God's Poor and Their Religious Message

1.                  God’s Poor: Their Religious History And Their Message

The future of the people of God of recent times, that is, the true people of God, was first identified with a poor people by (Zephaniah 3:11-13). The historical period of this text takes us back to 640-630 BC, that is, before the great Babylonian exile. In this text the term “lowly” indicates a person who is physically bowed because he is afflicted, resigned in spirit, because he is poor; afflicted and burdened by his own social situation which has taught him the secret of life and thus made him humble and devout. This describes the lowly person’s basic attitude which identifies him at the religious level and is concentrated in his sense of radically belonging to God. A truly poor person comes to realize that nothing counts here below, everything is transitory, everything precarious.

A poor man or woman whom we are talking about is that one who accepts his or her situation, not through fatalism but because he has understood through life’s experiences that earthly things are not worth much, that they count for little, that they are ephemeral. He or she has learned to rely solely on God. The person of this kind therefore experiences great inner liberation. He or she is someone who experiences deep feeling of belonging, who basically cleaves to God which is why s/he is “bowed or bent”, yes, not in the sense that he is resigned to his situation, rather, in the sense that he bows before God, recognizes his dependence on him, and accepts that he belongs to and depends on him, and accepts that he becomes synonymous with a religious person.

The Babylonian exiles of 558 BC, but 712 Assyria had already occupied the North, then Samaria, so Israel had been completely destroyed, but the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the king of Judea remained intact. Taking this political situation prophet Zephaniah told his people that they should make themselves lowly before God just as they were humble before foreign power- Assyria, before all great international powers of the time. Material poverty should lead to spiritual poverty that consists of authentic faith. Even if poverty in its outlook is a negative condition, it has meaning in human life if it only leads to spiritual poverty. If it brings the person to discover the authenticity of his own faith. The authentic faith that takes on the shades of abandonment, humility and absolute trust. In this sense the poor man’s faith will be one that is colored and shaped by trust, abandonment and confidence. (Zeph 2:3). The poor man is one who does what God decrees and wills, who surrenders himself to him, who accepts him. Seek justice, seek humility, seek this resignation, this surrender to God and perhaps you will shelter on the day of Yahweh’s anger. In (Zeph 3:11-13), we have Poverty not as opposed to riches, but as opposed to pride.

The future will consist of people of God who are poor because they are humble, not of poor people in the purely social sense, but people who are humble and so poor, since they are set against the proud. The spiritual attitude that brings with it overall moral rectitude. It will only happen however, in the climate of the Covenant and so in a religious perspective. Note.  “They will do no wrong, will tell no lies; and the perjured tongue will no longer be found in their mouths. But will be able to graze and rest with no one to disturb them.”

A century later the south of Israel also crumbles and they also go exile. But God has made a promise to David and they will be everlasting: the message of Psalm 88, which we pray daily in our liturgy of the Hours. The exile represents the breakaway of Israel from their way of doing things, mythicized or interpreted in an exaggeratedly human perspective. The exile showed that God is above our history and is not overcome by our religious ideologues. Israel stripped naked, began to understand. It is in exile that it experiences the direst poverty because, in addition to material poverty, it also suffers spiritual poverty; it has lost the temple, it has lost its creed, it has lost monarchy, it only has prophets, who administer the word which furthermore is fragile, although very much alive. But Israel understands, comes to and redeems itself, so that from the ashes of exile of true Israel is born.It is in fact the book of songs of the so called second temple, that is, the temple to be built after the exile. For this reason, we shall dwell above all on the Book of Psalms, in order to examine the prayer of “God’s Poor.”

 

 

Preaching and Leadership

 [Preaching and Leadership]

[preaching]

More than a rallying cry uttered as a farewell, Jesus’ final words — “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19) — give preaching its impetus and its terminus.

With the courage of faith inspired by the Resurrection, and with a strength of character emboldened at Pentecost, the remaining apostles did what the Master commanded. 

Through the witness of their lives and the power of their words, they set in motion the course of proclaiming the good news that would reach to the ends of the world.

That courageous testimony undergirds the mission of the Church they brought to life. The Acts of the Apostles highlights the “boldness” (parrhesia) with St. Paul saying, “With complete assurance [parrhesia] and without hindrance he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31).

Renowned figures in the life of the early Church, such as Origen, Augustine and Gregory the Great carried on the tradition of leading through preaching. Countless others throughout the Church’s history did likewise, as do modern-day evangelists like Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz.

For the Church in the contemporary world, however, the connection between preaching and leadership risks dissipation from changing ecclesial circumstances. Companion publications from the University of Mary Press highlight the challenges.

The world has changed, as we now live in “the first culture in history that was once deeply Christian but that by a slow and thorough process has been consciously ridding itself of its Christian basis” (“From Christendom to Apostolic Mission:Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age,” University of Mary).

Religion has changed, as the spiritual narrative favored by most moderns tells a newly “progressive” tale with a tragic trend. Today’s guiding belief alters the story of faith “in the direction of self-redemption.” Along the way, it destroys “the dramatic sweep, moral seriousness, and missionary spirit of the Christianity from which it arose and to which it owes most of its potency” (“The Religion of the Day,” University of Mary).

And Church leadership has changed, as the dearth of clergy and the drift of parishioners necessitate massive institutional restructuring. Priests today find themselves with increasing pastoral responsibilities, to be carried out across wider geographies and with fewer means of support.

In such a radically altered landscape, can priests today boldly fulfill the Lord’s never-ending mandate? Will their preaching lead to disciple-making?

To answer these questions in the affirmative, as we propose, we must first address the current age of the ecclesial life and its challenges to pastoral leaders. Then, we can consider the specifically spiritual dimension of priestly leadership and how the pulpit is its primary locus. 

