NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part X

This topic on Faith is important for Pope Benedict and for us. For the Pope, this is his most important job, to lead us to the door of Faith. For us we must enter the door of Faith otherwise we are damned. For the rest of the world it is either salvation or damnation. Logically, there is nothing more important for any of us. But this is not the case for most people. Not even for priests and nuns. Yet the Pope's plan to come out later with a letter on Faith shows the urgency of this call. It even sounds like a last call.

In the last post we saw the obvious difference between  Pope Benedict's schema on the "New Evangelization" that leads to "Porta Fidei" the door of Faith.... and the schema or 'Instrumentum laboris" of the Preparatory Commission for the Bishop's Synod on the same topic scheduled for this October. Pope Benedict's schema is in accordance with the Liturgy, Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church and the Magisterium from the earliest time up to the Council of Trent, at least.  The Instrumentum Laboris is not, confirming further the lost of Faith and the need to review the Catholic Church's evangelization efforts which the Holy Father had been harping at. 

The Holy Father is trying to pin point a problem for which his'new evangelization' towards the door of Faith is the solution. The problem is based on his analysis of the Gospel on the feast of St. Peter and Paul when he first announced the need for this program  to tackle the problem of the near complete lost of Faith.

The Gospel speaks about two levels of understanding. The first level is the natural level in which everything can be understood by the natural mind. The Old Testament falls under this level. Everything in the Old Testament, like the 10 Commandments can be understood by the natural mind.  The prophecies about the coming Messiah, the moral virtue and all of natural theology can be understood by the natural mind because they all fall in the natural level. So when Christ asked the disciples who the crowd think He is  the crowd gave answers that are naturally known, like He is a prophet. And Christ described their answer as a knowledge that can be taught by flesh and blood, i.e. by human teachers. Human teachers are teachers who teach Algebra, Physics, Philosophy and Natural theology and other natural sciences.

The second level is the supernatural level. The knowledge in this level cannot be taught or learned by flesh and blood. Only God can teach this to souls. Divine Revelation and/or the teachings of the Catholic Church would fall under this category. Natural man can read and know the words of these truths  but not the deep meaning of the Word of God which contains supernatural mysteries, precepts and counsels.  The deep breath of divine truths which comes from God can be taught by God alone. Though the New Testament teachings is a written law that can be learned by the mind, its  divine meaning can only be infused in the soul by God. And this is how St. Peter answered Christ's question. Christ said: flesh and blood had not taught you this but My Father in heaven.

In short, the Old Testament and all man- made scientific knowledge  fall under the natural level that can be taught by men.  The New Testament and all knowledge after Pentecost fall under the supernatural level that is taught by God alone.  To know supernatural knowledge like the teachings of the Catholic Church a soul must be raised up to the supernatural level and in that level God takes over and teaches him. We do not teach souls the Catholic Truths. We teach them how to rise to the supernatural level where God, Himself teaches the soul. The process of teaching the soul how to rise up to the supernatural level is called Evangelization. An Evangelizer does not teach Catholic Truths. He teaches souls how to rise to the supernatural level where God teaches the soul. We cannot over emphasize this because there lies the problem of Evangelization....we are teaching souls Catholic Truths instead of teaching them how to rise up to the supernatural level and become co-natural with Divinity. Pope Benedict noted this defect and described it as 'wrong method' of Evangelization.' The inability of Evangelizer to rise up to the supernatural level (the contemplative life) and as a consequence not to be able to raise their listeners to the supernatural level resulted in the second defect mentioned by the Pope as 'wrong contents' in Evangelization. Those are the two general defects mentioned by Pope Benedict in his 'New Evangelization.

It is impossible to teach Catholic Truths without teaching souls how to rise to the supernatural level because supernatural truths are taught in that level.  If we go the Christ's 'Apostolic Commission' to the Apostles at the end of Matthew's Gospel, His instruction is to 'teach all nations' how to rise to the supernatural level and not the teaching of Catholic truths.

To teach listeners to rise up to the supernatural level so God can teach them Divine Revelation  is to teach them to become contemplatives. The Evangelizer has to be a contemplative himself. This is an important element of the "New Evangelization" that the Pope had been repeating but which is lacking in the schema for the Bishop's Synod this October.

The error that Pope Benedict is correcting is this: preachers who are merely in the natural level and, therefore do not understand the deeper meaning of the teachings of Christ are teaching souls doctrines with words in the natural level which the hearers cannot understand the deeper meaning because they are not in the supernatural level. Neither the Evangelizer nor the hearer are learning about Faith. The Holy Father suspects that this was the cause of the nearly total lost of Faith today.

