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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“…God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John
3:16.)
Our Gospel passage for today, taken from St. John, is a summons to joy
and hope. It announces the love of God for his people, and describes
that love as active and near. God does not remain distant from his
people, indifferent to their needs. On the contrary, God comes to us
and steps into our human reality, complete with its joys and sorrows,
hopes and pains, in order to lift us up, to be our strength and to save
us from all that endangers us.
Throughout history this love of our God manifested itself in great
deeds of rescue. When our ancestors in faith were suffering the
hardship of slavery in Egypt, God intervened in their lives through
Moses and led them to freedom. After this deliverance from slavery, God
continued to sustain his people with miraculous gifts of food and water
in the desert wilderness. And as we heard in the first reading, God
even rescued his people when they brought suffering upon themselves as
a result of their rebellion against him.
God’s greatest act of love and rescue is celebrated in today’s solemn
feast of the Triumph of the Cross. We proclaim that, through the Cross
of Jesus Christ, God has won victory over sin and, yes, even death
itself! Jesus is the Son of Man “who has descended from heaven” (John
3: 13) and become one with us, one of us, so that, in him, we, too,
might one day “ascend” to heaven and enjoy eternal life.
St. Paul describes this beautifully in the passage we heard from his
letter to the Philippians. Out of love for the Father and for us, and
in complete obedience to the Father’s will, Christ Jesus “emptied
himself” by descending from heaven to assume our weak and sinful human
nature. In his humanity he humbled himself even further through
submission to the most shameful and terrifying of deaths, death on a
cross. The passion of Jesus on the Cross was his perfect and obedient
self-offering in love to the Father. By raising Jesus from the dead,
the Father accepted the self-offering of our Lord and, in his Son,
restored humanity to communion with himself. This is why we speak with
joy of the triumph of the Cross. What was once a terrifying symbol of
death has become the sign of God’s victorious love that leads to life!
Today’s proclamation of the Triumph of the Cross is, truly, gospel,
that is to say, “good news”. It is an announcement that begs to be
shared, so that all who suffer may find in God’s love, revealed and
active in Jesus Christ, the unshakeable foundation of real hope. This
is the mission of the Church: to announce to the world the good news of
God’s love in Christ, to proclaim that, in Christ Jesus, we have found
the reason for true hope. Such a proclamation to the world is what is
meant by the term “evangelization”. The Church exists to evangelize, to
make known the person of Jesus Christ and the life that the Father
offers us in him.
Sadly, many people in our world today, even in our own country,
province and city, have yet to hear this good news. Many do not even
know who Jesus Christ is. This is why our beloved popes, most notably
John Paul II of blessed memory and now Benedict XVI, have been calling
the Church to a new evangelization. By “new” we do not mean to say that
evangelization has yet to take place. It means acting with new zeal to
find new ways and a new language, suited to the circumstances of our
day, to proclaim Jesus Christ. For this to happen in a manner which is
at once convinced and convincing, the members of the Church must also
be renewed in their love for the Lord and their embracing of the faith
of the Church.
This is why last May, in a pastoral letter issued for the feast of
Pentecost, I announced an initiative by which the Archdiocese of
Edmonton will respond to the call to a new evangelization here in
Alberta. Beginning this December, we shall embark upon a five-year
process of celebrating the beauty of the Church’s faith. Here at our
Basilica Cathedral, a number of presentations will take place, in which
catechists and witnesses will unveil the splendour of the faith we
share as followers of Jesus Christ. Details will be provided through
the parishes and institutions of the Archdiocese. My hope and prayer is
that everyone in the Archdiocese will experience in these events a new
and life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ, who is always
present whenever two or three gather in his name (cf. Matthew 18:20).
Such an encounter cannot fail to inspire within our hearts a deep
desire to tell others of the love and hope we have found in Jesus. As
Pope Benedict has said, “There is nothing more beautiful than knowing
Jesus Christ and telling others of our friendship with him.” (Homily at
the Mass to Inaugurate the Petrine Ministry of Pope Benedict XVI). From
these words of our Holy Father comes the title of our initiative:
Nothing More Beautiful.
How ought we to prepare for this endeavour? In the three months that
now separate us from the launch of Nothing More Beautiful, how do we
get ready? As for any encounter with the Lord, we prepare through
self-examination and prayer. Accordingly, I am today asking every
member of the Archdiocese to pray for the light of the Holy Spirit and,
in that light, to examine honestly and hopefully their relationship
with Jesus Christ and His Church.
With respect to the person of Jesus Christ, let us ask ourselves: How
would I describe my relationship with Jesus Christ? Do I truly know
him, or do I simply know something about him? What am I doing, and what
more can I do, to open my heart to his love: reading Scripture, praying
before the Blessed Sacrament, actively participating in the Eucharist,
doing works of charity? In what areas of my life do I need the Holy
Spirit to touch me with the triumph of the Cross?
In relationship to the treasury of faith, we could ask ourselves: Am I
truly living a Christian life? What witness do I give before others?
How is the Lord calling me to repentance and change? Do I know the
teachings of the Church? Is there an area of doctrine with which I
struggle and need the help of the Holy Spirit? What am I doing, and
what more can I do, not only to know but also to be transformed by the
rich treasure of faith that has come to us from the Apostles?
Above all else, I ask for the prayers of the people of God in the
Archdiocese. Please pray each day that this endeavour will give rise
within the hearts of each of us to a renewed relationship with Jesus
Christ. May this in turn deepen the joyful communion we share in him
within the Church, and impel us to a new proclamation of hope to our
world, by announcing the good news of the triumph of God’s love through
the Cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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