Only then can we conclude with a look at how priests can take up the apostolic challenge to lead through preaching.

[Leadership in a New Century]

In 2020, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Clergy published an instruction on “The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of the Evangelizing Mission of the Church.” 

Among its notable claims is the recognition that, due to increased mobility and the digital culture, “the parish territory is no longer a geographical space only, but also the context in which people express their lives in terms of relationships, reciprocal service and ancient traditions.” 

Accordingly, “it is in this ‘existential territory’ where the challenges facing the Church in the midst of the community are played out” (No. 16).

Those challenges arise from cultural factors that have affected parish life in ways unfamiliar to those who grew up in the age of Christendom. The Catholic Leadership Institute’s 2023 white paper on “Effective Pastoring in the 21st Century” highlights some of those new realities (cf. pp. 6-7).

Today’s parishes exist “on the peripheries” — with the local Church no longer functioning as the center of a neighborhood. Instead of exercising influence on local thought and life, they are subject to the dominant forces of secular culture.

Today’s parishes are more “transient” — with participation more like the result of “church shopping.” As a result of moral failures, and owing to legitimate fears, priests and people in parishes develop fewer interpersonal relationships.

Today’s parishes are “multigenerational” — with up to seven distinct age groups living simultaneously in a single parish. The diversity among parishioners yields widely differing experiences of, and expectations for, Church life.

And today’s parishes function “without guarantees.” Increasingly, they face the stress of trying to maintain their existence amid diocesan efforts at restructuring, while at the same time attempting a more missionary mode of outreach to believers and nonbelievers alike.

Amid this new landscape, calls abound for increasing lay leadership in parishes. More than a functional necessity, growth in lay ministry reflects a more serious approach to the role of all the baptized. 

But this requires a collective change in outlook; as Pope Benedict XVI urges, laity “must no longer be viewed as ‘collaborators’ of the clergy but truly recognized as ‘co-responsible’ for the Church’s being and action” (Opening of the Pastoral Convention of the Diocese of Rome, May 26, 2009).

[Strategies for Preaching in an Apostolic Age]

“The main evangelistic task in an apostolic age … is the presentation of the Gospel in such a way that the minds of its hearers can be given the opportunity to be transformed, converted from one way of looking at the world to a different way. …

“Preaching in an apostolic age needs to begin with the appeal to a completely different way of seeing things; it needs to offer a different narrative concerning the great human drama; it needs to aim to put into place the key elements of the integrated Christian vision of the world within which the moral and spiritual disciplines the Church imposes find their place. …

“The exposition of the Gospel, in preaching and teaching and liturgy and architecture and the arts, needs to accent this conversion of mind. 

There needs to be a counter-narrative to the overwhelming non-Christian narrative currently on offer. The Christian mythic vision (the true one) needs to be made available such that it can chase out the false myths of the day in the minds of believers and inquirers.”

— From “Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age” (University of Maryland)

As laity exercise co-responsibility, clergy retain an essential role in pastoral leadership. By virtue of ordination, priests share in the threefold responsibility (munera) of teaching, sanctifying and governing. Proclaiming the Word, administering the sacraments and leading faith communities remain the distinctive ways in which priests are called to “go and make disciples.”

Hence, leadership in parish life still falls squarely on priests. Their particular efforts exercise a decisive (though not sole) determination of the extent to which communities of faith thrive. 

Research from the Catholic Leadership Institute demonstrates convincingly that “parishioners are 11 times more likely to recommend their parish if they recommend their pastor” (“Embracing Unity in a Next Generation Parish,” Via magazine, Fall 2023).

Because preaching correlates strongly with how pastors (and all priests) are regarded, the particular question we seek to answer comes with some urgency. 

Amid the new reality of parish life, how can priests lead with the apostolic boldness needed to create, support and build a community of disciples priest greeting faithful

[A Priest’s ‘Chief’ Role]

In any organization, leadership encompasses multiple tasks, such as executing strategies, managing people, conducting processes, directing projects, administering resources and producing outcomes. 

The corporate world often divides those duties among the C-suite personnel, including those with executive (CEO), financial (CFO), operational (COO), and informational (CIO) functions.

In any parish, organizational responsibilities are similar; however, spiritual leadership also — and more importantly — entails the threefold work of teaching, sanctifying and governing. 

Priests carry that out in ways both personal (exemplary holiness) and professional (ministerial competence). The setting in which this dual dimension of the priest’s work is most evident to the greatest number of people at any given time is undoubtedly the liturgical pulpit.

[Being a Voice for the Work]

“Augustine tried to make clear … the nature of priestly service. It came to him from meditation on the figure of John the Baptist. … He points out that in the New Testament John is described, with a saying borrowed from Isaiah as a ‘voice,’ while Christ appears in the Gospel of John as ‘the Word.’ The relation of ‘voice’ (vox) to ‘word’ (verbum) helps to make clear the mutual relationship between Christ and the priest. 

The word exists in someone’s heart before it is ever perceptible to the senses through the voice. Through the mediation of the voice, it then enters into the perception of the other person and is then present likewise in his heart, without the speaker’s having thereby in any sense lost the word. Thus, the sensory noise — that is, the voice — that carries the word from one person to the other (or others) passes away. The word remains. 

Ultimately, the task of the priest is quite simply to be a voice for the word: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ — the voice has no other purpose than to pass on the word; it then once more effaces itself. 

On this basis the stature and the humbleness of priestly service are both equally clear: the priest is, like John the Baptist, purely a forerunner, a servant of the Word. 

It is not he who matters, but the other. Yet he is, with his entire existence, vox; it is his mission to be a voice for the Word, and thus, precisely in being radically referred to, dependent upon, someone else, he takes a share in the stature of the mission of the Baptist and in the mission of the Logos himself.”

— Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, “Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith: The Church as Communion” (Ignatius Press), p. 16

In corporate speak, we might acknowledge the priest’s role as that of a “CPO” — chief proclamation officer. The CPO leads by championing the corporate message. 

In the Church, the mystical Body of Christ, the priest shares a divine message — the Word of God — and does so in a manner that non-clergy cannot. He has the task and responsibility of enabling people to understand and appreciate the good news of salvation, to grasp the import of the Gospel with ever-deepening faith, and to act on that faith for the betterment of all people’s lives in this world with a view toward their ultimate destiny in eternal life.

That work of proclamation happens in, and must account for, the changed ecclesial landscape. Outwardly, the religious vision, assumptions and ways of looking at life of Christendom, so familiar to most Catholics, have less and less influence in today’s progressive secular society. Hence, the urgent call for preachers to take up the challenge of the apostolic age.

Inwardly, a CPO’s messaging is directed to a parish congregation, where the ministry of preaching has the purpose of building up a local community of disciples. 

Coordinated by the pastor, parish priests exercise this ministry by leading the faithful to a fuller understanding of the parish’s mission and vision, a greater engagement in its programs and activities, and a deeper fellowship through various forms of worship. To fulfill that ministry, a CPO must give time and attention to his craft, so as to develop the leadership skills necessary for doing the job well.

As Father J. Ronald Knott rightly claims in his contribution to “Preaching as Spiritual Leadership: Guiding the Faithful as Mystic and Mystagogue” (edited by Michael Connors, Liturgy Training Publications): 

“It is not enough, according to our mission and ministry, for a parish priest to be personally holy; he also needs to have the skills to lead others to holiness.” Chief among those skills is “the ability to influence another through invitation, persuasion, and example, to move from where they are to where God wants them to be, especially through the skillful use of the pulpit.” 

Because that ability is the CPO’s primary duty, “failing to appreciate the power of the Word and squandering the bully pulpits entrusted them has to be among the biggest sins parish priests can commit” (chap. 18).

[Leading through Preaching]

A priest is presented with a weekly opportunity to fulfill his duty of spiritual leadership when he mounts the pulpit in front of the assembled congregation. 

To lead that crowd toward the kingdom of God by way of preaching, as Jesus sought to do, he ought to give them what they need, even if that is not what they came for! What they need is to hear good news.

Preachers envision that proclamation with what Pope Francis identified, quoting Pope Paul VI, as a “reverence for the truth” (Evangelii Gaudium, No. 146). By means of such reverence, priests lead people not by way of political positions or sociological trends or therapeutic theories or entertaining diversions

Rather, they bring to them the Word of God that, alone, offers salvation to the world. As the authors of “The Religion of the Day” rightly stress, preachers today should help people to see the centrality of Christ in their lives; to recognize the importance of awakening their minds to the supernatural mystery of Jesus’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension; and to appreciate the treasure that comes with cultivating a personal relationship with God through him and with him and in him.

[preaching]

Focusing their attention on a divine message, priests can appreciate that their task “is quite simply to be a voice for the word.” With that mindset, they can confidently look upon their weekly work not as a duty but as an opportunity, not something difficult they are obligated to do, but something beneficial for people that only they can do. Pope Francis describes it as “the wonderful but difficult task of joining loving hearts, the hearts of the Lord and his people” (Evangelii Gaudium, No. 143).

The task of conjoining hearts today may require a sharpening of preaching skills. Just as corporate leaders know the importance of continuing professional education, so, too, priests grow as spiritual leaders by cultivating their ability to preach effectively, especially in terms of how they get ready for and give voice to their proclamation.

When speaking publicly, leaders prepare what they will say. Priests, whose mission is to speak God’s word publicly, prepare what they will say by first listening to the one who inspires every understanding of the divine word — the Holy Spirit. 

Every preacher “needs to approach the word with a docile and prayerful heart so that it may deeply penetrate his thoughts and feelings and bring about a new outlook in him” (No. 149).

[Keeping Positive]

Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), has this bit of advice to homilists: 

“Another feature of a good homily is that it is positive. It is not so much concerned with pointing out what shouldn’t be done, but with suggesting what we can do better. 

In any case, if it does draw attention to something negative, it will also attempt to point to a positive and attractive value, lest it remain mired in complaints, laments, criticisms and reproaches. 

Positive preaching always offers hope, points to the future, does not leave us trapped in negativity. How good it is when priests, deacons and the laity gather periodically to discover resources which can make preaching more attractive!” (No. 159).

Leaders know that ideas develop over the course of time and emerge from experience. Similarly, preparation for preaching cannot be limited to a particular time slot on the priest’s weekly calendar. Rather, the message develops through daily reflection on the divine word and emerges amid a priest’s many activities. 

In this way, preachers learn how that same divine word can impact the busy lives of the people to whom they speak.

To speak effectively, leaders strategize. Because communication happens in what is heard, they consider both what they will say and how they will say it. To accomplish their goal of getting others to follow, leaders craft their message with a determined content and a decisive form (or flow). So, too, for priests who seek to lead through preaching.

In terms of what they will say, preachers should limit the use of “churchy” language (theological jargon or doctrinal differentia), which is often incomprehensible to today’s faithful. People in the pews need to hear language they can understand on their own terms. Without this simplicity, Pope Francis says, preachers “risk speaking to a void” (No. 158).

Similarly, preachers will be better understood when they order their words coherently, in a way that those listening can easily follow. After all, people in the pews know not what the preacher plans to say! To achieve his spiritual goal, effective preachers structure their words in a way that leads people to a holistic engagement with the Word of God — as Pope Francis pictures it, the inspired message “enters through the ears, goes to the heart and passes to the hands in order to do good deeds” (General Audience, Feb. 7, 2018).

