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Juan Esquerda Bifet

EVANGELIZING TODAYMissiology

International Centre for Missionary AnimationRome 1994

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INTRODUCTION

Reflecting on evangelization means entering into harmony with a reality that refers to Jesus. He is the «one who was sent» to «preach the good news to the poor» (Lk 4:18). «Mission is an issue of faith, an accurate indicator of our faith in Christ and his love for us» (RMi 11). «We cannot understand or carry out the mission unless we refer it to Christ as the one who was sent to evangelize» (RMi 88).

«Theological» reflection on evangelization may be centred on the nature of mission, on evangelizing activity and on the spirit with which it must be carried out. It is always a theological reflection that seeks to clarify concepts and present an orderly, complete and clear summary of them. We usually call the study of its nature the theology of mission or of evangelization. We call reflection on evangelizing activity pastoral theology, whereas spirituality is a theological reflection on the «spirit» that the evangelizer must have. In this way, «Jesus Christ, the 'light of the nations', shines upon the face of his Church, which he sends forth to the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15). Hence the Church, as the People of God among the nations, while attentive to the new challenges of history and to mankind's efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers to every one the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus Christ and his Gospel» (VS 2).

If Christian communities do not open to the worldwide mission, this closure will be a sign of a lack of evangelical and evangelizing vitality: «Without the mission ad gentes, the Church's very missionary dimension would be deprived of its essential meaning and of the very activity that exemplifies it... Missionary activity ad intra is a credible sign and a stimulus for missionary activity ad extra, and vice versa» (RMi 34).

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Chapter I

FROM CHRIST THE EVANGELIZERTO THE EVANGELIZING CHURCH

Summary: 1. The Risen Jesus among his people. - 2. The Church an evangelizing community - 3. Servants of the ecclesial community. - 4. In the dynamic concept of «mission» and «evangelization».

1. The Risen Jesus among his people

Jesus describes himself as an «apostle» or «missionary», one who is «sent» (Jn 3:17-34; 7:16; 11:2; 17:19; Lk 4:18,19). His mission or sending is «total», it embraces his whole being and his whole work. It is a mission, an «anointing» or consecration (Jn 10:36; 4:18). He exists in order to evangelize and to save the whole of humanity through the preaching of his message and the sacrifice of his life as the Redeemer.

In fact Jesus' mission is prophetic (one of proclamation, of teaching, etc.), sacrificial or priestly (one of immolation, of salvific and cultural signs), pastoral (one of guidance, of closeness, of communication, of service, etc.). The task Jesus received from the Father is to proclaim and communicate his plan for salvation to all men. For this reason his life is centred on the mission received (Jn 10:17-18) to the point of giving his life in sacrifice so as to communicate the divine life or new life in the Spirit (Jn 7:37-39) to all men. Christ's mission, which is then prolonged in the Church, is universal and cosmic.

By dying and rising again, Jesus accomplishes the mission of the Father (Jn 10:18). Humanity has begun its return to God's original plan, which is to make every individual a gift to his brothers as a reflection or image of the God of Love. Jesus now continues this mission becoming present in the world through the ecclesial signs (Mt 28:20). It is a presence that becomes active through the Church's preaching (Mk 16:15) and the salvific and sacramental signs He himself established (Jn 20:21-23; Lk 22:19-20; Mt 28:19).

The Church or community of believers consists of these same salvific signs established by the Lord to prolong his saving mission in all peoples and in all cultures; just as Christ was guided by the Holy Spirit to evangelize, so now the Church is moved by the same Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:4; 4:31).

2. The Church an evangelizing community

The life of the ecclesial community is centred in Christ who is risen and is present. The person of Jesus, his word, his salvific and sacrificial action, his pastoral action, is prolonged in the community. The perspective of this continuation is always missionary and without frontiers: «Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations» (Mt 28:19); «for the life of the world» (Jn 6:51); «And there are other sheep I have» (Jn 10:16); «come to me, all you...» (Mt 11:28).

Present in the ecclesial community, Jesus continues to communicate the mission he has received from the Father and the missionary strength of the

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Spirit (Jn 20:21-22).

The titles that are given to the Church in the New Testament reveal this missionary dimension: body, people, kingdom, sacrament or mystery, wife, mother... The reality of these biblical titles, which all have a missionary dimension, is realized in every ecclesial community (cf. LG II).

All these biblical titles and others attributed to the Church allow us to see the fruitfulness of the Church herself as a sign that brings and is the living instrument of Christ. This is what comprises her missionary nature which is expressed also with the title of mother: «The ecclesial community exercises a truly motherly function in leading souls to Christ by its charity, its prayer, its example and its penitential works» (PO 6). St. Paul felt he was part of this mystery of the «mother Church» (Gal 4:26) when he presented Jesus as «born of a woman» (Gal 4:4) and also through his apostolate (Gal 4:19).

The Church is a mother through each Christian community. In them the Word is received, under the action of the Holy Spirit. «The Church, therefore, in her apostolic work too, rightly looks to her who gave birth to Christ, who was thus conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, in order that through the Church he could be born and increase in the hearts of the faithful. In her life the Virgin has been a model of that motherly love with which all who join in the Church's apostolic mission for the regeneration of mankind should be animated» (LG 65).

The Church's motherly function is the essence of all pastoral action exercised through the signs bringing Christ: prophecy (proclamation), worship (sacrifice, celebration), the sanctifying signs and kingship... The Church, a mother and sign of Christ («mystery») is most able to accomplish her mission when she lives her reality of communion.

The Church has received the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus, who frees her and allows her to bring freedom to others (Jn 20:23). On the day of Pentecost the Church, filled with this same Spirit (Acts 2:4) began to proclaim and witness to the redemption brought by Christ, who died and rose again (Acts 2:23). Thus she becomes a missionary and a mother through the action of the same spirit who urged and sent Jesus to free the poor (Lk 4:18; cf. LG 59; AG 4). «Missionary activity flows immediately from the very nature of the Church» (AG 6). In every new age of evangelization, as in the moment of passing to a new millennium of Christianity, the Church «wishes to prepare for this Jubilee in the Holy Spirit, just as the Virgin of Nazareth in whom the Word was made flesh was prepared by the Holy Spirit» (DEV 66).

The Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus, helps us to understand and experience that «the Church "is not an end unto herself, but rather is fervently concerned to be completely of Christ, in Christ and for Christ, as well as completely of men, among men and for men"» (RMi 19).

3. Servants of the ecclesial community

The ecclesial community is a sign bringing the risen Christ through its services or «ministries». Ecclesial «communion» is established through prophetic services (proclamation of the Word...), liturgical services

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(celebration and animation) and odegenic services (direction, guidance, promotion). These are always signs or services of charity that manifest and prolong the love of the Good Shepherd. They are not signs of «human» power (like privileges or temporal advantages), but signs of «Kenosis» or humiliation and «diaconia», like the gestures of Christ the Redeemer (Phil 2:5-11; Mt 20:26-28; Jn 13:12-17). There is no such thing as a Church born from the «base» or from the «summit», but only a Church the gift of God, a sign of Christ and the fruit of his death on the cross.

The whole community, with all its members, is responsible for these services and ministries, each believer according to his or her own gifts and calling. For this reason, every member of the community must become aware of his or her own calling and of the ministries and services to which he or she is called by Christ, who is risen and is present. The lay state, consecrated life or ministerial priesthood, necessarily complete each other in the evangelizing action, on a local and universal level.

Every Christian, according to his or her own vocation, is a responsible member and servant of an ecclesial community which has universal origins. Each one serves in and from the community according to his or her own charism (ministries and vocation) so as to build the «communion» or universal community (1 Cor 12-13; Rm 12:1-2; 1 Pt 4:7-11).

In the harmony of ecclesial «communion», each individual exercises the mission that derives from his or her own special charism and that is realized in and from his or her own ecclesial community.

It is the whole ecclesial community, in every place and time (local or particular Church, etc.) that prolongs the mission of Jesus which has universal and all-embracing dimensions (Mt 28:19-20). In this way Jesus prolongs his presence, his message, his salvific, sacrificial and pastoral action through time. The ecclesial community and every member really enjoys the characteristics of an «apostle» or messenger.

Sharing Christ's mission means undertaking to devote one's life to evangelization. Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) so as to become a saint and an apostle (Acts 3:28, 4:31).

The apostle, like the whole community, is definitively oriented towards the paschal mystery (Acts 1:22; 2:32), which needs to be announced, represented (celebrated), communicated and lived.

4. The dynamic concept of mission and evangelization

The concept of mission originates from this same reality or life of the Church: to prolong Christ. Evangelizing today and in every age means and will always mean putting the missionary mandate of Christ into practice, which constitutes the nature of the Church herself. From Christ the evangelizer one proceeds to the evangelizing Church. Hence missionary activity does not come from an intellectual process, but it is the Church's very reality.

Theology or the theologies of mission are a more or less circumstantial and always necessary reflection, starting from a fact of faith, which is an

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integral part of Christ's mystery.

In order to deepen the concept of mission we must prayerfully consult the revealed word as it is preached and lived by the Church. And we must also question the servants of the word in the theological field and in the practical field of missionary activity.

In the Church there is always the action of the Risen Christ, the Son of God, who continues to communicate his Spirit (Church mystery), makes her a sacramental brotherhood (Church communion) so as to send her to all peoples (Church mission). The dimensions and also the discussions about mission will sway or accentuate, without being either exclusive or excluding, some of these aspects indicated and many others that can be sensed: trinitarian (salvific designs), christological (the mandate of Christ), pneumatological (gifts of the Spirit), ecclesiological, anthropological, eschatological (hope), contemplative, spiritual, dialogic, «incarnational» dimension, etc.

In reality all these dimensions complete each other and postulate each other in the Mystery of Christ, perfect God and perfect man, who lives in the Church. Every concept of mission and every dimension of mission must leave free the ever living Word of the Lord, which has virtues and nuances open to infinite possibilities: «I am sending you...» (Jn 20:21), «Go»... (Mt 28:19).

The Church's Mission has its origins in the God of Love (trinitarian dimension), it is accomplished according to Christ's mandate (christological dimension), under the action of the Spirit (pneumatological dimension) in order to save man in all his integrity (anthropological dimension) and lead all humanity and the whole cosmos towards the final recapitulation (eschatological dimension). This ecclesial dimension of mission is realized in a suitable pastoral action that does not forget the aspects of closeness, of immanence, of transcendence, of action, of witness, of contemplation, of prophetism, of dialogue, of inculturation. All these dimensions are found in the person and in the doctrine of Jesus.

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Chapter II

THE NATURE OF EVANGELIZATION

Summary: 1. Basic concepts of mission and evangelization. - 2. Goal, content and means of evangelization. - 3. Beneficiaries and workers for evangelization. - 4. Special characteristics and conditionings of time and place. 5. Theology, pastoral and spirituality of evangelization.

1. Basic concepts of the missionary pastoral: mission and evangelization

The reference point for mission is always the person of Christ and his message. «Mission is an issue of faith, an accurate indicator of our faith in Christ and his love for us... This is why the Church's mission derives not only from the Lord's mandate but also from the profound demands of God's life within us» (RMi 11).

Mission and evangelization are complementary terms and are frequently used as equivalent terms. «Mission» is the act of sending, the «mandate»: Christ sent by the Father and the Spirit, sends the «apostles» (Jn 20:21). «Evangelization» is the realization of the mission received: Christ sent to bring the Good News to the poor (Lk 4:18) sends the apostles to «proclaim the Good News to all creation» (Mk 16:15). Therefore the «apostles» are sent («missionaries») to proclaim the «Gospel» or the «Good News» («evangelizers») (AG 6).

The starting point for mission is the divine predestination, the incarnation of the Word through the work of the Holy Spirit and the paschal mystery of Christ the Redeemer, who died and is risen, who sends his Spirit.

In the New Testament evangelizing action has different names: evangelization or the joyful proclamation of the Good News (Lk 2:10 ff), witness or «martyrdom» (Acts 2:32), «Kerygma» or first proclamation (Rm 1:1-7), etc. The goal of proclamation or witness is necessarily the «cultual» celebration of what has been proclaimed («liturgy»), always in the «service» of one's brothers («diaconia»), so as to build up the «community» («koinonia»). Its goal is always God's «glory» («doxa»): that God may be glorified by man, saved by Christ, in the Spirit. «To evangelize is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit» (EN 26).

Therefore evangelization is the joyful proclamation or communication of the salvific event of Jesus (Lk 2:10ff). The evangelizing action of the Lord reaches all people (Lk 2:10; 3:18), preferably the poor (Lk 4:18; 7:22). Now, starting from Pentecost, it is realized in the world, through the Church. From the concept of «mission» one goes on to the concept of «evangelization» with the same dimensions or perspectives: trinitarian, christological, pneumatological, ecclesilogical, pastoral, spiritual...

2. Goal, content and means of evangelization

The objective or goal of evangelization is the same one that appears in the evangelizing activity of Jesus and the apostles. Jesus proclaims the Good News in order to call people to direct their whole lives according to charity. Man is called to «return» (conversion) and to re-direct his life according to God's saving designs in Christ. This is the mission that the Lord entrusted to his disciples and to the whole Church (EN 18; RMi 45-46).