The Documents of the Council of Trent were superb morally and dogmatically because they were documents based of the Holy Tradition of the Catholic Church. But they were living on bad days.  The Protestant reformation was at full swing. The Council was pressured to rush the training of priests in the seminary for the Evangelization of the Church that was being swept by Protestantism. In the rush, they employed priests in the natural level trying to teach supernatural truths which they did not understand to seminarians who could not understand supernatural truths because they were not taught how to rise to the supernatural level. Since Faith is in the supernatural level we have a scenario where both the teachers and seminarians in the seminary had no Faith. If there were  few contemplatives who could have done a good job of teaching seminarians how to rise to the supernatural level, they would all be gone after two generations. That was the root of today's problem of a near total absence of Faith or the 'Crisis of Faith' the former Cardinal Ratzinger described as the state of the Church in his 'Ratzinger Report." There ought to be a few contemplatives in the Church otherwise Satan would have triumphed over the Church which cannot happen.

The schema prepared for the Bishop's Synod this October lacks the first two steps in the Holy Father's schema. These are the elements that teaches souls how to rise to the supernatural level. The topics for the bishop's synod were mostly natural, human topics.

The Holy Father's schema has the first two steps which are the provision in raising souls to the supernatural level so God can teach them Divine Revelations. The Bishop's schema does not contain these two provisions. Unless their schema is improved souls will not attain the supernatural virtue of Faith and eternal Life. Bishop Fisichella, head of the Congregation for the New Evangelization probably pin pointed the crux of the problem when he said: what we need is not new ways of evangelization but new Evangelizers. Preachers who are not bogged down in the spirituality of the Old Testament, the level of the natural. But souls who have risen up to the supernatural level into the spirituality of the New Testament and thus truly have Faith. Putting it the Holy Father's words: only contemplatives can teach other souls to become contemplative where God alone can teach them the truths of the Catholic Church. That is the 'New Evangelization'.

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part IX

Pope Benedict initiated the "New Evangelization" that leads to "Porta Fidei" because as Cardinal Ratzinger and part of the 'International Theological Commission' advising Vatican II  he discovered that there was something wrong with the Evangelization used for the last 200 years.  He suspects it is even as far as 600 years ago. The error seems to have appeared sometime after the Council of Trent. Like all errors and defects it became more pronounced around the 1800, and it has gone completely berserk this century 2011. As Pope he had made this issue the forefront of his Pontificate and the program for the Bishop's Synod on October 2012. But as the Schema for this Synod was published a month ago it looks like the Bishop's schema contain the  same error that Pope Benedict is trying to correct.

Maybe the authors of the schema for the Bishop's Synod do not mean what was published. Maybe they mean exactly what the Pope  is saying. Maybe the Bishop's Synod and the Pope's schema will coincide eventually. Maybe the Pope will completely control the Synod and eventually come out with what he wants to say. But at this moment the two schemas do not match. And priests like me who wants to prepare the faithful for the year of Faith are confused.

There are  a thousand problems destroying the world today; from economic crisis, to abortion, to civil wars, to hunger, to same sex marriages, to priests guilty of pedophilia, to danger of a nuclear war, to floodings and tsunamis, to super volcanoes to etc. etc... But the worst problem in the world today is the LACK OF FAITH because the consequence, eternal damnation, is beyond what man can understand. The Holy Father had given light attention to the other problems and had concentrated his efforts to the lack of faith and the necessity for a proper Evangelization that will lead to True Faith.

Pope Benedict's schema in his "New Evangelization" that leads to "Porta fidei" is  back to basics. He, himself, mentioned that this schema is the traditional, classical way of Evangelization. It is what was used by the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church and by the Catholic Church before something went wrong after the Council of Trent. The Pope's schema  even coincides with the spirituality of the Liturgical Calendar of the Church. Compared to the schema prepared for the Bishop's Synod, the Pope's schema is simpler, clearer and easier to explain just like the Liturgy of the Sunday Masses.

Let me repeat Pope Benedict's schema as he explained it in his document "New Evangelization" delivered in New York for catechists. But this time using the Gospel of the feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul. See how simple it is.

Christ was talking to His apostles and asked them who people say He was. Christ receives two answers. One answer came from the ordinary people, which was wrong but better than the answer of the Pharisees. The other answer came from St. Peter answering for all the apostles. Note the great difference between the two answers. 

The first answer coming from the common people states that Christ was a prophet, probably Jeremiah, probably Isaiah which would  be the same answer from any Old Testament Jew. Christ described this first answer as coming from flesh and blood, i.e. from human beings, like teachers, professors, doctors of the law, etc. It was NOT Christ nor His Father who taught the common people this answer. This first answer can be naturally and humanly learned as all things in the OLD Testament. It can be learned from human teachers that's why the ordinary people knew this. This is OLD Testament reply and this natural knowledge is not from Faith.

The second answer did not come from the common people because the common people cannot learn this from human teachers i.e. from teachers of flesh and blood. St. Peter, speaking on behalf of the apostles answered. "You are the Son of the living God." And Christ said:  "Blessed are you Bar Jona because neither flesh nor blood had revealed this to you but My Father in Heaven. So this knowledge came from the Father in Heaven and not from human teachers or professors on earth. The answer was not natural nor from flesh and blood. It is from God. This is supernatural knowledge that comes from Faith that goes hand in hand with contemplation. St. Peter have reached the contemplative life so it is the Father in Heaven who is now teaching him. Christ had lead St. Peter to contemplation. Now the Father is teaching him.

The first answer of the common people was learned in a school-room situation and not through contemplation. The second answer was learned not through a school-room situation but in an infused manner and this is through contemplation.

The first answer of the common people was taught by flesh and blood, by human teachers, professors and doctors of the law.  The second answer came from a contemplative, raised up by Jesus Christ to contemplation and now being taught by the Father.

In the first case, the teachers were human and the pupils had remained in the human level. In the second case the teacher, Jesus Christ, was a contemplative and the pupils were raised up to the contemplative level.

So essentially, the "New Evangelization" consists not in teaching that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and other truths....but in teaching the soul to rise up to the level of contemplation like St. Peter so that God the Father can teach them that Jesus is the Son of the living God and mean it.

Pope Benedict in his schema gave the four steps that lead to contemplation. The commission preparing for the Bishop's Synod skipped the first two steps,  repentance or conversion AND entry into the Catholic Church,  thus making it impossible for anyone to reach faith. This error is in addition to the fact that most priests had just studied theology from flesh and blood in the seminaries and as such are not really taught by the Father in Heaven.  On these two counts  it would be impossible for anyone to reach the "Door of Faith." 

Again, the defect  that the Pope is correcting is the fact that souls are being taught by teachers with flesh and blood that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. This is both in the seminaries and in the pulpit. No! Evangelization is teaching seminarians and the faithful to become contemplatives..... so that the Father in Heaven can teach them that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and other Catholic truths.  All supernatural, Catholic Truths can only be taught by the Father in Heaven to contemplatives.

Note, therefore, how the Holy Father reminded families to hear a good Mass together. Why? Because in the first part of the Mass they learn truths  from flesh and  blood. In the second part of the Mass they remain silent to learn truths from the Father in Heaven. It is for this same reason that Pope Benedict said that theology should be learned in prayer kneeling down before the Blessed Sacrament.

Summarizing, Jesus Christ is a contemplative who lead the apostles through the four steps of  a.)conversion,  b.)entrance into the kingdom of God,  c.)union with Jesus Christ,  d.) union with the Holy Spirit  thus leading them to contemplation and eternal life. Having become contemplatives the Father in Heaven can now teach the apostles directly the truths of the Catholic Church.  In the "new Evangelization" we must do exactly what Christ did......be contemplatives that we may learn from the Father in Heaven .........and then teach others how to be contemplatives so that they in turn may learn from the Father in Heaven.

NEW EVANGELIZATION Part VIII

Pope Benedict in his "New Evangelization" that leads to the 'door of Faith' had given us the steps leading to that goal in summary form and in the right order as: 1.) conversion,  2.) the kingdom of God,  3.) Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit  and 4.) Eternal Life. In other words, we must live a life completely converted away from sin.  This would dispose us to receive the grace of God that will bring us within the kingdom of God which is the Catholic Church here on earth. With that grace we would first be united to the created soul of the Church which consists in Faith in Jesus Christ and as we progress in the spiritual life we would eventually be united to the uncreated soul of the Church which is the Holy Spirit. The consequence of all these is that we would merit eternal life.

There is nothing new in these steps. This is the Catholic teaching on how to attain eternal life. It is complete and in the right order though in summary form. These are also the lessons we learn from the Apostolic Commission Christ gave the Apostles before His Ascension. These are also the lessons we learn from the Liturgical season of the Church though the Liturgy used slightly different terms:  Life of Repentance is used instead of conversion taught during Advent and Lent,  Faith is used instead of entrance to the Kingdom of God and union with Jesus Christ. Hope is used for Easter. And during the season of Pentecost we learn union with the Holy Spirit the uncreated soul of the Church.  The feast of Christ the King summarizes the  attainment of eternal life.

This is also the description used by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church like St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas. And this is what the Magisterium had been teaching all these centuries. This basic lesson is what Pope Benedict wants all Bishops and priest to review with all the faithful this "Year of Faith" using the 'New Evangelization"..... what Scriptures, the Fathers and the Magisterium had been teaching.

A schema had  been prepared on this for the Bishop's Synod in Rome on the anniversary of Vatican II and this had been published a few weeks ago. Let us compare this schema prepared for the Bishop's Synod with the schema presented by Pope Benedict.

Observe that the schema for the Bishop's Synod skipped the first two steps of Pope Benedict's outline.The Pope's first step, Conversion and second step, entrance into the Catholic Church were omitted. The Bishop Synod's schema begins with Pope Benedict's  3rd step which is Faith, i.e. personal encounter with the humanity of Christ, the created soul of the Catholic Church. The Synod's first chapter is entitled "Jesus Christ, the Good News of God to humanity." The title and contents of this Chapter 1 describes the theological virtue of Faith. The description is similar to the Holy Father's description of stage No. 3 in his 'New Evangelization.'