In practical terms, this means that preachers need to speak about God’s actions more than human imperatives. 

While offering people insight into the Word is foundational, and exhorting people to live as the Lord’s disciples is helpful, the key to leading is to convince listeners that what God has done (and is doing) through the words and deeds of Jesus is truly “good news” for them. 

That conviction comes about when preachers direct the proclamation of divine love and mercy to people’s hearts and souls, which in turn moves them toward conversion and a better way of living.

Priests effect this salvific transformation when they preach with the boldness of the apostles, whose commission they share. That proclamation issues from their own faith and a true pastoral concern, for “a person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody” (Evangelii Gaudium, No. 266). 

But their authority as leaders comes from above. In the power of the Spirit, they proclaim the Word of God and thereby lead people to be and grow as disciples of the Lord Jesus.

Having reflected on how leaders speak and how preachers lead, we conclude with a thought that is part assertion, part anticipation.

“The American Beliefs Study: Religious Preferences and Practices” (ACS Technologies, 2021) reports that sacramental celebrations and liturgical preaching represent two of the top three reasons that Catholics choose a parish. 

Since effective preaching leads to an enhanced experience of the Mass, priests who lead people to encounter the Lord Jesus regularly through preaching will certainly have a profound impact on parish life.

That impact, in turn, holds great potential for a renewal of the faith and a rejuvenation of parish life in today’s apostolic age. 

What we have learned from the national movement to restore understanding and devotion to the great mystery of the Eucharist suggests a hopeful lesson for priestly leadership through preaching.

As the renowned American evangelist Dwight L. Moody once put it, “The best way to revive a church is to build a fire in the pulpit.”

Character of a Story

 CHARACTER OF A STORY

All the characters in a story refer to the protagonist: they oppose him, ally themselves with him or carry out both activities; However, the relationship between the protagonist and the opponent is the most important and unique. By working through the conflict between these two characters, the most important themes and issues will be developed. They both have the same desire, although they want to achieve it in a different way.

A good storyteller must make sure that the antagonist also has a desire, a justification for acting as he does; It needs to be a powerful and compelling but ultimately incorrect justification. In the story, the antagonist's values conflict with those of the protagonist and both learn from each other and transform.

Whether in the form of a heroic soldier, a good investigator, a ridiculous puppet or an ant with human features, the protagonist is the figure with whom the audience will identify most. That's why he wants it to succeed, because its destiny becomes, in a way, that of the viewer.

The description of the main characters should serve, above all, to know them internally: the desires that move them and the defects they present. You don't always need great descriptions: sometimes, with a single act or gesture you can reveal the type of character you have in front of you. For example, if a character provides a small service without reward, we classify him among the good characters; On the other hand, an incorrect or rude gesture immediately predisposes us against that character. Then, the characters' actions progressively show their personality.

It is especially important to show some vice or defect of the protagonist. Without defects there is no need for transformation. On the other hand, a story also requires internal combat. Additionally, the audience is more likely to empathize with the character if he or she is flawed. If it's perfect, it becomes distant. In fact, one of the antagonist's functions is to highlight the protagonist's greatest weakness, so that he is forced to face it and grow.

In the previous chapter we explained the theme or moral argument, that is, the message proposed by the story. Well, it is important that this is related to the protagonist's main weakness. In this way, when the character "understands", when he "sees" the moral issue, his transformation occurs. For example, only when the hero understands that it is worth giving his life to save a city, does he stop running and become into a true hero. Only then does he transform. 

That is, the moral theme connects with the main character because it usually crystallizes in a moral decision that the protagonist makes, usually near the end of the story. 

Attention: if your character is the same at the end of the story than at the beginning, you have not done something well. 

© Don. J.B Nyamunga'24 

AN ANATOMY OF A STORY

 

ANATOMY OF A STORY 

1. First, the “moral theme or argument.” It is the message that we want to communicate, the idea or value that we want to transmit. It implies a moral vision of the world and human action. It is not the story we want to tell, but the advice we want to give to the reader or viewer. Therefore, within the anatomy of a story, the moral argument would be the brain, since it must guide and condition each subsequent choice (the characters, the conflict, etc.).

2. Secondly, we must think about the characters. They are the actors who, guided by a desire, act to face a conflict that becomes inevitable. In the face of conflict, they transform and understand the moral issue, that is, they discover a truth and the public does it with them. The characters are the heart of the story, what gives it life.

3. The third element of the anatomy of a story is conflict: it is the obstacle that the character finds between his desire and its realization. The conflict forces the main character to undergo a transformation. Conflict can remind us of our stomach, as it fuels the story.

4. Then we have the plot: an intricate choreography of actions performed by the protagonist and his adversaries, designed to surprise the reader, listener or viewer. In the plot, the characters' desires intersect until the final enlightenment. The plot would be the skeleton.

5. Finally, we have the narrative universe, that is, the place and time in which the story takes place and which can help in transmitting the moral theme.

As we have noted, these are the main elements of a story. In the most complex stories they are all present; in the simplest ones, some will be absent.

© Don. J.B Nyamunga'24 

Values in a Story

There are no stories without values, but very often the proposed values are only a means to another end: selling a product, asking for votes in national elections, suggesting a tourist destination for vacations or many other purposes. In this short course we only want to highlight the ability of stories to share positive values.

First, we must ask ourselves: what are values and why are they suitable for stories? The word “courage” comes from the Latin “ valere ” and means “to be strong, healthy, capable.” By extension, values would be those principles that guide a person's life. Stories that transmit values suggest, therefore, criteria for making good decisions in life, for choosing well, for guiding one's own behavior.

For this reason, it is said that good stories have the ability to dress old issues in new clothes, and can connect the concerns of modern man with classic narratives and with ethical or religious proposals.