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If this evangelizing action is to have profound effects, those sent («apostles») by Jesus must carry out their services («ministries») in such a way that they permanently reach the heart of people and the foundation of every community (EN 19).

We speak of «implanting the Church» when we wish to establish in the concrete (local) human community the permanent signs of the presence and action of the risen Lord. Hence «the mission of the Church is carried out by means of that activity through which, in obedience to Christ's command and moved by the grace and love of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes itself fully present to all men and peoples in order to lead them to the faith, freedom and peace of Christ by the example of its life and teaching, by the sacraments and other means of grace. Its aim is to open up for all men a free and sure path to full participation in the mystery of Christ» (AG 5). One can know whether the Church is implanted in a community by its ability to be an evangelizer itself (RMi 48-50).

In fact «the special end of this missionary activity is the evangelization and the implanting of the Church among peoples or groups in which it has not yet taken root» (AG 6; RMi 48).

The contents of evangelization are in harmony with its purpose. This is to present the God of Love, who revealed himself in the person and message of Jesus the Son of God, and to show his salvific signs and his closeness to man. In other words, it is the same content of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost: Jesus, the Son of God made man, who died and rose again, who lives among us and journeys with us and calls us to a personal and community encounter with Him («conversion», faith) so as to be conformed to him («baptism») (Acts 2:14-41). «To evangelize is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit» (EN 26; cf. RMi 16).

The means of evangelization are those that correspond to these essential elements, just like the objective or goal of evangelizing action. They are the means that Christ himself established and which must be realized by applying them to every personal and community human situation: witness, the explicit proclamation of the Gospel message, pastoral dialogue, the celebration of Christ's mysteries (liturgy), services for the building up of the community, in love... All these fundamental means (prophecy, worship, guidance and animation) need to be made more concrete: catechesis on all levels, personal contacts, closeness to those who suffer, popular religiousness, means of communication, etc. (cf. EN 40-48; RMi 41-60).

3. Beneficiaries and workers for evangelization

The mission that Jesus communicated to the Church to evangelize all nations (Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15) indicates that the beneficiaries of this evangelization are all human beings without exception, whatever their situation. «Christ died for all» (2 Cor 5:15); «he wants everyone to be saved and to reach full knowledge of the truth» (1 Tim 2:4).

Missionary universality has no frontiers and embraces the geographical level (all nations), the human level (all people) and the sectorial level (all fundamental or vital points of society). «These multitudes have the right to know the riches of the mystery of Christ» (EN 53; cf. RMi 31-40).

This universality, which comes from the very nature of redemption and of the Church, indicates that all believers and the entire ecclesial community are responsible for

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evangelization, also in its dimension «ad gentes» or dimension of first evangelization.

The mission that Christ communicated to the Church is shared by all Christians though in different ways and degrees. Through the command of charity and baptism, every Christian is a Gospel worker (charismatic mission or one of charity) within the ecclesial communion and, at times, through a special appointment from the Church herself (hierarchical mission). The way in which an individual participates in this mission, as a missionary worker, can be the result of a sacrament, of a particular charism, of a special appointment from the Church, etc. For this reason the duties of evangelization are different and harmonic.

Generally speaking, pastoral workers can be divided into: laity, religious or «consecrated» persons and priests-ministers. Every pastoral worker must act in harmony and in communion with the particular and universal Church because «evangelization is for no one an individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial» (EN 60).

4. Special characteristics and conditionings of place and time

The Word of God in its totality reaches man in his own particular circumstances, adaptation to these circumstances must safeguard the autonomy and divine initiative of the Gospel. The «inculturation» of the Gospel is carried out mostly starting from a greater deepening of the Word of God that is «incarnated» in human history. «Indigenization» with regard to the «authenticity» of a people, is an encouragement and incentive to present the history of salvation centred in Christ, the universal Saviour, in a better manner. It means reaching a concrete human situation in order to love it, purify it and transform it (cf. EN 19; RMi 37-38).

The Pauline norm of «making myself all things to all men» (1 Cor 9:22) sums up a whole series of the attitudes of the evangelizer who approaches man and the concrete community (1 Cor 9:19-23).

Presenting and applying the Gospel message is a profound fidelity that presupposes that the evangelizer himself must practice permanent conversion, contemplation and a life of poverty (AG 11).

Coordinates of time and place do not condition the Gospel message in itself, however the evangelizer must proclaim it without equivocating and without destroying the «preparation for the Gospel» and the «seeds of the Word» contained in human cultures and in the heart of individuals. The mystery of the incarnation is prolonged in some way through evangelization until it reaches every human situation and saves it by bringing it to fullness in Christ.

Every human situation has a previous history that must be interpreted in the context of the universal salvific history, starting from Christ who died and is risen.

5. Theology, pastoral and spirituality of evangelization

The proclamation of the Gospel or «evangelization» has a nature and characteristics that appear only in the light of the word of God and of Jesus himself «the one sent to evangelize» (Lk 4:18).

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Evangelization has many aspects which we will study in the later chapters. Here it suffices to remember the nature of mission (in Christ and in the Church), missionary activity itself, the quality of evangelizers, etc.

After the conciliar decree «Ad Gentes», the apostolic exhortation «Evangelii Nuntiandi» and the encyclical «Redemptoris Missio», the mission themes can be set out mainly on three important levels:

Theological level: what is mission? (AG I; EN I-III; RMi I-III).

Operative level: A) how should missionary activity be carried out? (AG II, III, V; EN IV-V; RMi IV-V); B) mission workers (AG IV; VI; EN VI; RMi V); C) animation of the Christian community to make it become missionary (AG VI; EN VI; RMi VII).

Spiritual level: how mission should be lived by individual apostles and all the community (AG IV; EN VII; RMi VIII).

Theology examines the nature of mission; pastoral theology studies how missionary activity should be carried out; spirituality is concerned with the inner attitudes of evangelization.

The conciliar and post-conciliar orientations are a reference point for a genuine theology, pastoral and spirituality of mission. From the theology of mission one easily passes to pastoral theology and spirituality. In fact, in its practical aspect mission becomes social action. From Christ's «mandate» («sending», «mission») one goes on to pastoral activity and the coherent life (spirituality) of individuals and communities. The «spirit» of mission and evangelizing activity develops starting from the love of the Good Shepherd.

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Chapter III

PASTORAL FOR THE FIRST EVANGELIZATIONAND THE IMPLANTATION OF THE CHURCH

Summary: 1. Pastoral for conversion. - 2. Pastoral for Christian initiation. - 3. Implanting the Church.

1. Pastoral for conversion

The pastoral for the first evangelization is precisely the pastoral for the «first proclamation» (kerygma) in view of the «foundation of the Church»; this is so that the salvific signs established by Jesus will remain permanently in the community of believers.

This proclamation and presentation is a call for conversion in order to meet Christ by rearranging one's life and being conformed to Him («baptism»). The goal of proclamation, personal witness and the call is to make people participate in the salvific reality of Christ present in the liturgical and sacramental celebrations, so as to transform people and society in accordance with charity.

«Conversion» or «repentance» is a process of profound change in attitudes or in the «mind» and life (metanoia) in order to open to God's plans of salvation in Christ, that is to say, in order to enter the Kingdom which is «near at hand», among us. The aim of this change, openness or «return» towards God is conformation to Christ («baptism»). It is «a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and his Gospel through faith» (RMi 46).

Jesus began his preaching, «kerygma», by calling for conversion or repentance (Mk 1:5), offering the joy and peace of forgiveness (Lk 15:1 ff) without excluding anyone (Lk 5:32). The apostles were sent to call people to conversion (Mk 6:12) also on a universal level (Mt 28:19-20; Lk 24-47). So in the first proclamation of the Gospel or first evangelization, Peter proclaimed the paschal message in order to invite people to conversion and baptism (Acts 2:38).

Conversion is achieved through the action of grace (gift of the Holy Spirit) and at the same time through the human collaboration of free and generous openness to this action. It is always a gift from God, a «mystery of our religion» (1 Tim 3:15) which strives to expel «the mystery of lawlessness» (2 Th 2:7).

Different moments of this process of conversion can be distinguished: conversion from lack of faith to belief in God, from paganism to Christianity, from sin to grace, from an ordinary life to perfection, from expectation and searching to a generous response to a vocation or to a concrete charism and to new graces, etc (cf. AG 7-9; 13-15; EN 17-14; RMi 46-47).

The call for Christian conversion does not humiliate anyone since on this earth no one has yet reached the fullness of the encounter with the risen Christ and with the God of Love. Conversion is a constant change of heart and of personal and community attitudes in order to «go back» to recovering man's primitive aspect, as the image of God. Therefore it is conversion to the God of Love, and thus conversion to one's brothers and sisters and to the true reality of oneself and the world.

The pastoral for conversion has the sacraments of baptism and reconciliation as its goal, as its arrival and starting-point in an unlimited process of conformation to Christ. Hence

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the principal means and expressions of this conversion or «repentance» («metanoia») are three: prayer, sacrifice and alms-giving.

Pastoral action in the call for conversion (which is essential for evangelization) must adopt an attitude of dialogue with those called to faith or to a deeper practice of this faith.

2. The pastoral Christian initiation

All pastoral action is centred on the proclamation of the paschal mystery of Christ, who died and rose again, and on the call to faith, conversion and baptism (Mt 28:19). As a rite and sacrament, baptism is an arrival point after the first response to faith, which becomes conversion, but it is also the starting-point for an unlimited process of conformation to Christ, whose final goal is the fullness of the encounter in the next world. The Holy Spirit, whom Peter promises on the Lord's behalf to those who receive baptism (Acts 2:38), forgives sins and leads man to a «new life» (Rm 6:4) which is a new birth «through water and the Spirit» (Jn 3:5).

Being baptized means being «clothed in Christ» (Gal 3:27) to share in a «new creation» (2 Cor 5:17; cf. (Rm 6:1-11). Therefore the pastoral action for baptism requires a catechesis that will prepare the individual to receive «what God is offering» (Jn 4:10) and to then live the requirements of baptism itself, which are those that correspond to one who «has been brought back to true life with Christ», setting aside the «old self» in order to live in Christ as the «new self» (Col 3:1-17).

The process of configuration to Christ is a preparation and life committed to entering into harmony with his criteria (of faith), his scale of values (hope) and his attitudes of self-giving to the Father and one's brothers (charity and moral virtues). It is an unlimited process of shared divine filiation (1 Pt 2:2).

The «baptismal» process of conformation to Christ is completed in the sacrament of confirmation. The sacramental gifts of the Holy Spirit (sacramental «nature» and grace) make the Christian a defender and herald of the faith. The apostolate (mission) and witness of martyrdom rooted in baptism are perfected in confirmation, the second sacrament of Christian initiation.

The pastoral for baptism and confirmation has been called the pastoral for Christian initiation. In some (Oriental) Churches also the Eucharist has this meaning of initiation to the Christian mysteries.

3. Implanting the Church

«Implanting the Church» is the goal of missionary pastoral action: «The special end of this missionary activity is the evangelization and implanting of the Church among peoples or groups in which it has not yet taken root» (AG 6; cf. RMi 48).

Actually it is a normal process that begins with the first proclamation of the Gospel and that gradually reaches a certain degree of maturity until the same evangelized community becomes an evangelizing community (LG 17; AG 5-6). In the Pauline texts a process of ecclesial communion is indicated so that the different charisms and vocations may help to build the ecclesial community. «Since you aspire to spiritual gifts, concentrate on

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those which will grow to benefit the community» (1 Cor 14:12; cf. St. Thomas, Somma Theologica I, q. 43, a. 7, to 6 etc.).

Generally speaking the theme is applied particularly to recently established Churches, but, in reality, it is a permanent process that is an integral part of the whole pastoral.

In itself this theme notably belongs to mission theology. Missiologists have put forward different, complementary theories to define the nature of missionary activity «ad gentes»: propagating the faith, calling for conversion and baptism, making ecclesial communities mature as the «universal sacrament of salvation», strengthening the younger particular Churches, fulfilling Christ's command to evangelize all nations, etc. The implantation of the Church as a process of growth and maturation must include all these elements, but in our study we shall limit ourselves to indicating some pastoral rules to attain this objective.

The goal of the implantation of the Church has many pastoral implications since it is not only a question of rooting the Gospel in every people (geographical aspect), but also and especially of reaching the vital points or areas of society. It must reach the criteria, the scale of values and structures where man lives and works. In a particular way evangelizing action must reach, as a stable service, the family, young people, the field of work, of culture, of art, education, politics, economy, sport..

The Christian community grows through a process of listening to the Word of God and the celebration of the salvific mysteries and through the services of interrelationship and help. A Christian community is considered to be fairly well established when it benefits from these ministries exercised permanently and fundamentally by people called from the same community or people (particular or local Church). These believers can be lay persons, consecrated persons or priests. The process of growth is manifested in these ministries and vocations, but it presupposes a community that listens to the word, prays, celebrates, loves and evangelizes.

The pastoral for the implantation of the Church takes particular account of the circumstances of place, time, culture, situation, etc. Through this missionary pastoral, the community becomes an evangelizing community.

