4th qtr 2013 household topics in the year of faith and the era of new evangelization fourth (4th)...

7/27/2019 4th Qtr 2013 HOUSEHOLD TOPICS IN THE YEAR OF FAITH AND THE ERA OF NEW EVANGELIZATION Fourth (4th) Qua

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HOUSEHOLD TOPICS IN THE YEAR OF FAITH and the Era of the New Evangelization

Fourth (4th

) Quarter

Topic 10: What sets you apart? Our mission and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit

Perspective setting:

We have now come to the last quarter and the household topics will dwell upon moving us into

action.

Through the call for the New Evangelization, the Universal Church has re-stated clearly its

compelling purpose. It has set the whole Church on a priority and urgent course for mission and

evangelization for every baptized Catholic. The Philippine Church, in the light of the

forthcoming 500th

year of Christianity, has heightened the call as it declared a nine-year

spiritual preparation as an Era of the New Evangelization and we are just at the first year of

the nine-year journey.

In the context that the world has evolved rapidly and is influenced increasingly in its thought

and culture by secularism, the paradigm of the New Evangelization is to believe that where sin

increased, grace overflowed all the more. (Rom 5:20) The paradigm of the New Evangelization

is to see this time as a golden opportunity for us to be renewed in our inner life for mission and

proclamation of the gospel.

As we approach the 2nd

year of the nine-year spiritual preparation, having for its theme the

laity, we could appreciate our lay life as a vocation a call from God to bring His presence and

the good news of Christ to the very heart of the world, the realm of secular affairs. We are

uniquely situated to be salt, light and yeast. We, as the new evangelizers, can make adifference where we are at.

Our Response

1. Jesus used the images of salt, light and yeast. What do these images tell me about an

evangelizer? What image comes closer to my heart and why?

2. What difference can I make as salt, light and yeast to my marriage and family life?

3. How am I making a difference in my work place? What am I doing to bring those I work

with to know and experience Christ?

4. How am I making a difference in the place where I live? Have I made friends with my next-

door neighbour with the intent to create openings for me to share my experience and life

journey with Jesus as a way to interest them to renew their faith?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. Mission and evangelization is our way of life. Every situation we are with people is an

opportunity to evangelize and do mission.

2. There is no ideal or perfect time. God uses even small openings for His grace to work.


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Topic 11: Being spiritual people: Living the charismatic spirituality


Responding to the call to mission and evangelization is to realize Gods highest potential for our

lives because it fits into Gods purpose and plan for every baptized Christian. The NewEvangelization emphasizes that the call to mission and evangelization is for everyone. We are

missionaries and evangelizers by virtue of the sacrament of baptism we received despite our

shortcomings, weakness and sinfulness.

To be an evangelizer requires strength, character and faith beyond what is merely human,

especially in todays context where many have rejected the gospel. Evangelizers will face

stringent demands. Jesus himself told his disciples: If the world hated you, know that it has

hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do

not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. (Jn 15:

18-19). Natural gifts of intellect, personality and character certainly enhance ones potential

but they do not define an evangelizer. God alone makes them evangelizers through the

outpouring of the Spirit. This is what we saw in the story of the Apostles. The same is so

strongly depicted in the story of St. Pauls mission. This is our story too:

We are baptized in the Spirit the same Spirit given on Pentecost;

We are equipped and empowered by the Spirit

We experience the use of charismatic gifts;

We in CFC-FFL know we are called and commissioned to do mission and evangelization.

Secondly, by our own strength we do not stand a chance against the powers and principalities

that have a grip on the world. Doing mission and evangelization is not to wrestle with mereflesh and blood. We are in spiritual warfare and only by the Spirit can we be assured of victory.

Our Response

1. How have I experienced the Holy Spirit equipping me for mission and evangelization? What

new things have I discovered I am capable of doing which prior to the baptism of the Spirit I

did not think I was capable of?

2. Every individual is given at least one gift (1 Cor 12:710) - wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing,

mighty deeds, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. What is

my gift and how have I used it for the bringing of people to a renewed life in the Lord?

3. The New Evangelization is a call to do massive work. With such a call is also an

empowerment by the Spirit. How do I see the Spirit empowering me for the massive work

God has call me to do especially in this nine-year spiritual journey towards 2021 500th

year of Christianity in the Philippines?


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1. When God calls, he empowers! There is a special grace given to us for the work of the New

Evangelization.

2. The Spirit is given out precisely for the work of evangelization

a. Matthew 28: 18-20. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and

on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizingthem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to

observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end

of the age."

b. Mark 16:16-18. He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to

every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe

will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will

drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents [with their

hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on

the sick, and they will recover."

c. Luke 24: 46-49. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer

and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,

would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.. You are

witnesses of these things. And [behold] I am sending the promise of my Father upon you;

but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

d. John 20: 21-23. [Jesus] said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent

me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you

retain are retained."

3. We are inevitably evangelizers by virtue of our sacramental baptism and by the baptism of

the Spirit.


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Topic 12: Integration for the whole year: Who are you as a New Evangelizer?


This is the last household topic for 2013. It may be a good time to look ahead the second (2nd

)

year of the nine (9) year spiritual preparation towards our countrys 500th

year celebration ofChristianity: the Era of the New Evangelization. 2014 is our year the year of the laity. The

Church in the Philippines tells us how important the laity is to the Era of the New

Evangelization as it is placed right on the second year following the year of Integral Faith

Formation.

The gospel of Luke has an impressive list of ordinary people called by Jesus just so to highlight

the importance of lay vocation. The list starts with Simons mother-in-law (4: 38-39), the

paralytic (5:17-26), the centurion (7:1-10), the widow of Nain (7:36-50), the Gerasene demoniac

(8:26-39), the woman with haemorrhage and Jairus and his daughter (8:40-56), the epileptic

demoniac and his father (9:37-43), Martha and Mary (10:38-42), the crippled woman on the

Sabbath (13:10-17), the grateful Samaritan leper (17:11-19), the rich young man called to

leave everything but unfortunately declined the call (18:18-27), the blind man of Jericho (18:35-

43), Zacchaeus (19: 1-10), the widow with her mite (21:1-4), the good thief on the cross on

Calvary (23:39-43), and lastly, the women on Easter morning at the tomb (24:1-11). It is made

clear that the lay vocation was a very important part of the Kingdom of God proclaimed by

Jesus. All of them have encountered Jesus and found their lives radically changed.

The lay state has always been recognized as a valuable way of following Christ. There have been

lay saints to name: Martha, Thomas More and our two Filipino saints Ruiz and more recently

Calunsod.

Our Response

1. What does the New Evangelization mean to me?

2. What is Gods invitation to me in the context of the New Evangelization and my state as

laity?

3. How would 2014 look like? What do I see myself becoming and the situations around me?


1. The lay vocation has equal dignity as a walk towards God just as the religious and priestly

life. The religious and priestly life are not necessarily the better way. Each person is called

uniquely by God.

2. Our present state as married men and women is a vocation. It is where Jesus desires us to

encounter him.

4th qtr 2013 household topics in the year of faith and the era of new evangelization fourth (4th)...

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