One of the strengths of stories is their ability to communicate the indescribable. Stories put words and images to the best intuitions. They contain realities that cannot be seen or touched, but can be known or felt. In this movement from the abstract to the concrete, history not only makes the values at stake clearer and more accessible, but also facilitates the memorization of the concepts we want to convey.

Good stories contain what is known as the dramatic code . The dramatic code, etched deeply into the human psyche, is the artistic description of how a person can grow or evolve. The narrator hides this process behind some characters and actions: while these change driven by the conflict, the viewer/reader also feels called to improve. This works because each of us wants to become a better version of ourselves (in short, a story follows the trajectory of what a person wants, what they will do to get it, and the consequences that follow from it).

When the audience identifies with the protagonist, they learn when the protagonist learns. When storytelling is good, the audience can relive events in the present and understand the strength, resolve, and emotion that drives the character to do what they do. Thus, stories offer the public a type of knowledge called emotional wisdom.

The short video that illustrates this chapter is a beautiful example of how an apparently simple story can make us reflect and transmit a value, in this case strength and the ability to grow.

© Don. J.B Nyamunga'24 

THE POWER OF A STORY

Why does our brain retain stories with particular vividness? Why do stories have so much power? Only by knowing the answers to these questions will we be able to fully understand storytelling and, in some way, try to tame it, use it to our advantage and thus put it at the service of others.

Broadly speaking, we can identify three reasons that give stories their persuasive power. The first lies in its ability to imitate reality. In Aristotle's Poetics it is stated that man is a being who has the peculiarity of distinguishing himself from animals thanks to the art of imitating everything that surrounds him: "It is in our nature - says the philosopher - to imitate from childhood, and therefore For this reason men are distinguished from animals” (Aristotle, Poetics, I, 4, 5-10).

Indeed, with stories we recreate reality, we imitate it. Therefore, a narrative is like a window to the world, a "testing ground" where we learn to manage emotions, relationships with others, behaviors, our attitude in the face of difficulties, etc. Following Aristotle, we can say that our Human nature is comfortable in that “imitation of reality” that we are capable of generating with a story.

The second reason for the power of stories is connected to the first and lies in the deep need for meaning that moves every man. Without realizing it, we look everywhere for guidance on how to live, and stories precisely provide us with a kind of intuitive knowledge about how to act to be happy. It is no coincidence that the words text and fabric share the same Latin root: “ tessare ", which means to weave . It is like this: we weave stories with words just as we weave fabrics with threads. With fabrics we make garments that cover us, give us dignity and tell others who we are and how we want to be seen. However, with words and stories we understand the world, we explain our ideas and tell our lives to others. Both texts and words give us meaning. Stories help us understand.

The third and final reason why stories are so powerful lies in our brain's enormous capacity to process them. That body is especially willing to learn through realtos . It has recently been discovered that the so-called mirror neurons play a fundamental role in this activity. Why are they called like that? Because when we watch a movie or listen to a story, the areas of our brain that process emotions are the same as the narrator's areas where there is neural activity. That is, with stories we replicate emotions, we physically empathize with others, thus promoting a stronger bond with the characters and the message. If the speaker gets excited, we get excited; If he gets sad, so do we. It is as if one brain is a mirror of the other. Stories have also been shown to stimulate the release of neurochemicals, such as dopamine and oxytocin, which are associated with pleasure, reward, and social bonding. 

These substances help create an emotional connection with the audience, making the message more engaging and memorable. For example, that is why we feel so much relief, for example, when the story ends as we had anticipated.

I hope that with these three ideas I have been able to explain why stories are so powerful. They are not just a hobby for children. They have enormous power because they involve us deeply.

To make the most of this second chapter, I invite you to watch a video and reflect on some questions. Furthermore, in the bibliography that accompanies this unit you will find other materials to delve deeper into the proposed ideas. In the third unit we will focus on what we mean when we talk about Storytelling. TELL YOUR STORY!

The Joy of the Gospel - Evangelii gaudium

 Evangelium Gaudium is a 2013 Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Francis on the Church's Mission of Evangelization in the modern world. We can get this right from the opening paragraph of the exhortation that clarifies what we are getting involved in once we become missionary protagonists. He goes on to state that the joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ, Joy is constantly born a new […] He wishes to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon the latest chapter of evangelization marked by joy pointing out new paths for the church's journey in the years to come.

The Pope exhorts the people of God to implement a particular aspect of the Church’s life and teaching. It is not about teaching a new doctrine but suggesting how the Church's teaching and practices can be profitably applied today. This exhortation is geared more toward the pastoral praxis rather than the doctrinal or legal nature. The Christian joy is that the Church may discover the original source of evangelization in the contemporary world. Pope Francis offers this document to the Church as a road map and guide to her pastoral mission for the near future. It’s an invitation to recover a prophetic vision of reality without ignoring the current situation. The language and symbols Pope Francis' imaginative language is a lived experience that can be used, and expressed in homilies, sermons in our parishes by priests, retreat sessions, conferences and ongoing formation programs.

Chapter one of this document treats the Church and her missionary transformation call as a Mother with an open heart (nn.46-49). This means that a mother with an open heart can also be enclosed in a certain place, protected and cared for. The human body contains the heart that gives life to the body. As the heart pumps the blood in the body that gives life, so is it with the heart of a mother who becomes younger and younger in giving life to a new Church, and with her vivid presence that pumps a new life to her children.

Whenever we use the expression… Church as a mother with an open heart is a metaphoric expression that gives a sense of what the Church is. The Church is a mother; in this case a mother with an open heart, warmth, caring, loving, all qualities that our mothers have. This heart is very much open to the eventualities that may befall her whether bad or good. The Church has to be willing to embrace, search for her children and always with a big heart. The example of a prodigal son returning and has to feel part and parcel of the common home. A mother will always wait for her children to return home.