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Chapter IV

THE PATHS OF EVANGELIZATION

Summary: 1. Pastoral for the Word. - 2. The liturgical pastoral. -3. Building up the ecclesial community in charity. - 4. The pastoral for dialogue and inculturation. - 5. The pastoral for human promotion and liberation.

1. Pastoral for the Word

The Word of God is for the salvation of all men (DV 1,7) and it is proclaimed in order to prepare the way for Jesus himself who is the centre of this message (DV 3-4). Proclamation leads to celebration, to practice and personal and community commitment. The Church was established by Christ in order to be the living proclamation of the Gospel and a sign bringing salvation to all men (AG 36, 39).

In the Word of God the whole mystery of Christ, which reveals the mystery of man, is proclaimed and communicated. Speaking to us of his Son (Heb 1:11), God reveals his mystery to us and the meaning of human history. The mystery of Christ, hidden for ages in God, was manifested and communicated to us in time: in creation, in the revelation, in the incarnation and redemption. Now it is present and operative in the signs of the Church so as to be communicated to all men and bring all people to the fullness of the final encounter with him (Eph 1-3; Rom 6:25-27).

The same Spirit who inspired the sacred texts and who accomplishes the incarnation in Mary's womb, now animates the Church so that she may transmit the Word of God to all mankind (Jn 20:21-22; Acts 1:8). It is a Word that invades man's whole being; hence it is «alive and active» (Heb 4:12), as «the truth» (Jn 17:17) that reveals the truth about man and the world. By receiving the Word of God, people and communities are built «on the rock» (Lk 6:47-49).

Every pastoral action is related to proclamation. The celebration and practice of the message that is proclaimed becomes celebration and personal and community life. It is always the mystery of Christ as the paschal mystery that is proclaimed, celebrated and lived.

It is Christ himself who continues to speak: «He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church» (SC 7). Like the primitive Church, every community lives from the «teaching of the Apostles» in order to celebrate the Eucharist and live in brotherhood (Acts 2:42). Jesus gives the Apostles his Word (Lk 10:16; cf. Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15; cf. DV 7).

The Word is preached as it is, in all its entirety, for all men, for the whole of man and in every human situation. Every service of the Word requires the living witness of the evangelizer as an integral part of the proclamation (Acts 1:1; 1 Jn 1:1 ff). Proclamation becomes witness and giving: «The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission» (RMi 42). «For the Church, the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one's neighbour with limitless zeal» (EN 41).

The proclamation of the Word gathers the community as the People of God who accept by believing, celebrate by praising and want to live the requirements of the Gospel message. The celebration of the mystery of Christ, proclaimed in preaching, is carried out mainly in the liturgy and, in a particular way, in the Eucharist and in the sacraments.

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The proclamation of the Word is carried out on varying practical levels in which the whole prophetic pastoral is focused. The first proclamation (kerygma) may be described as pre-evangelization or the first call to faith. This first proclamation is accomplished above all in the evangelization «ad gentes», but in fact this service is necessary in a permanent form in every community. The catechumenate or «neo-catechumenate» is a period of formation in view of the celebration of baptism or the renewal of the baptismal promises. Catechesis in the true sense of the word is preparation to enter a new period of life which is normally marked by a sacrament or by a liturgical celebration (baptism, confirmation, marriage, etc.). Didascalia («teaching») is a higher or specialized preparation, generally oriented to animators or community leaders. There are always many forms of proclamation which could be as many ministries, above all when it is a question of a more practical level, including the field of means of social communication, informational science, etc. (cf. IM 3-7, 16).

The Word preached creates witnesses. Witness and apostolic preaching call forth new servants of the Word in the ecclesial community, each one according to his or her own vocation or charism. All believers participate in a different way and to a special degree in the prophetic ministry of Christ.

Pastors, theologians and researchers, parents, educators and teachers, catechists and all those who have received the Word of God generously in their hearts and lives are his servants. Serving the Word means opening one's heart to his requirements of contemplation, holiness, proclamation and witness.

Service of the Word must reach all sectors of the ecclesial and human community, believers and non-believers, through oral proclamation and written publications.

2. The liturgical pastoral

The aim of pastoral action is that the signs of the presence and saving action of the risen Christ should be established in every human community. It is what is called «the implanting of the Church» (AG 6).

In fact the pastoral is always centred on the paschal mystery of Christ, who died and rose again in order to proclaim this mystery, celebrate it and communicate it (Acts 2:2; 32-47). The celebration of this mystery is the central point and justification for all the salvific signs established by Jesus, which are fulfilled mainly in the liturgy. It is in the same liturgical celebration that the Word of Jesus is prolonged with greater effectiveness and the redeeming mystery is accomplished. In this way by celebrating the liturgy the ecclesial community becomes aware of its universal missionary dimension (cf. SC 2).

The Christian community becomes «a sign lifted up among the nations» (SC 2; Is 11:12) especially when it celebrates the mystery of the redemption, assimilates it through faith and transforms it into the Christian commitment of charity. «The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows. For the goal of apostolic endeavor is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of his Church, to take part in the Sacrifice and to eat the Lord's Supper» (SC 10).

The liturgy is a group of signs bringing the active and salvific presence of the Risen Christ into the ecclesial community. The work of salvation is accomplished through the

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proclamation, celebration and communication of the paschal mystery (cf. SC 7). The missionary dimension of the liturgy is manifested, therefore, by the fact that it is «an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ» (SC 7), who is the universal Mediator. In this salvific work «Christ always associates the Church with himself... The Church is his beloved bride» (ibidem).

In fact the community begins to be missionary from the day of its baptism, after believing the Gospel message. Listening to the word and celebrating the Eucharist, the community becomes aware of Jesus' missionary mandate (Mk 16:15). It is this community that listens to the teaching of the apostles and celebrates the breaking of the bread, which sets out to evangelize with boldness (Acts 2:42; 4:29:31).

Missionary vocations arise and mature in the encounter with Christ present in the liturgical signs, especially in his Word, in the sacraments and in the Eucharist (Acts 13:4). Thus there arises the desire to «proclaim the Lord's death until he comes» (1 Cor 11:26).

The goal of apostolic work is that the believing community should celebrate Christ's paschal mystery and, at the same time, this liturgical celebration is the source of all evangelization (cf. SC 10; PO 5).

Sacraments are effective signs, bringing the salvific presence and action of the Risen Christ to the Church. The whole Church is a «sacrament» as a clear sign and instrument. However the Church's greatest sacramentality is manifested in the seven signs, called «sacraments», instituted by the Lord, at least in their fundamental elements.

These sacramental signs established by the Lord express the direction relationship with mission and evangelization: «Go... make disciples of all the nations; baptise them» (Mt 28:19). They are «sacraments of the faith», because «they not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it» (SC 59). Christ's mission is prolonged in the Church in order to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples so that in every community and in every people the sacramental salvific signs bringing salvation in Christ may be celebrated.

The sacraments of initiation (baptism and confirmation in particular) are part of the pastoral for the first proclamation and for the foundation of the Church. The Eucharist is the «source and summit of all evangelization» (PO 5). This is manifested by the fact that «the other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it» (ibidem). The sacrament of reconciliation requires a particular pastoral precisely because of its power of «conversion» to God's saving designs. The anointing of the sick conforms us to the sufferings of Christ, the redeemer of all, in order to «complete» his sufferings in us (Col 1:24). Holy Orders appoints those who have received them «to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ» (LG 11). The sacrament of Matrimony creates the Christian family based on unity, fruitfulness and indissolubility, as a participation in the «mystery of the unity and faithful love between Christ and the Church (cf. Eph 5:32).

Liturgical prayer is an integral part of all sacramental celebration, especially in the sacrifice and sacrament of the Eucharist. Sometimes it is carried out within another liturgical celebration related to the Word of God which is heard, so as to transform it into humble contemplation and a committed response.

In order to understand and live the pastoral for liturgical prayer, it is necessary to

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refer to the liturgy of the Hours. The Christian community is frequently called together to listen to the divine Word, to celebrate the mysteries and praise God (SC 84). In every liturgical prayer, but especially in the liturgy of the Hours, Christ's prayer is prolonged (cf. SC 83).

3. Building up the ecclesial community in charity

The missionary nature of the Church and of every Christian community, as «the universal sacrament of salvation», is expressed in the harmony of communion among all members of the People of God (LG II). In every Christian community there must be a striving for perfection and mission, in communion with the universal Church. The level of communion, brotherhood and charity of an ecclesial community becomes its level and capacity for the local and universal missionary dimension.

The overall pastoral or pastoral for communion is a necessity that comes from this reality of communion and mission. The community is called together and built up through a process of evangelization that makes it evangelized and evangelizing. Evangelization makes the community more prophetic, liturgical and diaconal, through a harmonious growth of communion that leads to mission.

Starting from the preaching of the Word, the Gospel seed grows so that Christian communities are formed around the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of all preaching of the Gospel (cf. LG 11; PO 5). The ecclesial community must be organized in such a way that each of its members may find his or her own specific vocation and the necessary means to persevere in it.

The community becomes a school of life in Christ through all its members. In it one finds out about the encounter with Christ. In this community school, not only is a suitable catechesis given, but one is taught to follow the whole path of Christian perfection, one is educated for the experiential encounter with Christ, as a relational attitude of prayer and fraternal commitment, which comes from faith, hope and charity. Only starting from this common basis of Christian spirituality can one understand the specific charism and the special characteristics of each person, group or institution.

Every school of life in Christ is, by its very nature, a school of ecclesial communion, since the Church is the extension of Christ in time. The community is built up in charity, which is brotherhood with Christ.

The communion of the local Church, which includes all the local communities: parish, basic communities, apostolic community or community of perfection, family, etc., must be built up within this universal Church communion.

The primitive ecclesial community will always be the reference point or incentive for applying the commandment of love everywhere and always: «They remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread (Eucharist) and to the prayers... The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common» (Acts 2:42-44).

The community that listens to the word, that prays and celebrates the mysteries of Christ, necessarily becomes a community that loves, above all sharing the gift of faith with all its brothers and sisters (near and far). Those who are able to share the faith will also be able to share culture, work, means of subsistence, etc.

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Every member of the community is an integral part of a path of fraternal communion towards full conformation to Christ and towards the mission to make the Gospel known to all men. The community is a school of missionary awareness to the extent in which it makes the mystery and the communion of the Church live for its believers. The missionary dimension of every ecclesial community is the genuine expression of conformation to Christ and, therefore, of participation in the consecration and mission of the Lord.

Institutions, groups and apostolic movements and those of perfection are characterized by an aspect or charism relevant to their foundation, which perceives the common Christian spirituality in a special way (e.g. stressing some virtues) or even the preferences for particular apostolic fields and for a way of fellowship (e.g. community or group life). They may be lay, priestly, or religious or even mixed. With these special characteristics they are incorporated in the ecclesial community (particular Church, parish, etc.). Their school of missionary awareness allows different charisms of the missionary spirit, apostolic action and fraternal life to be seen as in integral part of ecclesial communion for the local and universal mission (1 Cor 12-13; LG 7,8,12).

These organized forms of Christian and apostolic life have the seal of authenticity when they respect the necessary reference to their pastors as the foundation of unity in every particular Church (LG 23). Because of their inter-ecclesial availability, the special characteristics and variety of graces and charisms demand greater communion with the Church: in the field of ecclesial pastoral action, there is no such thing as «exemption» in the strict sense of the word since there is harmony between the different apostolic charisms only if the charism of the apostolic succession in one's own bishop is accepted. Some lay institutions receive a mission to work in the name of the Church (AA 16-22).

«The future of humanity passes by way of the family» (FC 86). Man is fulfilled as the image of God when he makes his life a gift. «Marriage and virginity or celibacy are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the covenant of God with his people» (FC 16). Thus the family pastoral will have an influence on vocations of consecration to God. At the same time, fidelity to the consecrated vocation is an indispensable aspect of the family pastoral.

The starting point for the Christian family pastoral is Christ, the spouse of the Church, who transforms the life of the family into a marriage with Him. In this way the covenant or pact of love with Christ, who loved the Church to the point of dying for her, is fulfilled (Eph 5:25-27; cf. FC 13). The missionary nature of the Church is realized in some way in every Christian community. The family, as the domestic Church (LG 11; AA 11) reflects the mystery of the Church communion and mission.

The aim of missionary pastoral action is to make the whole ecclesial community, and especially the local Church, an evangelizing community. A community cannot be effectively evangelized unless it is at the same time, from its very beginning, made responsible for local and universal evangelization

It is the ecclesial community, and more concretely the particular or local Church that undertakes the work of evangelization through individuals and institutions. This means reorganizing all the essential elements of the community in order to fulfil Christ's missionary mandate.

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4. The pastoral for dialogue and inculturation

All pastoral action is based on the communication of the Word of God to human beings. The fact that we have received this Word (namely, the Gospel of Christ) involves the responsibility to transmit it to all people. The missionary pastoral is accomplished through dialogue. The human word is still relevant above all when it is accompanied by witness (EN 42; cf. RMi 55-57).

«The Church... has a communication to make» or a dialogue to enter into in every human community. «The very nature of the gifts which Christ has given the Church demands that they be extended to others and shared with others» (Ecclesiam suam 64). Evangelizing dialogue is the path of faith: «Faith comes from what is preached» (Rom 10:17).