But without conversion and entrance into the Catholic Church it is impossible to attain the supernatural virtue of Faith, and it is even more impossible to attain Charity. The schema for the Bishop's Synod assumes that the Bishops and priests have been converted from their sinful life, had entered the Catholic Church, and have received graces that will make them merit the supernatural  virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.   The Holy Father is not working on this assumption shown  by his continuous repetition that all priests should be contemplatives.

We have just celebrated the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Gospel clearly states that Peter's knowledge about Christ did not come from man but from the Father in Heaven. For Evangelization the preacher should be a contemplative, in this case Jesus Christ. And the people must be Evangelized to become contemplatives so that they, too, may recognize Christ not from men but from the Father. This is why the Pope had been repeating the need for contemplation. The preacher must be a contemplative and the listeners must be taught to be contemplative...... that in short is the "New Evangelization."

If we note the schema of the Bishop's Synod, the Bishops around the world are being asked for their ideas on how to Evangelize in this our times. They are not being asked how Christ would want them to Evangelize. They are being asked  'what men says,' not what God is saying. And so Chapter 1 of the schema for the Bishop's Synod is defective because it is asking what men-bishops are thinking on how to encounter Christ. "Not flesh and blood had taught you this. But My Father in heaven." The "New Evangelization" consists in Contemplative Bishops and priest teaching the lay to become contemplatives so that they in turn may be taught by the Father in Heaven.

Without Pope Benedict's step 1, conversion, no one can be Evangelized. Much more without Pope Benedict's step 1 and step 2.  Chapter 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the Bishop Synod's schema deals with acts of evangelization which the Evangelizer cannot do without themselves undergoing conversion and entrance into the Catholic Church. . Even if the evangelist is a contemplative and even a mystic if they follow the Synod's schema they will not be able to evangelize either because their listeners would not be able to build their Faith on nothing or if they are not contemplatives they would not be able to explain the truths properly. Faith can only be given to those who have been completely converted from their sinful life and have the grace that will make them merit the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

Let us summarize this observation using the Gospel of St. Peter and Paul. Christ was a contemplative and He taught the apostles, like Peter, to be contemplatives. Peter was not a contemplative at the beginning. He became a contemplative in that Gospel when Christ said: "Flesh and Blood had not explained this to you but my heavenly Father.  That is the "New Evangelization"....the process by which a contemplative (Christ) leads another soul (St. Peter) to contemplation. When one becomes a contemplative then it is God who teaches that soul the truths of the Catholic Church. The "New Evangelization", therefore, is a process wherein a contemplative leads another soul to  contemplation. The contemplative does not teach the truths to the other person. The contemplative teaches the other person to be contemplative. And it is God, not flesh and blood, who teaches the contemplative the truths of the Catholic Faith.

The problems is that most priests are taught by 'flesh and blood' and sometimes just by papers and books in the seminaries or theological lecture halls. . This is not the way to evangelize evangelizers.  So they in turn  cannot teach others to be contemplatives to be taught by God. They end up knowing nothing of the teachings of Christ. Pope Benedict's 'New Evangelization' consists in contemplatives (i.e. those who have undergone the four steps he had enumerated in his treatise on the "New Evangelization") teaching and leding  others to be contemplatives wherewith they learn the teachings of Christ directly from God.......and not from flesh and blood.

The schema prepared for the Bishop's Synod heavily depends on Evangelizing the unenvagelized Catholics towards the 'door of faith' by a schema made by flesh and blood........and not by the Father in Heaven.

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part VII

We have seen the two major parts of Pope Benedict's "New Evangelization." The first part describes the Evangelizer. The second part contains the essential topics of Evangelization namely: conversion, the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and lastly Eternal Life.

We have seen previously  that the Evangelizer should be a contemplative or as someone who have a perfect love for the Word of God. That is a description of one who has the supernatural virtues of Faith and Charity.  We, also, saw that looking around we see the absence of the contemplative spirit even among those who are described as canonically contemplatives. We are certain that there are contemplatives except that these are the types who love to live their hidden lives HIDDEN and it is next to impossible to find them and encourage them  to Evangelize THE WORLD." There is no need to encourage them because they are Evangelizing ..... in fact with  the "New Evangelization".

Since it is difficult to find true contemplatives Pope Benedict expects the Church today to be very small but purer. Can there be any way to increase the contemplatives so a little more can be saved?  Yes. In fact the Holy Father is calling for Bishops, Priests, religious and parents (as he expressed in Milan) to be Evangelizers with the "New Evangelization." But since we saw in the previous article that neither seminaries nor theological schools, neither books nor men can produce contemplatives but God alone,  we are all faced by a tremendous prospect. That God could be looking for souls He could grace with the gift of contemplation out of His goodness. Those souls simply have to have the proper disposition.

