It was on May 8, addressing those present for his Mass in
the Vatican’s St. Martha guesthouse, Pope Francis began by returning to the
day’s first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, in which an angel
speaks to the apostle Phillip and tells him to walk along a desert road, on
which he meets an eunuch, whom he baptizes.
Referring to the
importance of being docile when we evangelize, the Pope explained, “He, Philip,
obeys; he’s docile and accepts the calling from the Lord. Certainly, he left
behind many things that he ought to have done, because the apostles in that period
were very busy evangelizing,” he noted; however, “he leaves everything and sets
off.”
“This makes us see that, without this docility or meekness
before the voice of God, nobody can evangelize; nobody can announce Jesus
Christ: At the very most, he will be announcing himself.”
Bringing to mind another important element in evangelizing,
Pope Francis drew attention to how Philip used dialogue when announcing the
Gospel, stating “You can’t evangelize without dialogue. It’s impossible.”
“You must begin from where the person who is to be evangelized
comes from,” he observed, noting that “this is so important.”
“Spend time with that
person because that person is who God wants you to evangelize” he said, adding
that “it’s more important to give him or her the news about Jesus,” but we must
give it to them “according to who he or she is, not how he or she should be -
how he or she is right now.”
Continuing, Pope Francis encouraged attendees to think about
three “moments of evangelization,” naming them as “the docility to evangelize,
to do what God is requesting; secondly, a dialogue with the people — but during
this dialogue, you begin from where these people come from.”
“And, thirdly, trusting in grace. So many times, we people
of the Church are a factory to create obstacles, so people can’t arrive at
grace,” the Pope concluded, praying, “May the Lord help us to understand this.”
The following day, Fr. Thomas Dailey, O.S.F.S., spoke to the
Adult Formation Spring Workshop sponsored by the Philadelphia archdiocesan
Office for the New Evangelization at St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in
Rosemont, PA.
He called for broadening the presence of faith and religion
on the Internet, notably through parish websites and social media.
“The future is already here,” said Father Dailey, a De Sales
University professor and current John Cardinal Foley Chair of Homiletics and
Social Communications at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. “Social media is no
longer optional.”
Radio required 38 years to attain 50 million listeners. The
Internet needed just four years to gain 50 million viewers.
Amazon’s suggestion bar, shown every time someone views a
book or one of thousands of other products, makes people consider buying more, which they often do. The
experience changes the way they think, Father Dailey suggested.
The world, he said, is wired whether we like it or not. He
also entertained bringing these principles to the faith forum and questioned
how to apply Catholic values to the Internet.
“Knowledge is no longer in here,” said Father Dailey, pointing
to himself. “It’s out there, all around us. It’s in the cloud.”
The Internet brings up the dilemma of absence versus presence,
Father Dailey noted. A person can occupy space in close proximity to others but
remain consumed in digital media while maintaining connectedness to a wide
variety of people, friends and information. This individual is present to the
digital sphere but absent to the world around him or her.
Father Dailey also emphasized the ubiquity of the Internet.
The medium is always available and not something an individual turns on and
off.
He emphasized that the way the church speaks and teaches
needs to change with the times because the Internet is now the dominant media
platform.
“The Internet is not just a gadget, gimmick or tool,” Father
Dailey said. “It’s a world.”
News sources: The Boston Pilot, May 16; National Catholic
Register, May 8.
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