Our Holy Father addressed the bishops at the Synod on the New Evangelization today, and also gave the homily at the opening Mass, our Holy Father was full of zeal for evangelization. In his homily, he stated simply:
“The Church exists to evangelize.”
As members of that Church, we are called to that same purpose. In his address to the bishops, Pope Benedict spoke of the good news we are called to spread:
“With the Gospel, God broke His silence; He spoke to us and entered into history. Jesus is His Word, the God Who showed that He loved us, Who suffered with us even unto death, then rose again.”
Faith, the Holy Father concluded, “must become a flame of love within us, a flame which burns in our lives and is propagated to our neighbors. This is the essence of evangelization.”
At the most fundamental level, “evangelizing” is nothing more than sharing the love we have been given by God – what is more natural than to share love with others? There will be many more urgings from the Pope this year – stay tuned!