(Photo credit: George Martell/Pilot New Media) Available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives license.
This talk just blows me away. Here are a few excerpts:
The New Evangelization is about being a missionary at home in a world that still thinks of itself as Christian but whose faith is dormant. This is much more difficult than presenting the faith to those who are hearing the Gospel for the first time.
We need to have that same sense of urgency [as people had after the earthquake in Haiti, after the Boston Marathon Bombings] about our brothers and sisters who are spiritually homeless, spiritually naked, spiritually starving, spiritually sick, spiritually abandoned. We can’t be indifferent to them, We can’t turn a blind eye to those around us who need the Gospel but no one is willing to share it with them. [. . .] We are always very quick to help someone when they have material needs, but spiritual needs are just as real.
Today many people say, ‘Oh I’m spiritual but not religious.’ That’s a fraud. Jesus didn’t come to die on the cross . . . so that we could have the warm fuzzies…. It means part of being a community of faith where we have responsibilities to God and one another. Discipleship is not a solo flight. You learn discipleship the way you learn a language by being part of a community that speaks that language.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to the whole catechesis here. It’s so worth it.:
