our partnership with the God who himself is ‘missionary’, who goes forth and embraces our humanity in his Son Jesus, and who continues to sustain us through the indwelling presence of the Spirit. How blessed we are that our God engages us in every aspect of our lives and helps us to rediscover the freshness of the Gospel! Fr Dave