The greatest poverty is not to have Christ. Like the apostle to the Gentiles, so also to us. "the charity of Christ urges us". to evangelize (2 Cor 5:14). But what can we do to overcome the barrier of indifference and arouse the desire to draw near to the Lord, how can we form these mature Christian personalities in this age, in a pagan, secularized and often hostile environment? itineraries for evangelization that the Holy Spirit wants to awaken in the Church today?
The figure of Jesus Christ
First of all, we must submit the figure of Jesus Christ in a clear and profound, convincing and attractive, experiential and doctrinal way, according to the revelation faithfully transmitted by the Church: true God and true man, incarnation of eternal mercy, redeemer of the world; eternal Word that gives meaning to the cosmos and to history; Light of the world, that reveals definitively the mystery of man; only-begotten Son of the Father, who makes us relatives, beloved children of God; the only Way to go to heaven.
Jesus Christ is the great sign, the definitive proof of the almighty God of Love who comes to meet man.
His life, his works, his teaching, his prophecies, his miracles, his paschal mystery, the trail of sanctification he left in the world, show the consistency of his messianic claim.
Jesus Christ is the great sign, the definitive proof of the almighty God of Love who comes to meet man. He is the universal and complete Savior. He alone gives the ultimate answer to the great human questions. He alone can satisfy with the divine gift the thirst for eternity, the yearning for fullness and true friendship that nestles in every heart.
Facilitating the meeting
Therefore, all evangelizing action consists, essentially, in bringing people and societies to Christ: facilitate the meeting and identification with him, to follow him in joyful obedience.
In this series of reflections on the ways for evangelization in environments of indifference we are inspired by the recent teachings of the Popes and the proposals of Bishop Robert Barron, the founder of Word on fire ( www.wordonfire.orgRobert Barron - John L. Allen, To light a fire on earth. Proclaiming the gospel in a secularized world, Ediciones Palabra).
The rest of the ways that we will present - the Christian community, the beauty of the Gospel, the witness of holiness, cultural dialogue with reason and science, the socio-charitable commitment to justice, character formation, recourse to the sources of grace, the missionary conversion of the Church - are, in reality, explanations of this first and principal one: show the true face of Jesus Christ to the men and women of today.