What is this proper disposition?  Obedience. Reacting to the uprising of priests from several European countries who were demanding for marriage among other things the Holy Father said that what they were demanding for would never make them happy.  It is obedience that would make them  happy. Most Catholics do not know that. Obedience, to have Faith, to have Wisdom, and to be Happy mean the same thing. This obedience is not the kind commonly known by all, like the obedience of a wife to her husband, of a religious to his/or superior, of a soldier to his commander or a driver to traffic lights. It is the obedience of Christ to His Father who said: I cam not to do my will but the will of my Father in heaven. The common concept of obedience is what religious know when they make their vow of obedience. And that is in the right direction but most of their concepts are defective or incomplete.

A clearer explanation of this obedience was given to us by Blessed John Cardinal Newman, a favorite author of Pope Benedict. The Holy Father, in fact, got his definitions from John Newman. This obedience is nor ordinary obedience. It is unknown in this world. That is why a God had to become man to teach us this kind of obedience. It is humanly unknowable and humanly unattainable. It is a work of God, really. St. Benedict described its root in his Holy Rule from whence John Newman got it and applying his development of doctrine improved on its explanation. Medieval theology described it as St. Benedict did. John Newman described it as  "Love for Obedience."  That raised obedience to the Divine Level. No human ever described it. Only a God made man could demonstrate it with the words "I came not to my Will but the Will of My Father in heaven."  Only a God can know the Will of the Father in heaven. Only a God can do the Will. So how can an ordinary soul, like a parent practice 'Love of Obedience' and obey like the way Christ obeyed His Father. By obeying with Faith. Bishops, priest, nuns and parents should obey with Faith. That means obeying the commands of the Father in the Old Testament, obeying the commands of God the Son in the New Testament, obeying the commands of the Holy Spirit as expressed by the Catholic Church through her spokesmen the Pope........and obeying just because they love to obey because they know that those commands are from God and, therefore, good for my soul, will give me wisdom and will make me happy. That is obeying  because we love to obey knowing that those commands, even the mere hints of the Pope are commands of God for our spiritual welfare.

Christians are not slavish to obedience. We do not obey every Tom, Dick and Harry. We obey only God. And, therefore, before we obey (which is an act of the free will) our minds makes certain that the command is from God. That is a tall order that is why the  love of obedience is a supernatural act. The natural thing for man is to disobey and obedience is the most nauseating thing for men to do. It was the sin of Lucifer and Adam and Eve. To obey like soldiers is easy. To obey because we love to obey can only be done by someone whom God had predestined to be a contemplative. We cannot be predestined but we can dispose  ourselves by loving obedience so that God can predestine us.

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part VI

Pope Benedict had connected his treatise on the New Evangelization as the way to the "Door of Faith" his motu proprio. If evangelizers will lead souls to the 'door of Faith'  they must use the "New evangelization" which the Pope  repeated is not new at all but the same old, traditional, classical evangelization taught by Christ to the apostles before His ascension.

We saw the two parts of Pope Benedict's article on "New Evangelization" which he delivered in New York while still a cardinal, firstly, the method of evangelizing and secondly, the essential contents of evangelization.  The method of evangelizing is that the evangelizer must be a contemplative. The contents of his teachings fall under the general topics of a.) conversion, b.) the Kingdom of God, c.) Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and lastly, d.) Eternal life.

In the last article we combined two things, from the method of evangelizing, the fact that the evangelizer must be a contemplative with the first essential content of evangelizing, conversion. The Evangelizer must have been converted. Let us stop there. If the evangelizer has undergone conversion then he must be like the prodigal son who have returned completely back to his father's house and had received the new gown and ring. This means that his past sins must have been forgiven because of the virtue of Faith that he had received from God and as a consequence he would not return to his past sins.  And he has received the infused  knowledge of the commands of Christ and how to observe them. This is a contemplative. But his knowledge of the commands of Jesus and his observance of these commands would not  be perfect until he reaches Charity. So a contemplative can teach the four essential contents of the New Evangelization.

Most Diocesan priests do not believe that they are contemplatives because they believe their training was for the active life. The Catholic Church never trained anyone just for the active life. She trains every one for the life of perfection which is the contemplative life. So both Diocesan priests and lay people should had been trained to be contemplatives because the Gospel of  Trinity Sunday shows that Christ's command to His apostles is to teach every one to be contemplatives........."teach them all that I have commanded and how to observe them." "All the commands.." would refer to the perfection of the spiritual life which includes contemplation.

Because of this defective concept in their training many Diocesan priests are not able to reach contemplation, i.e. they are not able to undergo conversion and as such are not able to convert those whom they teach. This defective training is also obvious among nuns as shown by recent corrections. It is also obvious in all ecclesial communities specially those founded by lay men. I am afraid I just described the whole Church.