In the Gospel it is Christ himself who gives an example of evangelizing dialogue. «Dialogue should be conducted and implemented with the conviction that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation» (RMi 55).

Some characteristic and fundamental aspects of this dialogue could be indicated in order to be sure of its authenticity and hence, of its evangelizing value. These are: truth and charity (cf. Eph 4:1-5). This fundamental attitude can be summarized in four points: clarity in thought and word, meekness and amiability in personal behaviour, trust in what the other says, prudence that makes allowances for the situation and circumstances of individuals (cf. Ecclesiam suam 81).

Being «all things to all men» (1 Cor 9:22) presupposes that the evangelizer must harmonize and share people's concerns and concrete environment with them. «Dialogue thrives on friendship, and most especially on service» (Ecclesiam suam 87). The ecclesial community must be organized in such a way that it lives and manifests a permanent attitude and service of evangelizing dialogue. Within the ecclesial community dialogue is the specific contribution of each person and each institution, with their different charisms, ministries and vocations.

Evangelization anywhere and in any age has to face the problem of how it can penetrate into a concrete human situation, so that it may reach the person and the community. The basic elements and the background of this situation always have a cultural origin. Culture is the sum total of standards, values and attitudes before man's reality and that of the cosmos, in their sociological and historical circumstance, and in their dimension of transcendence or with regard to the world-to-come (in relation to God). The principal elements of a culture can be observed in its basic attitudes regarding life, the family, society, religion... (GS 53).

For the pastoral of «inculturation» the important thing are the stages, or the path that must be followed, both in order to be faithful to the Gospel and to preserve the cultural values. Thus we can speak of three stages: respectful acceptance of the values of a culture, discernment in purifying what is not really of value in the light of the Gospel (conversion), the raising of cultural values to their perfection so that the Gospel message may be suitably expressed. In this process, the cultural values of a nation reach a relative fullness which builds up the universal human community. Every authentic cultural value must achieve this universalism, saved by Christ the Redeemer (RH 12; LG 13, 17; AG 3, 10-11, 22; CT 53; RMi 52-54).

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This pastoral of «inculturation» must reach all areas and all levels of culture: habits, standards, scale of values, language, ethics, social life, art... However, there is a tension between two tendencies: 1) anthropological, sociological and historical tendency that relativizes transcendent values (a tendency that grew starting from Hegel); 2) the transcendental philosophical tendency that considers permanent principles (conscience) and religion as the central and inalienable values of every culture.

The goal of ecumenical dialogue is to build up the universal unity of the Church so that all Christians may live together in union guided by the same Spirit, by the same faith and by the same pastors established by Christ. There should already be this fraternal dialogue and encounter within every Christian community.

True dialogue cannot be reduced to syncretism nor to easy agreements, but it must be based on truth and charity. The reference point for ecumenical dialogue is the person and message of Christ. There is a real convergence with our «separated» brethren when there is a vital convergence with Christ. Every dialogue and especially ecumenical dialogue requires a permanent conversion in order to enter into greater harmony with the mystery of Christ in all its entirety.

There are three principal directions that can include all the Christian religions that already acknowledge the fundamental dogmas and especially Christ's divinity and resurrection. Christians of the «Reformation» («Protestants») lay great emphasis on grace (faith, Scripture...) (cf. UR 19-23). Christians from the Orthodox Churches give much importance to liturgical signs and to the progress of spiritual life (UR 14-18). Catholics present the faith in accordance with the ecclesial signs established by Christ (successor of Peter and Hierarchy in general).

Evangelizing action gives great emphasis to the proclamation of the Mystery of Christ in order to call all people to an encounter with him. Christ's missionary mandate will not be fulfilled unless there is this proclamation and this explicit call. However, the way in which this evangelizing action is carried out is made up of various forms of dialogue, in which each person may freely express his or her beliefs and listen with respect, trying to understand the beliefs of others. «Interreligious» dialogue takes place between believers (individuals and communities) of different religions.

This interreligious dialogue can be included among the privileged means of «pre-evangelization» (cf. EN 51; RMi 55-57). The immediate goal of this interreligious dialogue is not the conversion of the other, but a reciprocal exchange of viewpoints about religion so that they may be known and respected. So this dialogue must not be confused with evangelization. Though it is not the same as «inculturation» (cf. n. 2), interreligious dialogue is certainly a privileged means for penetrating into the religious culture of other peoples and understanding it from the inside. At the same time, for the Christian, it is an invitation to again discover his own specific religious experience starting from faith, namely, the mystery of Christ who rose again and is present.

5. The pastoral for human promotion and liberation

The characteristic's of Jesus' pastoral activity were closeness and transcendence. The Lord approached the concrete man in his social and political situation in order to proclaim the message of the beatitudes to him. This closeness of Jesus' for the sake of evangelizing the poor (Lk 4:18; Mt 11;5) is diametrically distinguished from the Messianisms of all ages which

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are reflected in the temptations in the desert (Mt 4:1-11). The Church's missionary pastoral is the extension of the Lord's pastoral.

This liberating pastoral is accomplished especially as an evangelizing action that comes from the mystery of the Church, as a sign of Christ and as a communion or family of brothers who work together to extend God's Kingdom. This liberating pastoral would not be possible without the renewal of the Christian community.

Building up the community in charity includes the overall human promotion of the community itself. Christian life has its roots in temporal reality so that it may be brought to perfection in Christ and according to the Gospel message. The Gospel reaches man in his concrete sociological and historical circumstances in order to help him to grow in these same directions: social, political, cultural, family...

Human promotion is not only welfare activity (which is indispensable and a requirement of charity) but its principal aim is to allow people and groups to be strengthened and to develop alone (promotional charity). «But evangelization would not be complete if it did not take account of the unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of man's concrete life, both personal and social. This is why evangelization involves an explicit message, adapted to the different situations constantly being realized, about the rights and duties of every human being, about family life without which personal growth and development is hardly possible, about life in society, about international life, peace, justice and development - a message especially energetic today about liberation» (EN 29).

The close relationship between evangelization and human promotion does not mean identification. A clear distinction will ensure that evangelizing action can be more effective in the field of human promotion and progress. In the light of the Gospel the Church's contribution to human promotion consists in «humanizing the family of man and its history» (GS 40). The independence of the Gospel message ensures that the Church is not committed to any political, economic or social system (cf. GS 42).

The struggle for justice and peace is an integral part of human promotion. It is a struggle against error and evil; never against people as such. Instead it is a constructive and persistent task that starts from charity and from the sermon on the mount.

A pastoral of human promotion could not exist in an ecclesial community unless it were integrated in the context of universality. Neither peace nor real progress have frontiers. Development and personal and community promotion must embrace the whole man: his relations with his brothers, with the cosmos and with God. Therefore it embraces fundamental values and rights: life, religion, freedom, family, community living, association, culture, education, work, health, social welfare... This integral humanism is possible when the individual and the community penetrate into God's mystery.

The liberating redemption accomplished by Jesus, whose bearer and witness the Church is, is a liberation in hope, man's integral and solidary liberation. It is the evangelical liberation that Paul preached as freedom in the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17). In any circumstance, any person can be healed and restored to life without being destroyed due to the fact that he has been redeemed by Christ. Every historical age can be renewed.

The Church, which preaches this liberation in hope, becomes united with humanity. «Theirs is a community composed of men, of men who, united in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onwards towards the kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a message

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of salvation intended for all men. That is why Christians cherish a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history» (GS 1). Hence «nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts» (ibidem). The «spiritual» and evangelizing dimension of liberation ensures its integrity and authenticity because it is a liberation according to the salvific designs of God, the Creator and Redeemer.

It is the whole of man, in body and spirit, constituted in unity, that has been redeemed by Christ. It is the man who belongs to every age and to every cultural and social situation. Liberation in Christ reaches the whole man, and through him, the whole universe and all history. Salvation, or God's liberation, is man's recovery as the image of the God of Love and therefore, a cooperator in creation as the manifestation of God's glory and love. The liberation that comes from the Gospel «cannot be contained in the simple and restricted dimension of economics, politics, social or cultural life; it must envisage the whole man, in all his aspects, right up to and including his openness to the absolute, even the divine Absolute (cf. EN 33).

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Chapter V

SIGNIFICANCE AND DIMENSIONS OF MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY

Summary: 1. Missionary spirituality. 2. Christianity as mission, the Christian's missionary spirituality. - 3. The apostle's or missionary's spirituality. - 4. Christian spirituality in the encounter with non-Christian spirituality.

1. Missionary spirituality

Writing about «missionary spirituality» we are faced with two terms: spirituality and mission. Missionary spirituality connects two Christian realities: spirituality and mission. Each of these realities embraces a very vast field. It indicates a life in the Spirit that allows us to participate faithfully and responsibly in Christ's mission.

We could define missionary spirituality as living the mission received from Christ, namely, the spirituality that comes from the Christian mission. The Holy Spirit infuses in each of those «whom he sends» that same spirit of mission which impelled Christ himself as the one sent (AG 4 and 24-25).

The word «spirituality» indicates a «life style», a «life in the Spirit» (cf. Rom 8:9), a «walking according to the Spirit» (cf. Rom 8:4). It is also called «interior life», not in the sense of subjectivism, but because of the fact that it is a whole group of «interior attitudes» (EN 74) aroused by the Spirit and thus of convictions, motivations and decisions.

Spirituality embraces the individual's whole being, his deeds and personal and social life. It is a wholehearted fundamental response to the presence of the risen Christ and to his Word: convictions (faith), scale of values and motivations (hope), attitudes and decisions (charity).

The expression «missionary spirituality» is found in the Second Vatican Council when it presents the responsibilities of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (AG 29). The content of missionary spirituality is found in chapter IV of the decree «Ad Gentes» («Missionaries»).

«Evangelii Nuntiandi» offers a real orderly and relatively complete summary of missionary spirituality, listing the basic points in the final chapter: vocation (EN 74; cf. EN 4), fidelity to the Holy Spirit (EN 75), authenticity and witness to experience of God (EN 76), unity and apostolic brotherhood (EN 77), service of the truth (EN 78), pastoral charity (EN 79-80), Marian attitude (EN 81-82).

The encyclical «Redemptoris Missio» gives a full presentation of our theme in the final chapter: «Missionary spirituality». But the whole document is set out along this line of renewal and the need for holiness so that the whole Church may be available for the universal mission («ad gentes»). The concrete themes that are developed in the encyclical are the following: docility to the Holy Spirit (RMi 87), intimate communion with Christ (RMi 88), love of the Church and apostolic charity (RMi 89), holiness (RMi 90), contemplative life (RMi 91), Marian attitude (RMi 92).

Missionary spirituality is a call for ecclesial renewal for the mission: «A radical conversion in thinking is required in order to become missionary» (RMi 49). It is also a call to holiness: «The renewed impulse to the mission ad gentes demands holy missionaries» (RMi

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90).

2. Christianity as mission, the Christian's missionary spirituality

Every believer is called to live the great Christian and missionary reality of Baptism which finds expression in the attitude of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:48) and the commandment of love (Jn 13:34-35). Missionary spirituality is a life-style that fulfils the missionary command to proclaim the Gospel to all nations.

Everything Christian has universal perspectives. The Word of God or revelation, the reality of Jesus the Saviour, the gift of faith, baptism, the nature of the Church, the development of perfection and any theme of Christian life always concern all mankind. The fact of being Christian or the Christian vocation itself is a universal mission.

God spoke communicating his plans of salvation for all mankind. The Old and New Testament have this perspective of universality, though the immediate recipients of the Word may be particular people or a small community who are thus «charged» to communicate God's plans of salvation to others.

Divine revelation culminates in Jesus (Heb 1:1-2), Son of God, eternal Word of the Father, eternally proclaimed in the Holy Spirit, who came to dwell among men (Jn 1:1-18). This divine revelation is for the salvation of all peoples.

The divine plan of salvation for all mankind appears in the Word of God. Through this Word we know that mankind has been chosen or predestined in Christ from all eternity (Eph 1:4) and that «he would bring everything together under Christ» (Eph 1:10; Col 1:15-17).

Jesus is the Saviour of all mankind (Mt 1:21), he belongs to everyone, he is their brother and responsible for the history of each individual and Head of all mankind. The saving mission he received from the Father has no boundaries: he introduces himself as the one sent to save mankind (Jn 3:17), approaching those who suffer (Mt 8:17), calling everyone (Mt 11:28), shedding his blood for all (Mt 26:28). His «thirst» (Jn 19:28) is the thirst of the Good Shepherd who has compassion for all (Mk 6:34). Jesus died for all (2 Cor 5:15). This is why the Apostles always present Christ as the centre of creation and history (Jn 1:3; Col 1:16ff; Heb 13:8).

If those who have received the gift of faith want to live it with all its consequences, they will feel the pressing need to become an instrument so that others may receive it. This missionary consequence is a vital law of the Christian faith itself and of Christian spirituality. It is the same life in Christ that urges us to this «divulgence». And it is also a feeling of gratitude that completes this urgency to tell everyone something that is, according to revelation, for all mankind, «Faith is strengthened when it is given to others!» (RMi 2).

