Evangelization and Contemplation: Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
Over the past several years, I have called upon Teresa of Avila and Pope Francis to help explore the riches of our Catholic spirituality. I would like to go to the well of their insights and wisdom once more for help understanding the call to universal holiness. I will use the Pope’s call to evangelization and Teresa’s summons to deeper prayer in the Carmelite tradition.
These seemingly very different persons offer much clarity for our directive to proclaim the Good News of a loving God to a world floundering in a search for meaning and direction. In both The Joy of the Gospel and The Interior Castle, we find a vast font of wisdom to guide us on our pilgrimage to God in the confusion and brokenness of our lives and of our world. Both the Jesuit Pope and the saintly Carmelite never tire of telling us to keep our eyes and our heart fixed on Jesus. Both agree that one of the major consequences of this continual encounter with Jesus will be a new and inviting awareness of the poor and those on the margin in our midst.
Challenge of Evangelization and Need for Contemplation
For Francis, the emphasis in this quest for universal holiness calls us to share Jesus’ call to evangelize. For Teresa, deeper prayer opening to contemplation, is the most important experience. These two ostensibly different concepts and experiences are mutually supportive in a search for God.
Francis tells us at the beginning of The Joy of the Gospel that bringing Jesus into our life frees us from narrowness and self-absorption. We move steadily to the development of ourselves in accord with God’s plan for us. We want to share the love we have discovered with others. This personal and spiritual growth moves us to share the Good News, to evangelize all we meet in life.
Francis refers to a statement by the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops: “Life grows by giving it away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others.” Francis is simply adding his voice on the theme of evangelization to a message expressed many decades earlier by Paul VI and repeated by John Paul II and Benedict XVl. We are all called to proclaim the gospel and, in doing so, to transform the world and ourselves by giving new life in Jesus Christ. We are all summoned to be evangelizers, missionary disciples.
This is new to us. This is not a common vision we share as followers of Christ in today’s Church. For many, the idea of evangelization is limited and often distorted. True evangelization means far more than to stand on the corner holding a sign: “Jesus saves!” Likewise, most respect others’ religion and simply are not comfortable talking about the richness of our faith. Religion is a private affair in the usual social interchange we share. This is especially so on personal issues but also to a degree in the social, economic and political realm.
Vatican II set the stage for this renewed challenge of evangelization. The Council members set out a clear call to universal holiness. This too is a mandate that has not been part of the generally accepted understanding of what it means to be a good Christian. Francis and Teresa offer a deeper and more extensive view of what it involves for us to walk with Jesus in the God-given task to evangelize and to seek God’s gift of contemplation. We are summoned to be holy and we are directed to share the Good News of God’s love in Christ both in our life and in our actions. Evangelization, understood in the fullness of its meaning, is a radical breakthrough in our awareness and acceptance of our Christian calling. Francis asks us to proclaim the depth of God’s love in Christ as we enter more deeply into the Mystery. He quotes John of the Cross, the great Doctor of Mysticism, in describing this process: “The thicket of God’s wisdom and knowledge is so deep and so broad that the soul, however much it has come to know of it, can always penetrate deeper within it” (Spiritual Canticle, 36, 10).
Contemplation, a new and different experience of God, where God takes a fresh and active role, normally is the result of a faithful and generous journey with Jesus. Teresa of Avila points out us a clear and direct path to this special development.
In the centuries following the Reformation certain elements of the tradition were either neglected or misrepresented. Evangelization and contemplation were two significant victims of neglect and misrepresentation. The distortion and neglect of both evangelization and contemplation led to minimizing holiness for most members of the Church. Contemplation was specifically twisted to be understood as the privilege of a chosen few rather than the normal consequence of a faithful Christian life. Evangelization was both diminished and considered primarily an exclusive task of the clerical faction of the Church.
Like its invitation into so many other buried treasures, Vatican II has directed us to recover the hidden riches of these profound resources, a central one being holiness for all the disciples of Christ. This deeper encounter with the message of Christ and the call to a more profound experience of prayer are a passageway to our most authentic experience of God.