But even as of now, all the programs we have noticed that referred to the "New Evangelization" had nothing to do with the instructions given by Pope Benedict. They refer to the old defective evangelization that Pope Benedict wishes to correct. There is the insistence of non-contemplatives  wanting to preach. If they are not contemplatives they would not know the next three important contents of Evangelization namely, entrance into the Catholic Church (The Kingdom of God), union with the created soul of the Catholic Church (Jesus Christ), union with the uncreated soul of the Church (the Holy Spirit) and the consequence of these three steps which is Eternal Life.  A non-contemplative can only teach 'conversion' and in a very poor way at that.

Maybe, the contemplative orders in the Church should evangelize. But when  Abbots are seen  receiving in a welcome ceremony from a Jesuit his entrance into the mystery of Yoga and St. Clare contemplative nuns doing some eastern dance to welcome the morning sun instead of praying lauds, we wonder where have all the contemplatives gone. Maybe, there are still Carthusians somewhere in the Alps who are contemplatives or followers of St. Romuald in the valleys of Italy. But contemplatives don't want to be known, neither do they wish to go about talking or preaching to unbelievers.

Contemplatives know the teachings of God perfectly and have put into practice all of those teachings. .....as the apostolic commission of Christ instructed.

If one has the right description and definition of contemplation we will not find them in most Cardinals, Bishops, priests, seminarians, nuns, founders of communties, not even in theologians and apologists....etc. I admit there are some hiding, as is natural to them, in the caves of those mountains. It was there that the first genuine contemplatives were found.

 According to Pope Benedict who would qualify as Evangelizers of the New Evangelization?

These are like the apostles,  contemplatives who are 'sent by God,' so the word "apostle." Not all contemplatives are sent by God. But Popes can send contemplatives to Evangelize as Pope Gregory sent the monks St. Augustine to England and St. Boniface to Germany. St. Therese, though a contemplative was not sent and remained inside her convent living in silence all her life.But she is an Evangelizer by her contemplation. That is why she is the patroness of the Missions. The Pope is calling for both kinds.

The Holy Father living the basic tenets of the Catholic Religion religiously, fortified by his vast knowledge of the teachings of the Church and almost living a monastic life knew very well that an Evangelizer should be infused with Divine Knowledge of the word of God through grace and the virtue of Faith. Remember we are just in the first step of the essential topics that we have to teach. And even now we find that most would not qualify to see the second, third and fourth topics because they would not have the necessary knowledge of them that comes only by infusion from God.

Considering that  we have few contemplatives and they are supposed to preach one on one as the Holy Father said in Brazil, how many can be converted to the Catholic Faith? Very few. We cannot hope for a springtime.We can only hope for a polarization. In that some will seriously become Catholics while the rest will just fall away. The Holy Father is aiming at the some who will seriously become good Catholics. That is why he is just looking at a small and pure Catholic Church as the target of his 'New Evangelization' which are the former Catholic nations that are now lost to the Church.

Contemplation is a pure gift of God. We cannot be contemplatives by choice, effort, studies or by any human way. The Pope cannot produce contemplatives and neither can we. We and the Pope can do our best to dispose ourselves to God's gifts.  But contemplation is from God. So what do you suppose will happen in these our times when seemingly very few would qualify as Evangelizers of the 'New Evangelization?' As in the days of old God will raise contemplatives to save the few. He will do this on His own. His chosen vessel would not even suspect they are chosen. They will be Vessels who do not chose God but whom God has chosen. This scenario had been described by St. Bonaventure, by St. Benedict and the Saints from St. Sulpice. And the Holy Father had hinted that this scenario exist today. His 'New Evangelization' and 'Porta Fidei' are precisely describing this scenario.

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part V

Let us put together the first part of Pope Benedict's schema on the New Evangelization, i.e. the structure and method of Evangelization, referring to the preacher or the priest..... with the first content (i.e. taken from the second part of the schema) i.e. conversion. The preacher must be a converted soul. The correct definition of a converted soul referring to the mind and free will as given by St. Augustine would disqualify most priests.

There is the active life and the contemplative life as represented by Martha and Mary. Most think that these are two ways of life from which one may choose. So I had companions in the Benedictine Order of monks who left because they wanted to be missionaries. And most Diocesan priests think they belong to the active life and are not destined for the contemplative life. This idea is erroneous. The active life leads to the contemplative life and only upon reaching the contemplative live can a person evangelize. The active life is a life of works of mercy but does not include evangelization, a superior supernatural work.  Contemplative life is when a soul is infused with the knowledge of all the teachings of Christ that enables one to evangelize. Today, even our canonical contemplative orders are not contemplative.  Most are active shown by their activities. Few are truly contemplatives, maybe a few Carthusian or monks of St. Romuald.

We are also faced with the ridiculous courses on contemplative prayer experience sprouting everywhere mainly run by layman and held for 3 to five days. Contemplation in five days!!! It smells like pure pelagian heresy.

And to add to this requirement that the evangelizer must be contemplative is the fact that he must preach with a community who are themselves equally contemplatives. Isn't one enough? St. Paul says it is not enough and so he always waited for a contemplative companion.