Christian faith includes vital acceptance of this reality: the risen Christ, Son of God and Redeemer, who lives among us (Mt 28:20; Rev 1:18) and draws all creation and all history to a final restoration and an encounter with the triune God, when «God may be everything to every one» (1 Cor 5:28). «Accepting» the Christian faith involves letting oneself be filled with this geographical and historical universal missionary dynamic.

Everything that is Church has these universal and missionary perspectives. The Church, the «pleroma» or fullness of Jesus (Eph 1:23), has the same universal characteristics

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as Jesus had. People and structures are the Church to the extent in which they take on this ecclesial reality.

The specific vocation of every Christian is mission, in different ways and to different degrees. But it always has a universal perspective. The charisms received serve to fulfil a mission that has universal origins. The characteristics of this mission will depend on the specific range of this mission (lay, religious, sacerdotal...), but always with the intention of leaving the imprint of Christ and an aspect of the image of the God of Love for the good of all mankind.

3. The apostle's or missionary's spirituality

As we have studied, missionary spirituality means spirituality that derives from mission. Because every Christian is «called» or «sent», we have first seen the missionary spirituality of every believer. But though each person must fulfil an apostolic assignment, there are those who are called to a special mission or apostolate. Hence the necessity of being able and having to speak about the specific spirituality of the missionary or apostle who makes the first proclamation of the Gospel to those who still do not believe.

If «the Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well», growth in spiritual life, or configuration to Christ, is equivalent «to spreading the kingdom of Christ all over the earth» (AA n.2).

The apostle's love ensures that both his «interior life» and his «external action» spring from his encounter with and devotion to Christ. Without a vital relationship with Him, «interior life» will be spiritualism, and «external action» would be a simple human action or «heresy of action». Charity ensures that interior life is Christian spiritual life and not only a psychological process of interiorization; and it is the same charity that transforms interior action into apostolic action in the strict sense of the word.

Missionary spirituality is also entering into harmony with the sentiments and attitudes of the Good Shepherd who exercised his mission according to the Father's saving plans for all mankind. This gives rise to a special aspect of missionary spirituality, namely, the spirituality of the one who has actually been called to fulfil this universal mission directly.

The missionary's spirituality has some special characteristics that derive from the charism received and that could be expressed as follows:

- dedication to the first proclamation of the Gospel;- establishing permanent signs of ecclesial evangelization;- ensuring that every human sector is really the Church sacrament.

The present tendency to relate evangelization and culture means that the missionary must have an attitude of being able to discover the signs of Christ in every people (and in every religion), in every person and in every event. The missionary task of calling to conversion and faith must be included in this perspective. Without deep spirituality, neither the imprints of the Lord would be discovered nor would the explicit encounter with Christ be sufficiently and prudently stimulated. The tension between evangelization and development is no longer a dilemma when one analyses in the light of the Gospel and Jesus' ways of behaviour.

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4. Christian spirituality in the encounter with non-Christian spirituality

Much more so than in the past, Christian spirituality today is in constant contact with non-Christian spirituality. The present religious awareness is being focused more and more in the field of prayer and interior experiences.

Through the laws of the Mystical Body we know that any prayer, suffering, act of love, etc., has universal repercussions. But the present novelty lies in the fact that ideas, attitudes, writings and other spiritual expressions have worldwide repercussions such as they never had in the past. This is assisted by the mass media, but mainly by the common sensitivity to these themes. The spirituality of people and communities has boundless repercussions.

The apostle's work today is seen through this prism of spirituality that leads to a concrete dedication in the field of charity. And these charitable gestures are those that open the door to the person who is enquiring into the Christian spirituality from which they come.

The important thing for the Christian apostle is to understand and present what is specific about his own spirituality to those people and those communities that already have an experience of God, of prayer and even of contemplation. Hence the importance of presenting Christian spirituality not in the rich experience of reflections, methods and means, but in its very essence, i.e., as an encounter with and a filial attitude towards the Triune God of Love, who sent us his Son. Christian spiritual life does not differ from the spiritual life of non-Christians because of its different aesthetic or spiritual techniques (which are like the «art» or means of expression, acquisition, etc.), but it excels through a theological life (faith, hope, charity) as the expression of the Christian mysteries of the Trinity, Incarnation, Redemption, Resurrection, grace, etc.

The constant meeting of Christian spirituality with non-Christian spirituality has greater aspects of newness concerning the originality of present-day intercommunion and the universal sensitivity for spiritual themes. But there is yet another aspect of missionary spirituality that it is interesting to study: spirituality as evangelization. Christian spirituality has always been an integral part of evangelization. Living Christian spirituality means preparing to respond to the present-day necessities of evangelization. These themes of spirituality could all be summarized in the current presentation of the Sermon of the Mount. The new law gives us children of God who know how to react, loving like their Father in any circumstance (Mt 5:48). In this they follow Jesus' example in accordance with the commandment of love (Jn 13:34-35).

Today evangelization means presenting these Christian attitudes with doctrine and with signs of life or holiness:

- experience of God who is Love,- experience of dialogue with God,- experience of joy and hope,- experience of the «beatitude», or, of being able to react, loving in any circumstance.

«Evangelii Nuntiandi» and «Redemptoris Missio» are an urgent call to present the experience of God in order to evangelize present-day society (EN 76; RMi 38).

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Chapter VI

VOCATION AND MISSIONARY FORMATION

Summary: 1. Christ calls to mission. - 2. The Christian's vocations: A) The vocation to the ministerial priesthood; B) The vocation to the lay state; C) The vocation to consecrated and contemplative life. - 3. The specific missionary vocation. - 4. Fidelity and formation for missionary vocation.

1. Christ calls to mission

No one calls himself or charges himself with a mission. Our vocation or call comes from God: He has predestined us in Christ (Eph 1). The Christian vocation or predestination in Christ is also a mission or assignment to proclaim and communicate the «mystery of Christ» (Eph 3). Every Christian has a different way of participating in this mission.

The call to the Christian mission comes from the Risen Christ himself present in the Church. Every encounter with Him involves an assignment to proclaim him to the brethren (Jn 20:17; Mt 22:1-4). It is Jesus' preference for all (Jn 15:16), particularly when it is a question of a life-long mission (Mk 3:13).

Jesus calls by name, personally, demanding that each person should overcome every individual or collective conditioning (Jn 20:22). Christ's call to a mission follows the line of God's calls in the Old Testament for a concrete mission that always presupposes a new journey. There is an entire pedagogy regarding Christ's call to mission that goes from an initial assignment to a permanent and universal mission cf. (Mt 28:16; Mk 16:15; Lk 10:1ff).

In the context of the beatitudes (or of reacting by loving like Christ, according to the commandment of love), Jesus calls in particular those who are to be his personal sign or his «glory» (Jn 17:10). In St. Paul we constantly find this call to mission to proclaim the mystery of Christ «ad gentes», namely, to those who still do not believe in Jesus (cf. Rom 1:1-7; Gal 1:15; Eph 3:8). All are called to a mission in the ecclesial communion which is thus a community of apostles and of people who are called. «Jesus Christ is the stable principle and fixed centre of the mission that God himself has entrusted to man. We must all share in this mission» (RMi 11).

2. The Christian's vocations

The Christian's call or vocation appears with many nuances: call to faith, to holiness, to the apostolate, to a concrete ministry, to perfection, to a state of life (lay, consecrated life, priesthood), etc.

The Christian vocation always requires a response to the grace of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:16; 1 Cor 12:4-13) within the ecclesial community (Col 3:15). Every aspect of the Christian vocation is a call to charity or holiness (1 Cor 1:1ff; 1 Thes 4:7). Every vocation or every aspect of the Christian vocation contains a mission within the People of God (Rom 12:1; 1 Cor 12:7). Vocation and mission are, therefore, an ecclesial service to build human history according to God's saving designs.

In any aspect of the Christian vocation one can find a sense of mission or apostolate. Every Christian must be configured to Christ in order to be a sign or transparency of the Lord in a human circumstance. The apostle's call is linked to the Christian call as it is the call to

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holiness. The diversity of mission is not based only on the state of life, but also on each person's special graces and on concrete ecclesial services.

If we consider mission as a state of life, we can distinguish between the lay mission, the mission of consecrated life and the mission of the ministerial priesthood.

A) The vocation to the ministerial priesthood

This vocation has a connection with Christ, the Head and Good Shepherd, in the sense that it enables the apostle to act in his name. In the prophetic, priestly and kingly mission of every Christian this «ministerial-apostolic» aspect involves teaching, concretely presiding over the Eucharist and leading the community.

The priestly vocation is missionary by its very nature. ««The spiritual gift which priests have received in ordination does not prepare them merely for a limited and circumscribed mission, but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation "to the end of the earth". The reason is that every priestly ministry shares in the fullness of the mission entrusted by Christ to the Apostles» (PO 10; cf. RMi 67; PDV 32).

The ministerial priest's mission is to be a steward of the «mysteries» (word, sacraments, care of souls) (cf. 1Cor 4:1ff), but always within the perspective of «service» or «diaconia», like that of Christ the Good Shepherd and Head. The ecclesial signs of this (more hierarchical) mission always require the presentation of a testimony of pastoral charity that would become the quintessence of the priest's apostolic or missionary spirituality.

B) The vocation to the lay state

By the very nature of Christian life, every person who has been baptized and confirmed shares in the Church's mission. But this general mission can be expressed as a special vocation and charism to «engage in temporal affairs and direct them according to God's will... that they may contribute to the sanctification of the world, as from within like leaven» (LG 33).

They have a right and a duty to exercise their own charisms for the good of the whole of mankind, in the freedom of the Spirit and in ecclesial communion especially with their pastors (AA 2-3). This mission, which comes from the very nature of the lay state, can be completed with a special mandate from the hierarchy, which is a new participation in the Church's hierarchical mission (cf. LG 33; AA 20).

The spirituality of the mission shared by the laity has its own specific aspects which, without losing the vital union with Christ and the gift of self in charity, finds expression in various kinds of family, working and social life as the case may be (cf. CFL 8, 15-16, 64).

C) The vocation to consecrated and contemplative life

In the perspective of the mission of charity, one can come to share in the mission in the sense of being, in the Church and from the Church, a sign and an incentive for charity and the beatitudes. This mission of radical charity or evangelical radicalism has an eschatological sense since it is a strong sign of the final resurrection and the definitive encounter with Christ. Presenting the ultimate consequences of Baptism and the clear sign of the beatitudes is also a service or «diaconia».

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Because of the special characteristics of this vocation, in the perspective of radicalism and eschatology, one should stress the universal and missionary availability that must be attached to this dedication. «The Church needs to make known the great Gospel values of which she is the bearer. No one witnesses more effectively to these values than those who profess the consecrated life in chastity, poverty and obedience, in a total gift of self to God and in complete readiness to serve man and society after the example of Christ» (RMi 69).

In the light of mission and evangelizing activity, the evangelical counsels recover all their significance as the «sequela Christi». In fact obedience appears as «the deep essence of the entire economy of the Redemption» (RD 13; cf. Phil 2:6-8).

Evangelical poverty reveals to human beings the attitude of Christ who sacrificed himself in order to show a reality beyond human creatures. Christ's poverty has this salvific meaning as «a source for enriching others» (RD 12; cf. PC 13) with his divine life: «He became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty» (2 Cor 8:9).

Chastity stresses the spousal significance of the following of Christ, hidden in the signs of the Church and in those of our brothers and sisters. The «spousal character of this love... as an expression of spousal love for the Redeemer himself» (RD 11) becomes a determinative factor in the consecrated person's dedication to the work of evangelization as charity without frontiers.

The sign of contemplative life is a stimulus for the encounter with God and an occasion for an experience of dialogue with Him.

3. The specific missionary vocation

There is a specific vocation for evangelization «ad gentes». This is what Vatican II says: «Those people who are endowed with the proper natural temperament, have the necessary qualities and outlook, and are ready to undertake missionary work, have a special vocation, whether they are natives of the place or foreigners, priests, religious or lay people» (AG 23).

This specific vocation differs from the general responsibility of every Christian with regard to the universal evangelization: «Although the obligation of spreading the faith falls individually on every disciple of Christ, still the Lord Christ has always called from the number of his disciples those whom he has chosen that they might be with him so that he might send them to preach to the nations» (AG 23). This specifically missionary vocation is a gift or charism of the Holy Spirit that enables them to «take on the duty of evangelization, which pertains to the whole Church» (ibidem; cf. RMi 32, 65).

The missionary vocation ad gentes can occur under different aspects or movements of grace:

- communicating the faith to those who still do not believe;- communicating God's saving designs in Christ;- establishing or implanting the Church;- establishing permanent signs of evangelization;- ensuring that the Church is a «sacrament» or sign of Christ in a human community;- bringing a human community towards fullness in Christ...

Again this specific missionary vocation can be lived in various ways: in a

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contemplative life (Saint Teresa of Lisieux), in a reality of suffering or sickness, in external evangelizing activity (Saint Francis Xavier), in missionary animation (Pauline Jaricot), etc.

When they speak of signs of a vocation, writers usually analyze these points:- correct intention- free decision- suitability or necessary qualities.

