Class No: G-2 Name: Bagalay, Kaye Mara D. Grade and Section: 9- St.

Benedict of
Nursia
Topic: Evangelii Gaudium

Direction: Compose your research/reaction/reflection paper using the following format: Short
size bond paper, font style and size (Times New Roman, 12), single space, block format
with indention, justified alignment and with a single space after each paragraph.
Reaction Paper

Evangelii gaudium is a 2013 apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis on "the church's

primary mission of evangelization in the modern world." In its opening paragraph, Pope
Francis urged the entire Church "to embark on a new chapter of evangelism". According
to the exhortation, the Church must understand itself as a "community of missionary
disciples",who are "permanently in a state of mission". It has been described as a
"remarkable and radical document, one that ranges widely and challenges complacency at
every level", as well as "the manifesto of Francis" and a "Magna Carta for church
reform."

Evangelii gaudium touches on many of the themes of Francis' papacy, including

obligations Christians have to the poor and the duty to establish and maintain just
economic, political, and legal orders. Francis says that the world "can no longer trust in
the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market" and calls for action "beyond a
simple welfare mentality" that "attack[s] the structural causes of inequality."Refocusing
society's priorities, he asks how "it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person
dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?"

Calling for an "ecclesial renewal which cannot be deferred", Francis is critical of the
over-centralization of church bureaucracy, unthinking preaching, and excessive emphasis
on doctrine. Throughout the exhortation he calls for more pastoral creativity and
openness, insisting that the entire Church realize "a missionary impulse capable of
transforming everything".... "the path of a pastoral and missionary conversion which
cannot leave things as they presently are."In regard to what he perceives is a current
negative dependence on over-centralization in the Church's structure as opposed to an
open and missionary spirit flowing through every level, he writes, "I too must think about
a conversion of the papacy.... The papacy and the central structures of the universal
Church also need to hear the call to pastoral conversion."

In contrast to the writing style of previous popes, Evangelii gaudium is not written in an
academic style but "in language that is both easily understood and captivating." In the
47,560 word document, Francis uses the word "love" 154 times, "joy" 109 times, "the
poor" 91 times, "peace" 58 times, "justice" 37 times, and "common good" 15 times.

In the first chapters the Pope cites several Bible passages that show the relationship
between the joy of receiving the Christian faith and the joy of missionary activity. Francis
then offers several themes for the exhortation of the reform of the Church in her
missionary outreach; the temptations faced by pastoral workers; the Church, understood
as the entire People of God which evangelizes; the homily and its preparation; the
inclusion of the poor in society; peace and dialogue within society; the spiritual
motivations for mission.

In this chapter Francis underlines the importance of the parish, which "can assume quite
different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and
community", and asks oratories, ecclesiastical movements, prelatures, and other
communities in the Church to join the activities of the local parish. He shows the
responsibility that bishops have for the missionary activities in their own diocese. In this
context, the Pope says, "Since I am called to put into practice what I ask of others, I too
must think about a conversion of the papacy", and that he is, as he notes Pope John Paul
II had been, "open to suggestions which can help make the exercise of my ministry more
faithful to the meaning which Jesus Christ wished to give it and to the present needs of
evangelization".

The chapter is divided in two sections: the first one, Some challenges of today’s world,
deals with economic matters, poverty, and modern culture. It also mentions the new
religious movements and moral relativism. The second section, Temptations faced by
pastoral workers, describes two errors commonly faced by Christians: first the "attraction
of Gnosticism" that offers "a faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of
ideas and bits of information"; the second is "the self-absorbed promethean
neopelagianism" of those who "feel superior to others because they observe certain rules
or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past" with "a
narcissistic and authoritarian elitism". He also noted that "In some people we see an
ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy".

Francis describes thoroughly the importance of the homily, which "should be brief and
avoid taking on the semblance of a speech or a lecture",and should be prepared with care:
"Preparation for preaching is so important a task that a prolonged time of study, prayer,
reflection and pastoral creativity should be devoted to it A preacher who does not prepare
is not 'spiritual'; he is dishonest and irresponsible with the gifts he has received".

"Missionary discipleship": "In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of
God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their
position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of
evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be
carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive
recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of
the baptized. Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in
evangelization"

The fourth chapter deals with many topics: care for the weakest persons ("the homeless,
the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly isolated and
abandoned, and many others"),long term politics, and social dialogue: the dialogue
between faith and reason, ecumenical dialogue, and inter-religious dialogue.

Francis calls for ecumenical unity and trust among Christian missionaries because they
must speak in one voice: "Given the seriousness of the counter-witness among Christians,
particularly in Asia and Africa, the search for paths to unity becomes all the more
urgent.... If we concentrate on the convictions we share, and if we keep in mind the
principle of the hierarchy of truths, we will be able to progress decidedly toward common
expressions of proclamation, service and witness." He affirms that "As Christians, we
cannot consider Judaism as a foreign religion; nor do we include the Jews among those
called to turn from idols and to serve the true God (cf. 1 Thes 1:9). With them, we believe
in the one God who acts in history, and with them we accept his revealed word." He
writes, "While it is true that certain Christian beliefs are unacceptable to Judaism, and
that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah, there exists
as well a rich complementarity which allows us to read the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures
together and to help one another to mine the riches of God’s word. We can also share
many ethical convictions and a common concern for justice and the development of
peoples".

He teaches that non-Christian rituals of any religion can have a divine origin, that they
are "a communitarian experience of journeying towards God" and can be "channels
which the Holy Spirit raises up in order to liberate non-Christians from atheistic
immanentism or from purely individual religious experiences".

The last part of the exhortation deals with the personal relationship with Christ and the
imitation of the Virgin Mary as an icon of joy and missionary activity.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelii_gaudium

Evaluation: CONTENT(8)_____ ORGANIZATION(7)_____ REFERENCE(5)____ TOTAL(20)_____