Fulfilling this requirement today is made impossible by the whole worldly environment of relativism.  Having lived in this environment for almost 200 years it would be pure luck if we find a handful of contemplatives. Though we had a St. Therese 200 yrs ago whose parents had to transfer to the province to escape the industrialization of their town and who was even prohibited to read the newspapers,  today with the giant supermalls, televisions and computers and cell phones, no one could reach contemplation. 

Contemplation is a gift by which a soul receives infused knowledge of the complete teachings of Divine Revelation. This is in effect Faith. And sharing this knowledge of contemplation with others is the necessary fruit, St. Thomas states, and this is Charity. New Evangelization is sharing one's grace received through Faith with others in an act of perfect Charity.

Contemplatives have a knowledge of the complete teachings of Christ. Few priests or even bishops show this quality. Even religions orders and ecclesial communities do not show this complete knowledge. Some may speak well of two or three topics splendidly but they do not show perfect knowledge of complete Catholic doctrines. To lead souls to God which is evangelization needs explanation of the complete teachings of the Catholic Church, a gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the different crises that befell the Church in the past we saw saints raised by God to help the Popes prop up the Church. Today we only see the Popes propping up the Church. I am sure there are saints raised by God hidden somewhere maybe in Pietrelcina or a little town in France or even a Diocese in Switzerland. But how can we find a Padre Pio, a John Vianney or a Francis de Sales. A handful  of soul maybe can find them and learn how to make an act of Faith. How about the rests? Will there be only  a handful who will be saved? Christ said something to that effect but does it have to be that few?

Pope Benedict described the Evangelizer as one who is holy, a contemplative, who has a zeal in his love for God, in whom the theology of grace is of primary importance and who is knowledgeable in Scriptures. He mentioned this in his talk in New York as Cardinal, he repeated it in his talk during the 'Year of the Priests,' he mentioned it in his address to the Pontifical commission of New Evangelization, he mentioned it in his address to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, he said it in his address on Mission Sunday, also in his address instituting the 'Year of Faith,' and he included it as part of the schema for the Bishop's Synod this year. With the above short phrase the Holy Father said everything, a complete exegesis of the Apostolic Commission given by Christ to His apostles. Nothing else had to be said.

In short, the Pope is saying that the preacher in the New Evangelization should be a St. Athanasius, or a St. Odo, or a St. Thomas of Aquinas, or at least a St. Francis de Sales or he would settle for a St. Alphonsus Liguori. We cannot find these saints around.  Instead each bishop and priest should ask why they do not qualify.

All those characteristics mentioned above by the Holy Father mean exactly the same thing. A contemplative is one who have a perfect knowledge of Scriptures. While the same would be the best preacher of the Word of God because preaching is the expression of his lively Faith expressed in Charity. A contemplative preacher is the best Evangelizer of the New Evangelization. The New Evangelization is the teaching of the New Commandment of Christ which only Christ can teach and to which He teaches only to contemplatives.  Someone less than a contemplative cannot do it.

Let us further look on those few descriptions: the preacher must be a contemplative, he must be a contemplative who preaches the fruit of his contemplation. And let us add what the Holy Father wrote: and he must be a missionary disciple (i.e. he must preach in community) emphasizing in all things the primacy of grace. That is asking too much.... but the illness of the Church is terminal, and the Pope is applying the last resort. Blessed John Cardinal Newman, a favorite of the Holy Father had discussed this need of the Church during his time but was rejected by Church men. Newman who was faced by a church in turmoil was already voicing a remedy for this our times. And the description of the preacher for the New Evangelization, given by the Pope is a quotation from Newman.

Newman lived in a tumultuous time in the history of the Church. He found Catholic Churchmen contradicting him. Well verse in the writings of the Fathers of the Church and in a special way to St. Benedict, upon whom he based his Idea of a University, he saw the importance of having a handful of contemplatives to aid the Church. He even tried it in his Birmingham community. It was pure Benedictine monasticism minus the few aids provided for for beginners. Pope Benedict, himself, mentioned this spirituality at the beginning of his pontificate as the only saviour of Europe. This is the Pope's New Evangelization. It was known by the Church for all these centuries but never explained as John Newman did it. Again, it is pure Benedictine monasticism without the appendages and, therefore, will be unrecognizable to most that is why we have to study in detail what the Holy Father is saying. By now he has said everything about it and is still explaining it further. We should keep in pace with his explanations.

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part IV

Months had passed when the Holy Father introduced the 'New Evangelization.' And many think that the 'new' here means new ways of Evangelizing. We are indeed encouraged to find new ways of Evangelizing but that had been the practice since time immemorial. The "New" is not the presentation of the content of the message. The 'new' is the Evangelizer, the priest. He must be different from most of those Evangelizing for the last 400 years.