Over the past several years, I have called upon Teresa of Avila and Pope Francis to help explore the riches of our Catholic spirituality. I would like to go to the well of their insights and wisdom once more for help understanding the call to universal holiness. I will use the Pope’s call to evangelization and Teresa’s summons to deeper prayer in the Carmelite tradition.
These seemingly very different persons offer much clarity for our directive to proclaim the Good News of a loving God to a world floundering in a search for meaning and direction. In both The Joy of the Gospel and The Interior Castle, we find a vast font of wisdom to guide us on our pilgrimage to God in the confusion and brokenness of our lives and of our world. Both the Jesuit Pope and the saintly Carmelite never tire of telling us to keep our eyes and our heart fixed on Jesus. Both agree that one of the major consequences of this continual encounter with Jesus will be a new and inviting awareness of the poor and those on the margin in our midst.
Challenge of Evangelization and Need for Contemplation
For Francis, the emphasis in this quest for universal holiness calls us to share Jesus’ call to evangelize. For Teresa, deeper prayer opening to contemplation, is the most important experience. These two ostensibly different concepts and experiences are mutually supportive in a search for God.
Francis tells us at the beginning of The Joy of the Gospel that bringing Jesus into our life frees us from narrowness and self-absorption. We move steadily to the development of ourselves in accord with God’s plan for us. We want to share the love we have discovered with others. This personal and spiritual growth moves us to share the Good News, to evangelize all we meet in life.
Francis refers to a statement by the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops: “Life grows by giving it away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others.” Francis is simply adding his voice on the theme of evangelization to a message expressed many decades earlier by Paul VI and repeated by John Paul II and Benedict XVl. We are all called to proclaim the gospel and, in doing so, to transform the world and ourselves by giving new life in Jesus Christ. We are all summoned to be evangelizers, missionary disciples.
This is new to us. This is not a common vision we share as followers of Christ in today’s Church. For many, the idea of evangelization is limited and often distorted. True evangelization means far more than to stand on the corner holding a sign: “Jesus saves!” Likewise, most respect others’ religion and simply are not comfortable talking about the richness of our faith. Religion is a private affair in the usual social interchange we share. This is especially so on personal issues but also to a degree in the social, economic and political realm.
Vatican II set the stage for this renewed challenge of evangelization. The Council members set out a clear call to universal holiness. This too is a mandate that has not been part of the generally accepted understanding of what it means to be a good Christian. Francis and Teresa offer a deeper and more extensive view of what it involves for us to walk with Jesus in the God-given task to evangelize and to seek God’s gift of contemplation. We are summoned to be holy and we are directed to share the Good News of God’s love in Christ both in our life and in our actions. Evangelization, understood in the fullness of its meaning, is a radical breakthrough in our awareness and acceptance of our Christian calling. Francis asks us to proclaim the depth of God’s love in Christ as we enter more deeply into the Mystery. He quotes John of the Cross, the great Doctor of Mysticism, in describing this process: “The thicket of God’s wisdom and knowledge is so deep and so broad that the soul, however much it has come to know of it, can always penetrate deeper within it” (Spiritual Canticle, 36, 10).
Contemplation, a new and different experience of God, where God takes a fresh and active role, normally is the result of a faithful and generous journey with Jesus. Teresa of Avila points out us a clear and direct path to this special development.
In the centuries following the Reformation certain elements of the tradition were either neglected or misrepresented. Evangelization and contemplation were two significant victims of neglect and misrepresentation. The distortion and neglect of both evangelization and contemplation led to minimizing holiness for most members of the Church. Contemplation was specifically twisted to be understood as the privilege of a chosen few rather than the normal consequence of a faithful Christian life. Evangelization was both diminished and considered primarily an exclusive task of the clerical faction of the Church.
Like its invitation into so many other buried treasures, Vatican II has directed us to recover the hidden riches of these profound resources, a central one being holiness for all the disciples of Christ. This deeper encounter with the message of Christ and the call to a more profound experience of prayer are a passageway to our most authentic experience of God.
