Transcript Liturgy - Saint Max

Liturgy
As Act of Hospitality and
the New Evangelization
Why the decline?
• Secularized Culture
• Priest Sex Abuse crisis
• Poor liturgy
• Lack of faith in families
• Lack of catechesis
• People find God in other places: mountains, family, riding a bike:
“I don’t need church to experience God.”
• “Catholic Church is not keeping up with the signs of the times!”
• “I meet Jesus elsewhere.”
Synod on the New
Evangelization
 “Event to energize Christian
communities”
 Provide concrete answers to the many
questions facing the Church today
 To compare experiences and share
observations on situations and approaches
for action (NE,5)
The New
Evangelization
• While NE is primarily concerned with bringing back
those already baptized, NE is also the vision for
moving forward, the renewal of energies for those who
have faith to proclaim the Good News, to live and
share faith with others
Evangelization
• Evangelization means inviting people into
[Biblical] stories as the definitional stories of our lives and
thereby authorizing people to give up, abandon, and renounce
other stories that have shaped their lives.
“Perspectives on Evangelization”
Walter Bruggeman
Evangelization
 NE 18
The Christian faith is not simply teachings, wise
sayings, a code of morality or a tradition. The Christian
faith is a true encounter and relationship with Jesus Christ.
 NE 18
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical
choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a
person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive
direction. […] Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 John 4:10),
love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to
the gift of love with which God draws near to us.”
New Evangelization and the
Community of Faith
 “A fruitful proclamation of the Word of the Gospel calls for
profound communion among God’s children which is a
distinguishing sign accompanying proclamation (NE, 91).”
 “Announcing and proclaiming is not the task of any one person or
a select few, but rather a gift given to every person who answers
the call to faith. Transmitting the faith is not the work of one
individual only, but instead, is the responsibility of every Christian
and the whole Church, who in this very activity continually
rediscovers her identity as a People gathered together by the Spirit
to live Christ’s presence among us and discover the true face of
God, who is Father (NE, 92).”
 “The best place to transmit the faith is a community nourished
and transformed by the liturgical life and prayer (NE, 97).”
Who are we?
And they devoted themselves to the Apostles’
teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers. […] And day by day,
attending the temple together and breaking
bread in their homes, they partook of food
with glad and generous hearts and praising
God and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to their number day by
day those who were being saved. (Acts
2:42, 46 -47)
New Evangelization
“The Acts of the Apostles illustrates that a person cannot
convey what is not believed or lived. The Gospel cannot be
transmitted in a life which is not modeled after the Gospel
or a life which does not find its meaning, truth and future
based on the Gospel.” (NE, 91)
Three Elements of
Good Liturgy
• Hospitality
• Hymnody
• Homilies
Hospitality
“The friendly and generous treatment of guests or
strangers” (Oxford University Press)
Scripture
• Abraham and Sarah
• Feeding of the multitudes
• Samaritan woman
• Canaanite woman and daughter tormented by a demon
• The Beatitudes
• Invited to the banquet: “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”
• Washing of the feet
• Opening of the deaf man’s ears and mouth
ENCOUNTER
• In each of the Gospel stories, someone encounters the
hospitality of Christ.
• Jesus extends himself to others.
• Jesus becomes for others the love of God, the
compassion of God, the mercy of God.
How do we encounter christ
in the liturgy?
To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in his Church,
especially in its liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the
Mass, not only through the person of his minister, … but especially under
the Eucharistic species, … he is present in his word, since it is he himself
who speaks when the scriptures are read in the Church. He is present,
lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for he promised: “Where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt
18:20). SC, 7
• Word
• Eucharist
• Person of the Minister
• ASSEMBLY
Who sits in your
pews?
• Take a moment to consider who might be the guest or
stranger sitting in your pews on Sunday – what are
their needs? Why are they there?
• How are we aware of those who gather with us on
Sunday? How do we attend to them?
Mane Nobiscum Domine
Pope John Paul II
• “We cannot delude ourselves: by our mutual love
and, in particular, by our concern for those in need we
will be recognized as true followers of Christ (cf. Jn.
13:35; Mt. 25:31-46). This will be the criterion by
which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations
is judged (no. 28).”
Reflection and
Sharing
• When have you encountered Christ in and through the
liturgy?
• How is our parish community and our liturgy an
encounter with Christ?
• How does my ministry communicate Christ’s
presence?
• How does our parish evangelize through the liturgy?
Evangelization and
Hospitality
“The best place to transmit the faith is a
community nourished and transformed
by the liturgical life and prayer (NE,
97).”