Pope Benedict XVI gave the schema for the New Evangelization. He gave two general topics: first the structure or method, and secondly the contents. The first deals with the Evangelizer or the preacher or the priests. The second deals with the contents of his preaching. We have partially dealt with the second, the contents which are a.) conversion, which is the life of repentance or metanoia, b.) the kingdom of God, which is how to enter the Catholic Church, c.) union with Jesus Christ, the created soul of the Church, d.) union with the Holy Spirit, the uncreated soul of the Church and finally, e.) Eternal life. In the last article we had presented 'conversion' only. Before proceeding with the next 'content' of the New Evangelization let us go back to the structure, i.e. the preacher or the priest.

In the 'New Evangelization,' the priest, himself, must have finished his own conversion, his metanoia. How can he teach others how to repent when he, himself, have not repented? When the Holy Father stated during the year of the priests that priests should be contemplatives, he meant one who have completely finished his repentance and is already in the realm of supernatural Faith. Using the words of the Apostolic Commission Christ gave His disciples, the priest must have been baptized and knows all the commandments of Christ and how to obey them. This is only possible if he has the Theological virtue of Faith which in essence is the contemplative life. It is only when the priest knows all the commandments of Christ and how to obey them can he really preach. This can only occur if he has made an act of natural faith, like St. Thomas on Easter evening, he has made an act of supernatural faith, like St. Thomas when he saw the Resurrected Christ, and only after Christ has enlightened his mind by making him understand Scriptures as what Christ did to Thomas at the end of the same Gospel narrative. The problem is most priests have not finished their life of repentance and, therefore, do not have supernatural faith. Now, that is quite an accusation. Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned that in his 'Ratzinger Report.' That the Church is undergoing a crisis of Faith. What does that mean? That the Bishops and priest have no faith and as a consequence the lay people has no faith. They are all unable to enter the Catholic Church and save their souls.

But this is nothing new in the Church. There had been eras in the history of the Church that this had occurred. Montanus, a priest, messed up the early Church during his time by introducing the first Protestant version of the Charismatic movement long before the Pentecostals were born. And this is the version followed by most Charismatics in the Catholic Church today.

At the time of St. Jerome, he woke up one day and the world was Arian. And this included the monks, the priests and Bishops. St. Athanasius had to fight monks, priests and bishops who had no faith. And this state did not only last for a month. It lasted for years.

Around the 10th century, this happened again. The light of Faith was barely flickering in the Church because the monks, priests and bishops had no Faith. Of course, the Popes always led the reform and they were helped by a small group of chosen souls raised by God, Himself. During this time the small Benedictine monastery of Cluny aided the Pope.

Again this occurred around the 12th century. Fortunately St. Thomas of Aquinas was around. After the Council of Trent, this lost of Faith again occurred. But we had the communities of the Theatines whom God raised to aid the Church. After Trent, it was too difficult to restore the former resplendent light of the Church. It became darker in the 18th century. As usual, the Popes were at the forefront of the renewal. Pope Pius IX up to Pius XII. It was an uphill battle.

The problems the Church is now experiencing with the priests and even some Bishops are due to the absence of Faith and even the absence of repentance. When Mary called for Repentance three times in Fatima the Bishops and priest could not answer the call because they themselves did not know how to repent. Courses in Seminaries do not teach the detailed step on repentance.

So the problem in the New Evangelization is that the preachers, themselves cannot teach the first content of Evangelization - conversion or repentance. And yet the Popes had reminded us how it is done. From 'Veritatis Splendor,' to the 'Year of St. Paul,' to the 'Year of the Priests,' to 'Instrumentum Laboris' and now to 'Porta Fidei,' declaring the Year of Faith.

Faith is a gift of God to those who have repented. The emphasis must be on repentance, not on Faith. So in the New Evangelization, the Pope is describing the priest-preacher as one who is a contemplative who must preach in community......that is a priest who have finished his conversion and has entered into the life of supernatural Faith. He is practically describing those whom God raised during those eras of crisis in the Church...... if we study the Pope's description. Well, he was actually describing the first apostles, he was describing the Fathers of the Church and as we see in the history of Church during those critical times, he was describing the instruments God used to prop up His Church. The New Evangelization is the Pope's call for a 'Repeat Performance' from the lessons of history.

And this is what many are missing in the "New Evangelization." I have to still hear someone describe this effort of the Pope in the right way. 'Improve everything except ME,' is the cry we hear. No, it is the ME that needs complete renewal. As in the past crises in the history of the Church, the cause was the ME who was so imbued with the 'Spirit of the World.' Note that those who help the Church believed in "fuga mundo," a fleeing away from the spirit of the world. And the Holy Father mentioned this as the characteristic of the Evangelizer. 'He must have a pure love for Christ.' What else that does mean, except one who loves God above all things.... a perfect Catholic. And the Pope repeated that ' the priest must be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect.' In the next article let me describe the Evangelizer, the priest or bishop, as the Holy Father would want him to look like in the 'New Evangelization,' an image we drew from his many talks on the 'New Evangelization.'