Pope Francis states that “The church should be a place of mercy and of hope in God, where everyone should feel received, loved forgiven and encouraged to live according to evangelical call, a place where the doors are opened for everyone to enter, but that means that others too ought to get out to continue with the evangelization to announce the good news received”…This is also emphasized by Cardinal Sepe, when he says ‘We don't need to have fear, as the Divine master taught, we ought to be a Church that is prophetic and missionary that is opening its sacristy door, walking together to other men of our time, participating, not a word, but a charity incarnated to the joy and to the pains of our people. The church does not run away from the world for fear, but that goes to the world carrying Christ, a unique saver, lest we fall into the heresy of fear that is a great danger today.

When a door is closed, it does no good to no one, except paralyzes, and separates. The Church is called upon to be a house. A mother is not someone out there but has a proper place, she can be found and also we can refer to her in case of need.

Today the Church is referred to as a house of bricks but assembly of people of God who form a spiritual house of the faithfuls who build up a sacred place of worship in the name of God, the first place of welcoming to new members who become Christians through baptism and other sacraments, a place to love, receive love and donate love. Pope Francis calls a house "a house is where the doors are opened to receive and hospitality exercised at its best attention to fraternity". If we have to find God in our lives we cannot confront the doors of the Church closed. The Holy Spirit should propel us to open these doors widely to create a place of encounter, a dialogue of love.

A Church is a place where everyone participates in his or her own capacity and talent. To close oneself into self is like closing the doors of the Church. We can’t claim to be unique. The church’s role is to make children, many children and if she doesn’t do so she will remain sterile or suffer the humiliation from the society that will call her a barren woman who is not fertile. In the Bible, women who confront this harsh reality of sterility: are Elizabeth, Zachariah, and Noemi but we see God doing great works in them. In this Church, we are protagonists of change, mothers and fathers living fully into the fertilization capacity of faith and spirituality, producing something new, a new creation.

This only comes when we ask the Holy Spirit to go out of ourselves to the other, to give ourselves into pastoral conversion and mission. Pope Francis picks the comparison with Pope Benedict XVI who stated that the church doesn’t grow for proselytisms, but grows through attraction, the maternal attraction by offering maternity, tenderness, and testimony that generates more sons and daughters. So we cannot call the Church a grandmother, but a woman who re-energizes her maternity, and youthfulness not by carrying herself the medical plastic surgery, that is not what it’s all about, but she becomes younger as she begets sons and daughters.

Pope during his pastoral work as bishop of Buenos Aires talking to priests and the people of God, stated that “he preferred a church that is wounded, dirty, because it’s out on the streets and out there working and evangelizing and saving souls than a church that is sick because it's closed in itself for its own security. The Pope says that it pains seeing the Church so much preoccupied for its own security sake, closed in itself for fear, this seems to be the preoccupation of many getting out of a Church that is more occupied with fear of making mistakes. This gives a bad and false impression of protection in the name of transformation.

Opening the doors according to Barreda is also opening the digital airwaves and connectivity, so that people may enter and find what they are looking for, whatever they see, is whatever they get (WYSWYG). Going out to the street is not a triumph march, it carries risks but better for a wounded Church than a Church that is closed up. “Those others who are outside, are they interested really? These are challenges of the new evangelization, the cascades into renewal of faith.

The Church should be able to warm hearts that lead the people to Jerusalem. The pope calls upon the bishops to do more, warming people's hearts in their profound pastoral duties. The hardest work is that of the parish priests every day listening to all sorts of problems of family, that of death. The pope reminds the pastors to walk before that sheep as they guide the community. This calls for real sensibility and dedication to start a journey that has to be pastoral and familiar.

This will rise in our communication the message and our prioritization of things as far as the hierarchy of truth is taught and lived. This is clearly stipulated in the document (UR n.11) which states that this should not be an obstacle to dialogue with the brethren but has to be presented in its entirety. This ought to be geared towards the love of truth, with clarity and with humility remembering that in Catholic doctrine there exists a "hierarchy" of truth that vary in understanding and clearer presentation of the unfathomable riches. As we put everything in perspective, this too will affect the delivery of the message.

Sometimes the message may be distorted or reduced to some secondary aspects, where the Church's moral issues are usually taken out of context and worse if the message preached, doesn't reach its audience. We need to be intelligent to know our audience well to engage it with a pedagogical approach to relate what we say to the very heart of the gospel which gives meaning, beauty, and attractiveness.

Once we build the Church on moral terms then we end up with a castle of lettere, this is a serious danger we can confront ourselves with. This is what we call the “perfume of the gospel.” Truth has to be understood when related to the harmonious totality of Christian message; all are truths that illuminate, one another if this invitation doesn’t radiate forcefully and attractively.

The edifice of the Church’s moral teaching risks becoming a house of cards, a great risk. The message that risks losing its freshness and will cease to have the fragrance of the Gospel. This is witnessed when priests can turn the confessional boxes into places of mercy of the lord which stimulates towards doing the best possible. It may be a small drop in the sea with human reality and limitations but more grateful to God, but an external sign of confronting a difficult within the mercy of God in human reality and experience. Jesus always wants us to appear as we are, in our very self. We come with our fragility and weakness; sometimes with fear. We ought to be fully human people who can recognize the faults and get back to the right road and binary of life.