If we apply these points to the missionary vocation we must take into account availability for a universal mission and the sense of dedication to it.

The suitability or necessary virtues are the qualities corresponding to the universal mission. We must distinguish whether this is lay, religious or priestly life. We must also take into account the special fields of mission. But generally speaking, for any specific missionary vocation, we can indicate some fundamental qualities deduced from the texts of Vatican II (AG 24):

- strength of mind to overcome the difficulties of mission- patience, understanding, humility, charity, sensitivity to discover the genuine values of non-Christian religions- supernatural spirit so that mission will not become a philanthropic or political activity- supernatural spirit to see what still remains to be redeemed or purified in the genuine values of paganism- being a transparency of the Gospel for those who do not believe- communion and obedience, availability for an overall pastoral under the guidance of the local bishop- knowing, loving and living the charism of the missionary or ecclesial institute to which one belongs.

4. Fidelity and formation for missionary vocation.

Being faithful to the missionary vocation means persevering in the decision to follow this call. It may be initial fidelity, when the decision is taken, fidelity in the sense of maturation, and fidelity on a level of generosity. So fidelity is not static, but it increases dynamically. It is the dynamism of apostolic charity.

There are three fundamental aspects in fidelity to the vocation: decision, self-giving and joy. Once a person is sure of the divine will, he takes the decision to follow it: this is not adhesion to an idea, but a spousal self-giving to Christ for the mission. This decision and self-giving awakens the apostolic joy promised by Christ at the last supper. This attitude of fidelity develops and matures in time and in difficulties.

Feeling sent or becoming aware of participating in the mission of Christ who is present, nourishes the apostle's fidelity and maturation. The more the universality of mission (unconditioned availability) is deepened, the more the guarantees of persevering and generous fidelity increase. The difficulties encountered in spreading the Gospel today should help the apostle to discover the meaning of the missionary vocation.

Fidelity depends on grace (since it is a gift from God) and on human collaboration. So we must rely on all the basic means (prayer, sacrifice) and we must know how to use our personal and environmental reality to sustain us in our fidelity. Personal (heredity, temperament) and environmental (culture, family, sociology...) limitations are not

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determinative when there is a firm desire to use them and direct them, except in the case of incompatibility with the missionary vocation.

Missionary formation can be considered on these three levels:

- spiritual- doctrinal- pastoral (AG 25-26).

The apostolic vocation is a call to a personal encounter with Christ as a vital response of commitment: «And he appointed twelve, to be with him» (Mk 3:14).

It is an initial and permanent encounter, always new like love, that renews the apostle and ensures that his apostolic action is an action of renewal. The future apostle's formation has its starting point in this encounter with Christ (cf. RMi 91).

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Chapter VII

FIDELITY TO THE MISSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Summary: 1. The Holy Spirit and mission. - 2. Fidelity to the mission of the Holy Spirit. - 3. Discerning the Holy Spirit's action in missionary activity.

1. The Holy Spirit and mission

Jesus Christ's mission is presented as mission in the Spirit (Mt 1:18-20; Lk 4:1.18; 10:21ff). The apostolic mission appears with this same perspective (Jn 20:21-23; Acts 1:5-8). This is why Saint Paul can sum up his life by saying that he is «bound in the Spirit» and that he works by the «power» of the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:22; Rom 15:18; 1 Thes 1:4-7).

In presenting the missionary theme, Vatican II begins with this same Trinitarian and pneumatological perspective. The Church is missionary by her very nature since she has her origin «according to the plan of the Father... in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit» (AG 2).

Every historical age is a new Pentecost or an «extension» of the first Pentecost. Pentecost sets the whole history of mission into perspective. Our age has been marked by the action of the Holy Spirit: «We live in the Church at a privileged moment of the Spirit» (EN 75). Before a new age of evangelization, it is necessary to discover what the action of the Holy Spirit really is.

It is sufficient to remember these strong theological lines: «Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit... It is he who... acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by him... Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit... Without him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psychological basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless» (MC 27). All evangelizing work is the work of the Holy Spirit, who, for this very fact, demands the apostle's collaboration.

All Jesus' life is mission in the Holy Spirit. Jesus is described as «He whom God has sent... God gives him the Spirit without reserve» (Jn 3:34). In Him the prophesies of the Old Testament are fulfilled since he is the Messiah «anointed» by the Spirit as priest, prophet and king. When Jesus comes forward in Nazareth as the one anointed and sent by the Spirit (Lk 4:18) he quotes the passage from Isaiah (Is 61) in which the three aspects of the prophetic mission are related: power, mission and word.

In Jesus the fullness of the Spirit includes his whole being, life and apostolic activity: incarnation (Mt 1:18-20), baptism (Mt 3:16), Nazareth (Lk 4:18), wilderness (Mk 1:12), baptism in the Spirit (Jn 1:13), preaching with the power of the Spirit (Lk 4:14), his joy in the Spirit (Lk 10:21), transmission of his mission as the work of the Spirit (Jn 20:21), fountain that transmits the Spirit (Jn 7:37-39).

Christ's mission, transmitted to the Apostles, has these same characteristics (Mt 10:16-20). In difficulties, they will be able to bear witness because the Holy Spirit will speak through their apostolic action. When Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit, he presents three aspects of this mission: the Spirit's presence within them, the Spirit's action that will make them become witnesses and the Spirit's power to proclaim the Gospel (Jn 14-16).

Like Jesus, the apostle has to pass through moments of the wilderness and the cross.

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«With the coming of the Spirit they (the Apostles) felt capable of fulfilling the mission entrusted to them» (DeV 25). «The coming of the Holy Spirit makes them witnesses and prophets (cf. Acts 1:8; 2:17-18). It fills them with a serene courage which impels them to pass on to others their experience of Jesus and the hope which motivates them. The Spirit gives them the ability to bear witness to Jesus with "boldness"» (RMi 24).

2. Fidelity to the mission of the Holy Spirit

The Gospels, particularly in the Marian fragments, stress the action of the Holy Spirit that reveals Jesus' divine sonship and Mary's divine motherhood. So Jesus' mission is shown with this Marian aspect. The action of the Spirit who sends Jesus, who guides him towards Calvary and resurrects him, is the same action that Mary the Mother of God does and that continues in the Church. The Church's mission is based on this action of the Spirit.

Mary's fidelity to this action and mission of the Spirit is a type of the Church's fidelity. In Saint John's Gospel the title of «woman» applied to Mary is found in the moments of Mary's fidelity to Christ who is the Word of God. So the New Eve is associated with the New Adam. The «living water» (or new wine) that flows from the side of Christ is related to Mary's fidelity that personifies the Church (Jn 2:1-11; 19:25-27).

The sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of the incarnation changes Mary into the Mother of God, a type and Mother of the Church. Mary's fidelity to this mission of the Spirit is a personified anticipation of the Church's fidelity to the same Spirit on the day of Pentecost and in all subsequent history.

Mary's fidelity to the mission of the Spirit presents the same characteristics of passing through the «wilderness», of dedication to the «poor» and of «joy» in the Holy Spirit. Mary's faithful response to the Word of God was an increasingly deeper penetration into the journey of faith that is God's «silence» (Lk 2:19 and 51).

Mary's fidelity to the Word of God and to the Holy Spirit makes her become a type of the apostle and of ecclesial motherhood (LG 65). Apostolic activity is a service of the Church's motherhood, (faithful) virgin and (fruitful) mother by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is a parallel of the Incarnation (LG 59; AG 4; Mi 92; DEV 66)).

Jesus' promise about the mission of the Spirit presents these aspects: presence and activity of the Holy Spirit. It is a presence that transforms and changes the apostle into Christ's «glory» and witness.

Fidelity to the presence and activity of the Spirit demands of the Apostle an awareness of this reality, docility, generosity and the sense of being an instrument.

Fidelity to the mission of the Spirit involves static aspects and at the same time dynamic aspects. It means fidelity to doctrine: preserving it and deepening it in order to apply it to new human situations. And it means fidelity to the sanctifying and apostolic activity of the Holy Spirit. The apostle is engaged in a process of «baptism» or of configuration to Christ which is the work of the Spirit.

Apostolic fidelity is linked to the circumstances of time and place. So it is a fidelity that is practised every day. Being attentive to the concrete activity of the Spirit is the secret of apostolic success.

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The ecclesial signs require the action of the Spirit. The apostle serves these signs. So fidelity to the Spirit is fidelity to these signs, without changing them into sterile personal expressions. «The universal activity of the Spirit is not to be separated from his particular activity within the Body of Christ, which is the Church» (RMi 29). Missionary spirituality «is expressed first of all by a life of complete docility to the Spirit. It commits us to being moulded from within by the Spirit, so that we may become ever more like Christ... This docility then commits us to receive the gifts of fortitude and discernment, which are essential elements of missionary spirituality... Now, as then, we must pray that God will grant us boldness in preaching the Gospel; we must ponder the mysterious ways of the Spirit and allow ourselves to be led by him into all the truth (cf. Jn 16:13)» (RMi 87).

The apostle's theological life is his concrete expression of fidelity to the Spirit: faith as fidelity to the message, hope as fidelity to the promises, charity as fidelity to his sanctifying activity.

3. Discerning the Holy Spirit's action in missionary activity

The theme of the discernment of the Holy Spirit's action in mission and in evangelization is closely related to the theme of the «signs of the times» (cf. GS 4, 11, 44). This evangelical expression has the apostolic meaning of fidelity to the Father's saving designs (Mk 7:15-20; 16:2-4; 24:32ff; Lk 12:54ff; 19:41. The Good Shepherd gives his life following these plans of salvation (Jn 2:4; 10:18; 12:23; 7:30; 8:20.

Discerning the action of the Spirit in apostolic life is a classic theme in the New Testament (1 Cor 12:10; 1 Jn 4:1. It is an aspect of the apostolic ministry (PO 9, 17) The Spirit's action is manifested through ecclesial signs and through everyday life. It would not be possible to recognize a genuine action and «gift» of the Spirit if we excluded these ecclesial signs. The relationship between the Church's visibility and the «gifts» is one of the fundamental themes of the conciliar Constitution «Lumen Gentium» (LG 8 and 12). There is always the risk of confusing the Holy Spirit's action with natural tendencies (psychology) and even with the Devil's action.

Apostolic activity as discernment of the Spirit has some concrete applications in these fields: discerning lights and motions, joys and sorrows, new ecclesial movements and groups, extraordinary manifestations or phenomena, decisions and choices, new situations, process of prayer and renewal, dynamics of configuration to Christ, criteria, etc. The most concrete means for discerning the action of the Spirit is one's own fidelity to this same action. There is a very practical reference point if one is used to reflection and reading: reference to the Church's teaching and to the life of the saints.

In general, the means of discernment are: grace, consultation or the study of documents, one's own or others' experience. Basically they can be reduced to only one: being aware of one's own inability for discernment without the help of God and one's brothers and sisters.

Mathematical rules cannot be given in this field of discernment. From the New Testament texts, we can perceive some aspects of the Holy Spirit's action: an action that structures or is related to the Church's visibility, close relationship with the apostolic doctrine, the building up of the community, unity (not uniformity), light, peace, joy... (1 Cor 12 and 13; 14:12; 1 Jn 4:1ff; Eph 5:8; Gal 5:22).

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Chapter VIII

PRAYER AND EVANGELIZATION

Summary: 1. Present-day prayer trends. - 2. Prayer and evangelization. - 3. Dialogue with God in non-Christian religions. - 4. The specificity of Christian prayer. - 5. Non-Christian mystic experiences. - 6. The «acculturation» of Christian contemplation. - 7. The specificity of Christian contemplation. - 8. Christian contemplation as a value for present-day evangelization.

1. Present-day prayer trends

Today in the field of evangelization the subject of prayer presents a new problem: the meeting between Christian prayer and non-Christian prayer (cf. RMi 38).

In Christian countries there is an ever greater awareness of experiences of prayer and inner life as they are practised in non-Christian religions. And also in non-Christian countries the classic works of Christian spirituality are appreciated. There is a kind of mutual question: what is your experience of God?

The tendencies of modern society stress the importance of the prayer that starts from events (to enlighten them with the Word of God), and the need for spontaneity, authenticity, silence, community life or expressions of group prayer. In a society that tends to secularization, the Christian is not questioned about prayer formulas and methods, but mainly about his experiences of God (cf. EN 76).

2. Prayer and evangelization

The strength of the apostolate comes from God. The apostle is a «living instrument» (PO 2) to the extent in which he is a person of prayer. His ability for apostolic charity is directly related to his ability for prayer. The sentiments of the Good Shepherd are obtained only through dialogue with Him.

Evangelizing is presenting the newness of the Sermon on the Mount, namely, loving like Jesus Christ loves. «Unity of life» comes from wanting to do the saving will of God who asks the apostle for moments of prayer and moments of action, years of Nazareth and years of direct ministry. Prayer is an integral part of pastoral work: one continues Christ's prayer as if one were continuing his word and saving action.

The Good Shepherd's attitude is constant attention to the Father's will. This attitude is expressed through the dialogue of prayer. Our apostolic activity itself receives the power of Christ's prayer (Jn 17:20).

