THE NEW
EVANGELISATION requires each of us to proclaim hope and joy.
There is so much joylessness and hopelessness
in people’s lives.
So many people live around us are living
lives without purpose (without meaning, lives of quiet desperation or without the
purpose God intended for them).
A lot of restlessness – especially in
industrial relations – is that people are in jobs they are desperately unhappy
with, in unhappy marriages or relationships, in conflict, with troubled
conscience, lacking a clear vision, aimless, wandering. There are a lot of
unhappy people. This is not the way God
wants it to be, yet the human heart can’t be fooled -it can be sedated or
distracted but things, career, money, ambition, extreme sports, entertainment,
having more – why do people lock themselves in? People -including Christians –
can get trapped in sadness, negativity, sarcasm, cynicism, disappointment,
resentment, remaining unsatisfied, even depression and suicidal thoughts. We
have never had so much material items and consumer items. We have full bellies
and empty hearts.
There must be an answer!
Jesus Christ is the answer to all our
questions and longings. Surrender to Him – unconditional surrender to Him.
Accepting Him as my personal Lord and Saviour! Handing over my misery, my
sinfulness, my RAGS. The problem is within – and the Kingdom of God is within. Of
course, we know that accepting Jesus Christ is accepting the gospel – the Good
News. Like Zacchaeus, or the woman caught in adultery, the woman of Samaria – I
think the Gospel can be summed up as THE DIFFERENCE THAT JESUS MAKES.
The spiritual Exercises give us a set of
tools that equip us to take our part in the new springtime of Christianity, the
civilisation of love, true communion, solidarity, and the New Evangelisation.
The journey of REDISCOVERY, a journey of encounter (Pope Francis) and
rediscovering the joy of knowing and serving Jesus. God has given us a Jesuit
Pope – and that I think implies that we rediscover – or discover for the
first-time what St Ignatius has to say to us. We are called to read the signs
of the times.
The New
Evangelisation requires us – despite our weakness and sense of
helplessness at times - to be the New Evangelisers!
People are searching for more than material
things to satisfy their longings.
It is a time of extreme sports, of huge money
poured into soccer and rugby etc, of new technologies at our fingertips, of the
increased pace and demands of life. Life’s pace and expectations are
accelerating. People are looking for idols, heroes, talent, the ideal home,
partner, sport pursuit, home abroad, etc
Yet there is deep seated resentment, anger,
whinging, blame and misdirection, and people are searching – for mindfulness,
spirituality, religions from the East, mysticism, stillness, ritual. Even as
sacraments are in decline, people want to mark birth marriage and death –
sacramentally or not, they know that deep down the Church has something
beautiful and solemn in its liturgy. The TV culture of endless, mindless
entertainment is a huge time-consuming distraction leading us to complacency and
delay.
The Spiritual
Exercises are one way (among
others) in which we can deepen our relationship with Christ and respond in
a new and deeper way to our call to be missionaries and that the new continent
to be evangelised is the new and preceding generation - to know our place and our role - to help me find definitively the tools I
need to discern God’s will for me in the 21st century with its
spiral downward in faith and morals. Like it or not the baton has been passed
on to us. How can I better know, love and serve God?
It is an intensive course, but it is a journey of the heart.
The answer is here – people long for
completion, fulfilment, direction, satisfaction, meaning, happiness,
contentment, harmony, the best for themselves, their loved ones. These are the
desires of the heart – what people want, and need is Christ! We are all full of desires – and we can see how carnal
desires work themselves out – inordinate desires for food drink immoderation
etc
As Catholic Christians we are not immune to
sharing in these feelings and moods and longings of those around us. Often, we
are at a loss as to what to say. We somehow lack the confidence to speak, we
are afraid of ridicule. We have a Do Not
Disturb mentality
How can I know unless someone show me?
We can have courses in instruction –
Catechism, adult education, ongoing catechesis, theology courses – but the soul
is longing for God.
Our heart’s deepest longing
Our experience of helplessness and weakness
Our experience of loneliness
Of disappointment and let down by people we
trusted or who we thought would treat us better
Our experience of bereavement
Of pain and isolation, of confusion, of
tedium
A sense of anti-climax
Our desire for life to make sense
Of a desire to be led- to have true moral
leadership, guidance, mentoring, authority
The Spiritual Exercises done in common also
helps us to answer our need for others – of a community – of communion – of
like-minded people going through the same things as we are – mood swings,
spiritual ups and downs, confusion, uncertainty as to HOW TO PROCEED.
The Spiritual Exercises provide us with a set
of rules and guidelines in the context of prayer to enter more deeply into
union with God and His Son Jesus Christ. It is a gentle, gradual game-changer!
It is a
retreat in everyday life – leading us to mission with greater confidence –
it is an armoury, a strategy planner, a help to decision making or discernment, a clarification of our calling and
how to engage in our culture.