GIVING LIFE TO THE NEW UNDERSTANDING OF EVANGELIZATION ( Evangelii Gaudium)

 

 

 

II LEZIONE

 

1. Finalità di EG: dare vita ad una nuova tappa evangelizzatrice

1.1. Avendo presente la tematica sviluppata dalla 13ª Assemblea Generale del Sinodo dei Vescovi, “La nuova evangelizzazione per la trasmissione della fede cristiana" (7-20 Ottobre 2012), l’Esortazione ha un tema preferenziale, cioè, l’evangelizzazione o l’azione missionaria, “paradigma di ogni opera della Chiesa” (EG 15). L’invito pressante dell’Esortazione si orienta a una “conversione missionaria” (EG 25) di tutta la Chiesa[1]. L’invito del Papa è di assumere uno stile evangelizzatore “in ogni attività che si realizzi” (EG 18). “Intendiamo porre tutto in chiave missionaria” (EG 34). L’azione missionaria è il “paradigama di ogni azione della Chiesa”, perché la missione è la natura della Chiesa. E’ difficile incoraggiare la partecipazione nel “fare”, nell’azione, se non si ha coscienza chiara dell’”essere”. Bisogna ripeterlo ancora: l’evangelizzazione non è qualcosa che il cristiano fa, ma qualcosa che vive, perché è il suo essere. E’ qui dove nasce la gioia del Vangelo e la gioia dell’evangelizzazione[2].

Questa è la dottrina conciliare che troviamo in AG 2 e ripetuta nello stesso Decreto, parlando della formazione sacerdotale: “I sacerdoti rappresentano il Cristo e sono i collaboratori dell'ordine episcopale nell'assolvimento di quella triplice funzione sacra che, per sua natura, si riferisce alla missione della Chiesa (cf. LG 28). Siano dunque profondamente convinti che la loro vita è stata consacrata anche per il servizio delle missioni. […] Nell'insegnamento poi delle discipline dogmatiche, bibliche, morali e storiche mettano bene in luce quegli aspetti missionari che vi sono contenuti, al fine di formare in questo modo una coscienza missionaria nei futuri sacerdoti” (AG 39).

Giovanni Paolo II è ancora più chiaro e concreto: “Ogni chiesa, anche quella formata da neoconvertiti, è per sua natura missionaria, è evangelizzata ed evangelizzante, e la fede va sempre presentata come dono di Dio da vivere in comunità (famiglie, parrocchie, associazioni) e da irradiare all'esterno sia con la testimonianza di vita che con la parola. L'azione evangelizzatrice della comunità cristiana, prima sul proprio territorio e poi altrove come partecipazione alla missione universale, è il segno più chiaro della maturità della fede. Occorre un radicale cambiamento di mentalità per diventare missionari, e questo vale sia per le persone sia per le comunità. Il Signore chiama sempre a uscire da se stessi, a condividere con gli altri i beni che abbiamo, cominciando da quello più prezioso che è la fede. Alla luce di questo imperativo missionario si dovrà misurare la validità degli organismi, movimenti, parrocchie e opere di apostolato della chiesa. Solo diventando missionaria la comunità cristiana potrà superare divisioni e tensioni interne e ritrovare la sua unità e il suo vigore di fede” (RM 49).

1.2. Questo discorso sulla missionarietà fondamentale della Chiesa e di ogni cristiano non è nuovo per il Papa. Infatti, “i cristiani, aveva detto, siamo discepoli del Maestro, perciò non possiamo guardare la realtà se non in termini di missione. Non siamo osservatori imparziali, ma uomini e donne che desiderano impregnare tutte le strutture della società di un amore che abbiamo conosciuto e che nell’incontro con la realtà è capace di trasformarla in vita abbondante”[3]. Commentando con numerose riflessioni la celebrazione di Aparecida, il Card. Bergoglio scrive: “Si dice che il Documento sia il penultimo passo di Aparecida: l’ultimo è la missione, che ampollosamente alcuni chiamano «Gran Missione Continentale». L’annuncio di Gesù Cristo. Siamo consapevoli che l’annuncio di Gesù Cristo si sia un po’ ammalato, no? E che siamo deboli e che, poco a poco, molte chiese con molti agenti pastorali cadono nella burocratizzazione, nella pastorale del puro organigramma o nell’establishment. E quando si cade in questo, si paga con l’annunciare poco, o annunciare meno, o annunciare debolmente, o annunciare male Gesù Cristo. Dalle prospettive pastorali è emerso un «idoletto» che lo spirito di Aparecida cerca di demolire, che è la gestione. Veneriamo la gestione. Purché sia una buona gestione. Intendiamoci, tutto questo è vero, ma sono semplici strumenti, ciò che conta è la missione, l’evangelizzazione. Questo tema della missione, dell’evangelizzazione, è lo spirito che incoraggia tutto il piano pastorale, tutta l’organizzazione pastorale, inclusi tutti i progetti funzionali alla pastorale, tutto l’organigramma pastorale, ma è dalla missione che parte l’annuncio di Gesù Cristo”[4].

Il papa invita, quindi, a giudicare tutto il fare della Chiesa con il prisma della missione. Abbiamo visto che questo era il proposito di Aparecida. Animare un nuovo tipo. Un nuovo modello di Chiesa, non più legato alla passività di una pastorale di conservazione, ma progettato verso la missione. La missione è il criterio per giudicare la vitalità della Chiesa, come ci ricordava Giovanni Paolo secondo, appena citato. Alla luce della missione si deve fare teologia, si deve ripensare la morale e la legge, comprendere tutto ciò che dice relazione alla fede. Di fatto, tutto è orientato alla missione e guidato dalla missione. Sotto questo orientamento lo stesso studio accademico acquista nuovo significato e una nuova rigenerazione. La responsabilità dei centri universitari cattolici è molto grande in questo contesto: preparare pastori capaci di portare a termine questo profondo cambiamento ecclesiale. La formazione accademica è indispensabile per poter evangelizzare[5]. La storia conferma che quando il clero è ignorante, il popolo non riceve la Parola in modo conveniente; questo fatto motivò la nascita degli Ordini Mendicanti. Papa Francesco ha spinto i pastori su questa direzione: da qui il fatto di “uscire”; se non si esce non si produce l’incontro, né il confronto, né il dialogo, né l’annuncio; non c’è “odore di pecora”, né, probabilmente, “odore di Cristo”.