The Father's interests and mankind's problems are united in the apostle's prayer, in a profound dialogue with God that is expressed in an attitude of giving one's life for others. This is what Jesus' prayer is like, who always «intercedes for us» (Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34).

Many times apostolic prayer has to be united to a feeling of solitude and God's «silence». These moments, which even Jesus experienced on the cross (Mk 15:33-34), are also the most fruitful moments in the life of the apostolate. The apostolic vocation is a call to intimacy with Christ and to dedication to the proclamation of the Gospel (Mk 3:14; Acts 6:2-4). Apostolic prayer always has a universal perspective, like Jesus' prayer. (cf. RMi 91).

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3. Dialogue with God in non-Christian religions

The missionary has always been surprised by the experiences of spirituality in non-Christian religions. Today, because of the greater incidence of Christianity, these religions are re-discovering their past of experiences and prayer. So the missionary needs to deepen Christian prayer doctrinally and vitally in order to judge non-Christian experiences properly.

There are some religions that stress hope as the Old Testament psalms do (Judaism); others make a deep study of adoration and vocal prayer (Islam); others present a dynamics of vital purification (Hinduism); others choose the way of the negation of every desire to reach inner peace and enlightenment (Buddhism)... Instead Animist religions live conditioned by God's insertion (or the insertion of spirits) in the circumstances of human life. It would be a mistake to compare different methods and experiences.

The apostle must have a special sensitivity to perceive, from the very first approaches, the lack of something essential in other religions, at least in the written and oral expressions: a God of Love who sent his Son to save us. In non-Christian religions there are traces of this divine reality, but Christianity starts from the mystery of the Trinity (who dwells in us) and from the mystery of the Incarnation (God-with-us, the Emmanuel): Jesus, the Son of God, become our brother, who lives in us and within us.

4. The specificity of Christian prayer

Every genuine prayer can be reduced to an attitude of worship and dialogue. The attitude of worship is the result of recognizing God as the first principle: therefore worship is adoration, thanksgiving, praise, reparation, supplication or petition. The attitude of dialogue comes from experience of God's goodness; this attitude is expressed in unity, intimacy, personal relationship... These two aspects, of worship and dialogue, are found in every authentic prayer and therefore also in the prayer of many non-Christians.

The specificity of Christian prayer comes from the mystery of the Incarnation that reveals to us the mystery of the Trinity and its dwelling within us; of grace and our divine filiation, etc. In short, Christian prayer is an attitude of poverty and charity that depends on a meeting with Christ through faith, hope and charity. It is a filial attitude. The aspect of worship reaches its greatest depth when we recognize our radical contingency, our «poverty» as sinners who need redemption. The dialogic aspect becomes the conviction that God loves us like his Son, and the decision to want to do his will in view of the saving designs.

The Christian who has found Christ recognizes his own reality or poverty, and, in this poverty, he finds Christ close to him and, with Him, the God of Love. Therefore for the Christian the attitude of worship and dialogue in every prayer becomes a filial relationship of friendship in «being with the one we know loves us» (St. Teresa of Avila). Today's apostle will not be able to evangelize unless he has had this experience of Christian prayer.

We must differentiate between prayer and techniques, and means and methods of praying. Jesus did not teach the Apostles any technique or any method of prayer. Techniques and methods are good, and, in some circumstances, necessary, provided they remain such and do not hinder us from reaching a true attitude of prayer, which is a filial attitude of poverty and charity. In its methods Christian prayer does not differ from non-Christian prayer

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or spirituality.

The apostle must proclaim the Gospel also in its aspect of prayer or dialogue with the God of Love, our Father. The proclamation of the Gospel penetrates deeply only when it engages the whole person in this dialogue or filial attitude of the «Our Father». The sign with which one shows that one has gained some experience of Christian prayer is charity. The process of prayer demands availability to love. Thus the attitude of the «beatitudes» becomes the substance of evangelization.

5. Non-Christian mystic experiences

In comparing experiences of Christian contemplation with other non-Christian experiences, there has always been the risk of comparing methods, extraordinary phenomena, mental attitudes, ideologies, etc. There are contemplative mystic phenomena in Christianity and outside it: animist religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, religions «of the mysteries», Islam, Judaism, etc. It is very interesting to observe the existence of similar extraordinary phenomena: ecstasy, expressions, levitations, enlightenment, «gift of tongues», etc. Sometimes they are of a collective nature.

In the field of ideology and terminology there is a whole series of similar expressions that are not the exclusive property of any one religion; they are instead a treasure that belongs to all mankind which is before every form of established religion. This relationship between the various methods of contemplation leads us to discover God's special providence in the history of contemplation.

In paganism and in Christianity, these phenomena and this striving for spirituality can reach a certain «silence» and «enlightenment». They are good things and can become prayer and preparation for contemplation in the strict sense of the word. But, in themselves, they are neither prayer, contemplation nor perfection. The action of the Holy Spirit (in Christians and pagans) can make use of these means and of our collaboration in the action of grace.

6. The «acculturation» of Christian contemplation

When the apostle has to present Christian contemplation he has to consider a process of «acculturation» or detachment from every cultural wealth: to start, that is, from the reality of Christian contemplation without the previous store of culture or religious methods and without the attendant «mystic» phenomena. According to this dynamic, Christian contemplation can be presented in its specific nature and consequently as a direct value of evangelization.

It is not an easy matter since it is virtually impossible to exclude all the cultural or religious conditionings that accompany the revealed fact. But the apostle cannot limit himself to presenting a mystic method or phenomenology even if it is considered the best.

To non-Christian religions, rich in experiences of God and dialogue with Him, the Christian can offer only a clarification of the God of Love and Father (through Christ and in the Spirit). Supernatural grace can operate in a pagan contemplative. But only the Christian mystic understands the explicit revelation of God's saving design.

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In order to present the nature of Christian contemplation it is necessary to go by the spontaneous and independent experiences of many saints and mystic writers, especially when they exclude the previous terminology and start from their own Christian experience of faith, hope and charity.

7. The specificity of Christian contemplation

Christian contemplative experience surpasses every experience of enlightenment and transcendental meditation. It cannot be expressed with words. But in the life of a contemplative Christian a trace of the God of Love can be found, experienced beyond every psychological experience. The Christian mystic differs from other mystics because he or she always, without exception, strives for a «life to come» that will exist only in a vision and possession of God in life everlasting. No gift from God, no experience, is God himself.

The Christian mystic experience comes from the mystery of the Incarnation, which reveals the Trinitarian mystery in itself and shared by us. The experience of one's own poverty or contingency, leads, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the meeting with the God of Love who is manifested and communicated in his Son Jesus. The Lord is the «Emmanuel», present and closer than our own innermost recesses. The experience of this reality, which is a gift from God, is possible for the «poor» without the mediation of contemplative techniques.

Entering into the dynamics of Christian contemplation means engaging in a process of charity and baptism or configuration to Christ, which leads to an attitude of the «beatitudes» or to an availability to love as Jesus loved. With this attitude, even in the silence and «poverty» of thought, sentiments, words, we can say «Father» to God, thanks to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. This «poverty» and Christian charity is a penetration into the «silence» and «absence» of God, into the «bright shadow», far beyond any technique or experience.

8. Christian contemplation as a value for present-day evangelization

The religions that have a rich wealth of experiences of prayer and contemplation need an evangelizing activity that will show them the specific nature of Christian prayer and contemplation. This does not destroy any authentic value of other experiences, but it gives them fullness and saves them from transience and risks, purifying them from false appendices.

The great values of non-Christian mystic experiences risk being destroyed by a process of secularization or materialism. Just as Christian revelation was prepared by God through a divine cosmic manifestation (creation, first «revelation», events), and through a special Old Testament manifestation, so every non-Christian mystic experience (if it is authentic) is a sign that needs to reach fullness in Christ.

This new stage of evangelization, in which experiences of God are sought (in spite of his «silence» and his «absence»), needs apostles who have lived the experience of contemplation. In the moments of God's «silence» and «absence», when modern man is most restless, the Christian apostle must be able to offer a word and a deeper presence of God: Jesus, God-with-us (Emmanuel), the Word of God become our brother.

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The non-Christian world with its own special experience of the presence of and dialogue with God, needs to develop the evangelical «seed» until it reaches maturity in Christ. If the Christian explicitly reaches the attitude of contemplation we have described, it is in order to become a «sign» of what God wants to do and is already achieving in every person of good will. The risen Jesus wanted to make the Apostles a personal sign of his presence. The apostle is a witness to the meeting with Christ: «that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you» (1 Jn 1:2-3; cf. EN 76; RMi 91).

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Chapter IX

MARY IN THE CHURCH'S MISSION:THE APOSTLE'S MARIAN SPIRITUALITY

Summary: 1. Kerygmatic dimension of the biblical-Marian texts. - 2. Missionary dimension of the Marian titles. - 3. Missionary dimension in the relationship between Mary and the Church. - 4. Missionary dimension of the Marian cult and devotion. - 5. Mary, Mother of ecclesial and universal unity. - 6. The apostle's Marian spirituality.

1. Kerygmatic dimension of the biblical-Marian texts

The methodological presentation of the Marian themes is a privileged means for awakening a profound missionary spirituality and for making the whole Christian community feel and become responsible for spreading the Gospel all over the world.

Presenting the Marian themes with a missionary dimension one has the advantage of encouraging a truly ecclesial evangelizing dynamism since one analyzes «the role of the Blessed Virgin in the mystery of the Incarnate Word and the Mystical Body» (LG 54) as a Type of the Church's mission.

There are relatively few Marian texts in the Bible, but they all correspond to a special moment in the manifestation of the Mystery of Christ. The basic schema of these passages corresponds to the schema of the «kerygma» or first proclamation to the nations. In the schema of Peter's first discourse (Acts 2:14-41) and Paul's preaching (Rom 1:1-4; 1 Cor 15:3-5, etc.), Christ, the Son of God and our brother, according to Scriptures, through the power of the Holy Spirit changes his humiliation or «kenosis» (cross) into a manifestation of his divinity (resurrection). This schema can be clearly seen in Paul's Marian text (Gal 4:4-6). The richest Marian passages (Mt 1:2; Lk 1:2; Jn 2:1-11; 19:25-27) correspond with this same schema of the first proclamation to manifest the glory of Christ «the Lord».

The Marian texts represent an intense moment in the fulfillment of the messianic hopes. The biblical-Marian fragments in the N.T. are written in such a way as to respond to the real problems and concrete charisms of the community to which they are directed. They thus reflect a concrete missionary method.

The biblical-Marian doctrine speaks of God's closeness and manifestation which culminates in Christ. God so loved us (Jn 3:16), when the appointed time came: «born of woman» (Paul and John). Mary is associated with Christ's saving role. In this reality of association she is a type of the Church. Her «cooperation in the work of salvation» (LG 56) is a kind of «salutary influence» and a «maternal duty toward men» (LG 60). God, who is the only Saviour in Christ, wanted to manifest and transmit salvation through this role of Mary's.

The mystery of Christ, manifested and communicated to all nations through Paul's ministry (Gal 4:19) and the motherhood of the Church (Gal 4:26), expresses, in Marian circumstances, the culmination of this universal manifestation (Gal 4:4).

Jesus, the Emmanuel or God-with-us, makes the Virgin an instrument of the epiphany, since all (poor, pagans and upright) meet Christ in her hands (Lk 1-2). Mary is aware of this universality and so she proclaims it in the «Magnificat» (Lk 1:47-48).

2. Missionary dimension of the Marian titles

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The Marian titles or «privileges» have a significance in the history of salvation. They need to be put into a universal missionary perspective if they are to be appreciated in all their realism and greatness. In Mary, though to a different degree, God did what he wants to do in all humankind: Christ's total victory over sin and death.

The divine motherhood is exclusive to Mary, but it also indicates active cooperation in the universal redemption, as being associated with Christ the Saviour of all mankind. Mary belongs to the whole of humanity. Her motherhood expresses relationship with the «Whole Christ». Consequently she is the mother of all mankind: «she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son..., cooperating in the work of man's salvation..., became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race» (LG 56).

Mary's motherhood is permanent and so continues in the present order of grace. Christ's universal and unique mediation shines forth in the motherly activity of Mary, who in this sense is called «Mediatrix» (cf. LG 62; RMa 38, 40).

The meaning of Mary's virginity is that she «committed herself wholeheartedly... to God's saving will» (LG 56). So it is a spousal consecration to this sphere of charity and universal mission. She is «ever a Virgin» as a permanent sign for the Church, which is also missionary in order to be a faithful bride in the work of evangelization. Through this maternal virginity, Mary, as a type of the Church, «gave Life to the world» (LG 53).

The «full of grace» and Immaculate is a sign of the risen Christ's total victory over the original and personal sin that has wounded all mankind. The struggle between the darkness and light (Gen 3:15; Jn 1:5) will end when Christ, who died and rose again, dominates the darkness perfectly (Jn 12:43-46). This tension or struggle culminates in the Immaculate Virgin, because she is «the woman», the «new Eve», the mother of all the living, associated with the new Adam (Jn 19:25-27; Rev 12:1). Mary is an example of faith for all the chosen ones (Lk 1:45; 8:19-21). Mary's assumption is a sign of Christ's total victory over death and its consequences. Only in the light of the risen Christ does all mankind find the meaning of its existence. Mary the Queen is a sign and sharer in the reality of Christ the universal King.

