Spiritual Reading

Evangelii Gaudium – Ecumenical Dialogue

Friday, May 30th, 2014

244. Commitment to ecumenism responds to the prayer of the Lord Jesus that “they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). The credibility of the Christian message would be much greater if Christians could overcome their divisions and the Church could realize “the fullness of catholicity proper to her in those of her children who, though Read more

Evangelii Gaudium Dialogue between faith, reason and science

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

Dialogue between science and faith also belongs to the work of evangelization at the service of peace.[189] Whereas positivism and scientism “refuse to admit the validity of forms of knowledge other than those of the positive sciences”,[190] the Church proposes another path, which calls for a synthesis between the responsible use of methods proper to Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: Social dialogue as a contribution to peace

Friday, May 23rd, 2014

238. Evangelization also involves the path of dialogue. For the Church today, three areas of dialogue stand out where she needs to be present in order to promote full human development and to pursue the common good: dialogue with states, dialogue with society – including dialogue with cultures and the sciences – and dialogue with Read more

Evangelii Gaudium – The whole is greater than the part

Tuesday, May 20th, 2014

234. An innate tension also exists between globalization and localization. We need to pay attention to the global so as to avoid narrowness and banality. Yet we also need to look to the local, which keeps our feet on the ground. Together, the two prevent us from falling into one of two extremes. In the Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: Realities are more important than ideas

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

231. There also exists a constant tension between ideas and realities. Realities simply are, whereas ideas are worked out. There has to be continuous dialogue between the two, lest ideas become detached from realities. It is dangerous to dwell in the realm of words alone, of images and rhetoric. So a third principle comes into Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: Unity prevails over conflict

Tuesday, May 6th, 2014

226. Conflict cannot be ignored or concealed. It has to be faced. But if we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart. In the midst of conflict, we lose our sense of the profound unity of reality. 227. When conflict arises, some people simply Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: Time is greater than space

Friday, May 2nd, 2014

222. A constant tension exists between fullness and limitation. Fullness evokes the desire for complete possession, while limitation is a wall set before us. Broadly speaking, “time” has to do with fullness as an expression of the horizon which constantly opens before us, while each individual moment has to do with limitation as an expression Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: The common good and peace in society

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

217. We have spoken at length about joy and love, but the word of God also speaks about the fruit of peace (cf. Gal5:22). 218. Peace in society cannot be understood as pacification or the mere absence of violence resulting from the domination of one part of society over others. Nor does true peace act Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: Concern for the vulnerable

Friday, April 18th, 2014

209. Jesus, the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in person, identifies especially with the little ones (cf. Mt25:40). This reminds us Christians that we are called to care for the vulnerable of the earth. But the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to favour an investment in efforts Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: The whole is greater than the parts

Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

234. An innate tension also exists between globalization and localization. We need to pay attention to the global so as to avoid narrowness and banality. Yet we also need to look to the local, which keeps our feet on the ground. Together, the two prevent us from falling into one of two extremes. In the Read more