Pope Benedict to New Evangelizers

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and sisters,

Let us take to heart these words from Benedict XVI to participants in an event hosted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization:

…The word of the proclamation must be immersed in an intense relationship with Him, in an intense life of prayer. Today’s world needs persons who speak to God to be able to speak of God. And we must also remember that Jesus did not redeem the world with beautiful words or showy means, but with suffering and death. The law of the grain of wheat that dies in the earth also serves today; we cannot give life to others, without giving our life: “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it,” the Lord says to us (Mark 8:35). Seeing all of you and knowing the great commitment that each one gives to the service of the mission, I am convinced that the new evangelizers will multiply increasingly to give life to the real transformation that the present world needs. Only through men and women permeated with the presence of God, will the Word of God continue its journey in the world bearing its fruits.

Dear friends, to be evangelizers is not a privilege, but a commitment that comes from faith.
…let us also pray for the protection of the Virgin Mary, Star of the New Evangelization, while from my heart I accompany each one of you and your commitments with the Apostolic Blessing. Thank you. (For full text, see HERE)