“After 48 years as a priest, I have never been more convinced
that each of us needs and desires a relationship with Jesus
Christ in His Church,” Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde
writes in his pastoral letter
on the new evangelization.
“My foremost prayer is for the dawning of a New
Evangelization here in the Diocese of Arlington,” he writes.
“I pray that we might meet this hunger and thirst with an
outpouring of love, mercy and an evangelization ‘new in its
ardor, new in its methods and new in its means of
expression.’ Simply put, it is a prayer that we might fall
more deeply in love with Jesus Christ and share that love
with another.”
“Go Forth with Hearts on Fire: A Pastoral Letter on the New
Evangelization” is dated Nov. 24, the solemnity of Christ the
King and the last day of the Year of Faith called by Pope
Benedict XVI. The letter is issued on the anniversary of the
bishop’s consecration of the diocese to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus.
Bishop Loverde, who has made evangelization a priority
throughout his years of priestly and episcopal ministry, said
he wanted to release the letter at the end of the Year of
Faith because “this whole year has energized us and equipped
us to embark with more enthusiasm and more fervor for the
work of the new evangelization, which is forever.”
The bishop said he hopes that people who read the letter will
become more deeply aware of how the Lord longs for their
response to His invitation to be in union with Him within the
church.
“Once you taste this relationship with the Lord and the inner
peace it brings, the strength it brings, you not only have
fire in yourself with a new purpose, but you certainly want
to share that with others, which is part of the new
evangelization,” he said.
“My hope is that reading the letter, praying over it and
discussing it, will first of all set people on fire in a way
that they will be moved to invite others to come to the Lord,
not in any forceful way, not in any pushy way, but when you
see goodness lived, you’re attracted to it.”
In the pastoral letter, Bishop Loverde says that unlike prior
generations, we cannot be lukewarm, uninformed or casual
about the gift of faith. “Today is a time of decision and
commitment,” he writes, “and we are at the forefront.”
He prays that this letter will help Catholics to take
specific and concrete steps in drawing closer to Jesus Christ
and proclaiming Him to others.
“By confronting the obstacles in your path, taking up the
tools you need as an evangelist and staying renewed as a
disciple along the way, you will be living out your baptismal
call to carry out the mission the Lord has for you – indeed,
for all of us.”
Bishop Loverde writes that “evangelization” simply means
sharing the good news about Jesus Christ.
“You may not know it, but as a baptized Catholic you already
are an evangelist,” he writes. “You are a herald or messenger
of this Good News. You have received a commission to ‘go
out.'”
The best way to evangelize, the bishop says in the letter, is
to attract people to God by the way we live our lives.
“By growing closer to Christ, you and I create the
opportunity for one person from our circle of family, friends
or community to see something different in our life, and ask,
‘Why do you live that way? What urges you on?'”
“Bringing the Good News to another is about offering the
freedom and joy of Christ through His Church. It is one heart
speaking to another with an invitation to life and joy. It is
you and I bringing Jesus Christ, a living Person, into
someone else’s life.”
Bishop Loverde writes that beneath the surface of our culture
is a suffering that only Christ can heal. The symptoms are
evident in our broken families, materialism, widespread
practical atheism and rampant pornography.
“Our troubled world needs Christ and His teaching, along with
the peace and forgiveness He brings into our lives,” the
bishop writes.
As evangelists on a mission, the bishop identifies three
practices that we all need for ongoing renewal: the
Eucharist, confession and daily prayer.
“Prayer is far more than a thing or an activity to be worked
into the calendar, as if it were soccer practice or a PTA
meeting,” he writes. “It must take primacy over everything
else.”
Among the forms of prayer Bishop Loverde suggests in the
letter are the rosary, lectio divina (“divine reading”),
fasting and mortification, adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament, and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“Even as we equip ourselves for evangelizing, we must also
realistically acknowledge the obstacles that we will
encounter,” Bishop Loverde writes.
He then identifies the five most significant obstacles that
priests in the Arlington Diocese have encountered in their
ministry: putting “busyness” before prayer; the culture’s
“anti-evangelization” campaign; ignorance, misunderstanding
and indifference; transience and anonymity; and a
“maintenance mentality” that runs counter to mission.
“As we embark with new enthusiasm and with new tools to
evangelize, we look to Mary, the Mother of God and our
mother, to intercede for us,” the bishop writes. “We ask for
strength and perseverance and the power of her example of how
to evangelize as her Son Jesus wishes.
“We must begin today to search for the lost among our
families, our friends, and, in fact in our own hearts. My
prayer is that all of us will allow the Heart of Christ to
speak to our hearts, so that we can share our heart with
another.”
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