His Holiness begins the Exhortation by explaining the joy of living the Gospel. He then addresses the several issues commonly found in today’s society that can easily impact the efforts of evangelization and deface the dignity of the human person. These issues can also extinguish the fervor that the disciple should have in order to live his or her life in Christ.
Pope Francis also addresses very candidly the many temptations that can face us as pastoral workers or ministers in the Church. He addresses also the need to proclaim the Gospel in a new and fresh way that will address not only the needs of people and society but also lift up the world to discover the joy of living Jesus Christ.
In this, the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Church is emphasized. Not to leave the call of the Gospel to the spiritual realm only for personal spirituality, Pope Francis makes specific applications regarding aspects of human life, from the poor, the economy, existing wars and conflicts and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.
I hope that we will be able to reflect upon the depth and the call of this Exhortation of His Holiness and use it as a guiding document for our future endeavors of the New Evangelization and renewing ourselves in the light of that Gospel.
Over the next few months I will reflect in the South Texas Catholic on the various sections of the document and hope that many of us will find a new fervor and impulse to live the Gospel and to spread the life that Jesus came to give us when he was born in Bethlehem, and proclaimed his word during his short life.
May Mary the mother of the New Evangelization guide our efforts and inspire us to live more radically the word of God.