The presentation of the Marian theme and concretely of the titles that accompany the Mother of God, reveal the Mystery of Christ as he is: Universal Saviour, true God and true man, our brother and close to us so that he is the protagonist of our concrete history, calling everyone to form one fold, or one Church, of which Mary is the Type and Mother.

3. Missionary dimension in the relationship between Mary and the Church

The Church's mission finds its own perspective in Mary's mission, which is one of universal motherhood. These are two missions that complete each other. Implanting the Church means establishing in every community the signs of the presence and deeds of Christ, who continues associating Mary in this saving mission. Word, liturgy-sacrament and communion, are the place where Mary and the Church meet in the moment of carrying out the mission.

The Church is «the universal sacrament of salvation» (LG 48; AG 1) because she is a «sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among all men» (LG 1). This is the essence of the Church's missionary nature which finds its culmination or personification in

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Mary, its Type and Mother (LG 53). In the Church's missionary activity, Mary is present as an integral part of the «kerygma» (first proclamation). The Church is «by its very nature missionary» (AG 2). In living and proclaiming the mystery of Christ born of Mary, the Church constantly finds her identity.

Like Mary, the Church starting from the day of Pentecost, hears the voice of the Spirit that urges her to prepare for the final encounter of all mankind with God (LG 2-4), namely, when all things will be brought together in Christ (Eph 1:10).

In the mystery of the Church Mary's reality is revealed, she too a Virgin and Mother. Like Mary's life, Christian life is a mission because it comes from a call from God to pass on his Word and to form one people with all mankind. Mary continues her mission as the associate of Christ who is prolonged in the Church. Mary's living presence in the Church or Marian devotion helps us to penetrate into the «today» of a continual motherhood which is, at the same time, Marian, ecclesial and apostolic (Gal 4:4.19.26).

For the Church, Mary is the «great sign» in this «today» of our pilgrimage towards the marriage or restoration of all creation and all humanity in Christ (Rev 12:1; 19:7-9; LG 48).

The whole Marian doctrine could be summarized in two aspects: virginity and motherhood. Virginity and fidelity in consecration to the Word of God who is the Word made man; it is a spousal fidelity that makes Mary the «associate» of salvation. Motherhood is fruitfulness or instrumentality of divine filiation: Mother of God and of all mankind.

Mary, as a Virgin and Mother, is the personification of the Church, namely, «in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached... perfection» (LG 65). The Church's mission is to be a mother or sign bearing Christ for all mankind. Through her virginity and motherhood Mary, as the «star of evangelization» (Paul VI), is the Type of the Church (cf. LG 65; RMi 92).

In the Church's missionary activity, Mary is present as an integral part of the «kerygma» (first proclamation). In her sacramentality the Church expresses and communicates this reality of the Mystery of Christ. The ecclesial signs accomplish Mary's motherhood in history. So there is an interdependence between Mary and the Church.

The process of Mary's virginal motherhood took place through the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35; Mt 1:18-20). Also the Church became a missionary and mother guided by the same power of the Spirit, received with «fullness» (Acts 2:4) in order to proclaim Christ «with boldness» (Acts 2:32-33; 4:31).

The ecclesial mediation finds in Mary's mediation its Type («personification»), its model of motherly cooperation and a help for accomplishing its own mediation. Mary accomplishes her maternal mediation also through the Church.

4. Missionary dimension of the Marian cult and devotion

The Marian cult and devotion are a call to maintain the tone of conversion and baptism in a process or stage of ever more perfect configuration to Christ. Imitating Mary's attitude, one maintains the rhythm of response to the Mystery of Christ with a process of faith, hope and charity.

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The celebration of the Marian feasts, just like every other aspect of devotion to Mary, helps us to enter into and live the paschal mystery that must be proclaimed to all nations (SC 103, 104).

The Marian devotion and cult are expressed in accordance with the cultural and social characteristics of every nation. In fact, within certain limits, popular Marian devotion has been most successful in accomplishing the process of «inculturation» that we are trying to hasten today in all spheres of Christian existence.

A Marian attitude of prayer is reflected in the Church's prayer to the sacrificed Lamb, as if it directed the prayer of all mankind (Rev 5:9-10).

Mary is the model of missionary prophecy which is the quintessence of ecclesial spirituality: openness to the Word of God (Lk 1:38), experiential contemplation of the Word (Lk 2:19.51), communication of the Word (Lk 1:44-45) and tension towards the final encounter of all mankind with the Word of God (Rev 12:1; 19:7-8).

Vatican II links the motherhood of the Church with Mary's virginity and motherhood. When the Church is faithful (virgin) like Mary «by receiving the word of God in faith [she] becomes herself a mother.

The apostle's Marian devotion is manifested mainly through imitation of Mary's motherly love. It is the apostolic zeal that St. Paul wanted to show with these terms of motherhood (Gal 4:19) as imitating Mary's motherhood (Gal 4:4) and the motherhood of the Church (Gal 4:26).

5. Mary, Mother of ecclesial and universal unity

The genuine Marian path leads the Church towards worldwide communion. Meditating on the Mystery of Christ, like Mary and with Mary, the Church meets herself as a sign of communion. The different graces or charisms come from the same Spirit. If the different points of view are genuine, they are also an expression of the unity of the human and Christian family. Mary is the Type and Mother of the Church and, for this very fact, her presence unites the apostles in brotherhood and in prayer (Acts 1:14).

The various ecclesial communities and local Churches have received different and complementary graces which lead to the union and communion of the one People of God and Body of Christ (LG 8). Sometimes they have concentrated on the action of the Holy Spirit («Orthodox» Churches), on Scripture or the action of grace («reform» Church), on the balance between Scripture and tradition, grace and nature, according to the mystery of the incarnation (Catholic Church).

Rebuilding Church's unity is a difficult path that requires a Marian attitude of faith or needs to enter into Christ's «hour», into the «cloud» of Tabor, into the poor and ecclesial signs of the Holy Spirit's action.

In herself Mary is not a principle of division, but of unity and familiar vitality, since she is but one aspect of the Mystery of Christ which is prolonged in the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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6. The apostle's Marian spirituality

The Marian and ecclesial attitude of fidelity to the Word, through the power of the Holy Spirit, becomes an apostolic motherhood: it gives birth to Jesus in our own heart and in the hearts of our brothers and sisters. Mary is the model of this fidelity. Apostolic zeal is motherly love (1 Thess 2:7.11; Gal 4:19; 1 Cor 4:15).

Missionary spirituality is summarized in this Marian and ecclesial attitude: «In her life the Virgin has been a model of that motherly love with which all who join in the Church's apostolic mission for the regeneration of mankind should be animated» (LG 65; cf. RMi 92).

In her apostolic activity the Church learns from Mary, «the first of his disciples» (CT 73), to be «the great giver as well as the great receiver of catechesis» (CT 45). The ecclesial and Marian contemplative attitude is a process of entering into the cloud of faith (Lk 1:29), of adoring God's plans of salvation (Lk 2:19), of admiring and loving these plans to the point of spousally sharing the same fate as Christ (Lk 2:35.48-51). The evangelizer who has learnt how to listen to God in the depths of his heart also knows how to listen to his brothers and sisters (cf. RMi 28).

Mary received this Word with a total openness that made her become the supreme Mother. This Marian and ecclesial process of openness to the Word is an attitude of biblical «poverty» (Lk 1:48) and of availability to communicate the Word to all mankind (Lk 1:48-49).

The Church looks to Mary as the living «memorial» of the Gospel (Lk 2:19.51) so that she might become like her, «together with Mary and following the example of Mary» (RMi 92), a transparency and instrument of Jesus Christ for all peoples.

Mary's motherly love becomes concern, intercession, stimulus, encouragement and presence. Since every apostle is involved in the work of evangelization he feels he is the mother Church, following the example of Mary and with Mary's help.

Living in a «communion of life» with Mary «as a result of the words of the dying Christ» and in imitation of the beloved disciple, means letting Mary enter as a Mother «into everything that makes up his inner life» (RMa 45 and note 130). The apostle entrusts himself in a filial manner to Mary and joyfully accepts her «active and maternal presence» (RMa 1, 24, 28, 48, 52).

Jesus was consecrated as «the one sent» (apostle) by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb; he associated his Mother with his redemptive mission and continues to associate her in his ecclesial action.

Jesus continues his mission in the Church associating Mary with this mission. The apostle shares in the Church's prophetic, cultural and royal mission, that is to say, he is part of the signs that make the Church a mother like Mary. The apostle's Marian devotion is manifested mainly in imitation of Mary's «motherly love» (LG 65), particularly when he carries out the apostolic services of the Word, the sacraments and charity. Mary guides the apostle's faith and the faith of those who accept the faith through the apostles (cf. RMa 27).

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ABBREVIATIONS

AA : Conciliar Decree Apostolicam ActuositatemAG : Conciliar Decree Ad GentesCA : Encyclical Centesimus Annus (John Paul II)CD : Conciliar Decree Christus DominusCFL : Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici (John Paul II)CT : Apostolic Exhortation Catechesi Tradendae (John Paul II)DEV : Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem (John Paul II)DM : Encyclical Dives in Misericordia (John Paul II)DV : Conciliar Constitution Dei VerbumEN : Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (Paul VI)ES : Encyclical Ecclesiam Suam (Paul VI)ET : Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica Testificatio (Paul VI)FC : Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (John Paul II)GEd : Conciliar Declaration Gravissimum EducationisGS : Conciliar Constitution Gaudium et SpesLE : Encyclical Laborem Exercens (John Paul II)LG : Conciliar Constitution Lumen GentiumIM : Conciliar Decree Inter MirificaMC : Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus (Paul VI)MD : Encyclical Mulieris Dignitatem (John Paul II)NAE : Conciliar Declaration Nostra AetateOT : Conciliar Decree Optatem TotiusPC : Conciliar Decree Perfectae CaritatisPDV : Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo vobis (John Paul II)PO : Conciliar Decree Presbyterorum OrdinisRD : Apostolic Exhortation Redemptionis Donum (John Paul II)RH : Encyclical Redemptor Hominis (John Paul II)RM : Encyclical Redemptoris Mater (John Paul II)RMi : Encyclical Redemptoris Missio (John Paul II)RP : Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (John Paul II)SA : Encyclical Slavorum Apostoli (John Paul II)SC : Conciliar Constitution Sacrosanctum ConciliumSD : Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris (John Paul II)SRS : Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (John Paul II)UR : Conciliar Decree Unitatis RedintegratioVS : Encyclical Veritatis Splendor (John Paul II)

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CONTENTSIntroduction

I. FROM CHRIST THE EVANGELIZER TO THE EVANGELIZING CHURCH

1. The Risen Jesus among his people. - 2. The Church an evangelizing community - 3. Servants of the ecclesial community. - 4. In the dynamic concept of «mission» and «evangelization».

II. THE NATURE OF EVANGELIZATION

1. Basic concepts of mission and evangelization. - 2. Goal, content and means of evangelization. - 3. Beneficiaries and workers for evangelization. - 4. Special characteristics and conditionings of time and place. 5. Theology, pastoral and spirituality of evangelization.

III. PASTORAL FOR THE FIRST EVANGELIZATION AND THE IMPLANTATION OF THE CHURCH

1. Pastoral for conversion. - 2. Pastoral for Christian initiation. - 3. Implanting the Church.

IV. THE PATHS OF EVANGELIZATION

1. Pastoral for the Word. - 2. The liturgical pastoral. -3. Building up the ecclesial community in charity. - 4. The pastoral for dialogue and inculturation. - 5. The pastoral for human promotion and liberation.

V. SIGNIFICANCE AND DIMENSIONS OF MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY

1. Missionary spirituality. 2. Christianity as mission, the Christian's missionary spirituality. - 3. The apostle's or missionary's spirituality. - 4. Christian spirituality in the encounter with non-Christian spirituality.

V. VOCATION AND MISSIONARY FORMATION

1. Christ calls to mission. - 2. The Christian's vocations: A) The vocation to the ministerial priesthood; B) The vocation to the lay state; C) The vocation to consecrated and contemplative life. - 3. The specific missionary vocation. - 4. Fidelity and formation for the missionary vocation.

VIII. PRAYER AND EVANGELIZATION

1. Present-day prayer trends. - 2. Prayer and evangelization. - 3. Dialogue with God in non-Christian religions. - 4. The specificity of Christian prayer. - 5. Non-Christian mystic experiences. - 6. The «acculturation» of Christian contemplation. - 7. The specificity of Christian contemplation. - 8. Christian contemplation as a value for present-day evangelization.

IX. MARY IN THE CHURCH'S MISSION: THE APOSTLE'S MARIAN SPIRITUALITY

1. Kerygmatic dimension of the biblical-Marian texts. - 2. Missionary dimension of the Marian titles. - 3. Missionary dimension in the relationship between Mary and the Church. - 4. Missionary dimension of the Marian cult and devotion. - 5. Mary, Mother of ecclesial and universal unity. - 6. The apostle's Marian spirituality.

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