1.3. “Sottolineo che ciò che intendo qui esprimere ha un significato programmatico e dalle conseguenze importanti. Spero che tutte le comunità facciano in modo di porre in atto i mezzi necessari per avanzare nel cammino di una conversione pastorale e missionaria, che non può lasciare le cose come stanno. Ora non ci serve una «semplice amministrazione». Costituiamoci in tutte le regioni della terra in un «stato permanente di missione»” (EG 25). In queste parole, il Papa supera la visione molto più stretta e rigida del Sinodo dei Vescovi. Il fatto di parlare in prima persona, assume una serietà, un impegno personale e una responsabilità che non può non coinvolgere tutti i cristiani. In modo che, l’interesse per il cristiano oltrepassa ciò che il Papa dice, perché in questa lunga narrazione anche il lettore diventa protagonista. Comunque, solo dall’essere missione nasce lo stato permanente di missione, è la conseguenza necessaria. Il problema è arrivare a prendere coscienza dell’essere, dell’identità ormai definita dal Vaticano II (AG 2). Per questo, “la missione al cuore del popolo non è una parte della mia vita, o un ornamento che mi posso togliere, non è un’appendice, o un momento tra i tanti dell’esistenza. È qualcosa che non posso sradicare dal mio essere se non voglio distruggermi. Io sono una missione su questa terra, e per questo mi trovo in questo mondo. Bisogna riconoscere sé stessi come marcati a fuoco da tale missione di illuminare, benedire, vivificare, sollevare, guarire, liberare” (EG 273). “Io sono una missione”, è la conseguenza che si trae leggendo pagina a pagina l’Esortazione; la coscienza di essere parte di una relazione comunicativa dalla quale non mi posso scaricare. È un’espressione che non ha bisogno di molti ragionamenti e che invita a collocarsi pienamente a disposizione del annuncio.

Tuttavia, queste parole del Papa Francesco non sono nuove; esse si trovano nella linea di pensiero di Papa Benedetto. Anche lui era cosciente della necessità di una conversione missionaria incominciando dall’approfondimento della vita di fede[6]. Si tratta di una conversione di tutta la comunità a Cristo. La fede ha un dinamismo comunicativo centrifugo, ma prima deve dirigersi al centro, al Vangelo, vivere la dinamica centripeta che unifica e rende feconda la testimonianza e l’annuncio conseguente. Questo era l’obiettivo dell’Anno della Fede. Cioè, “risvegliare il desiderio, da parte di tutta la comunità cattolica, di riappropriarsi con gioia e gratitudine dell’incommensurabile tesoro della nostra fede. Con il progressivo indebolirsi dei valori cristiani tradizionali e la minaccia di un tempo in cui la nostra fedeltà al Vangelo può costare cara, la verità di Cristo non ha bisogno solo di essere compresa, articolata e difesa, ma anche di essere proposta con gioia e fiducia come chiave della realizzazione umana autentica e del benessere della società nel suo insieme”[7]. Si tratta di “riscoprire la gioia di credere”, un altro modo di dire “la gioia del Vangelo”. La gioia della fede fa nascere l’entusiasmo per la comunicazione del Vangelo.

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[1] “La nuova evangelizzazione per la trasmissione della fede. C’è una stretta connessione tra questi due elementi: la trasmissione della fede cristiana è lo scopo della nuova evangelizzazione e dell’intera opera evangelizzatrice della Chiesa, che esiste proprio per questo” (Discorso del Santo Padre Francesco, ai membri del XIII Consiglio Ordinario della Segreteria Generale del Sinodo dei Vescovi, Sala del Concistoro, Giovedì, 13 giugno 2013).

[2] Cf. J. M. Bergoglio, In Lui solo la speranza. Esercizi spirituali ai vescovi spagnoli (15-22 gennaio 2006), Jaca Book-Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Milano – Città del Vaticano 2013, 74.

 

[3] Card. J. M. Bergoglio, Cultura y religiosidad popular, religiosidad popular como inculturación de la fe en el espíritu de Aparecida, Buenos Aires, 19 de Enero de 2008.

[4] Card. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Discepoli e missionari, affinché in Lui abbiano vita, 1 octubre 2007, en Card. Jorge Mario Bergoglio-Papa Francesco, Riflessioni di un Pastore. Misericordia, Missione, Testimonianza, Vita, LEV, Ciudad del Vaticano 2013, 200-201.

[5] “Infine, la fecondità e la solidità dell’evangelizzazione dipendono naturalmente dalla qualità del clero”. (Discurso del Santo Padre Francisco, A los obispos de la Conferencia Episcopal del Chad, en visita “ad limina apostolorum”, Jueves, 2 de octubre 2014).

[6] Nella mente di Papa Francesco il termine “conversione” non si riferisce unicamente alla vita interna personale, sempre necessaria; la conversione ha anche una dimensione pubblica nel vivere concreto. Da qui il richiamo frequente ai pastori perché non cadano nel carrierismo e le apparenze di grandezza, ma vivano nella semplicità. La conversione deve portarci all’altro, al povero; i suoi effetti si possono controllare, poiché la vera conversione porta vita e speranza.

[7] Discorso ai presuli della Conferenza dei Vescovi Cattolici degli Stati Uniti d’America (di riti Orientali) (Regione XIV-XV), in visita “ad limina Apostolorum”, Venerdì, 18 maggio 2012; www.vatican.va (21/10/2012).