Pope Benedict in his “New Evangelization” that leads to the ‘door of Faith’ had given us the steps leading to that goal in summary form and in the right order as: 1.) conversion, 2.) the kingdom of God, 3.) Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and 4.) Eternal Life. In other words, we must live a life completely converted away from sin. This would dispose us to receive the grace of God that will bring us within the kingdom of God which is the Catholic Church here on earth. With that grace we would first be united to the created soul of the Church which consists in Faith in Jesus Christ and as we progress in the spiritual life we would eventually be united to the uncreated soul of the Church which is the Holy Spirit. The consequence of all these is that we would merit eternal life.
There is nothing new in these steps. This is the Catholic teaching on how to attain eternal life. It is complete and in the right order though in summary form. These are also the lessons we learn from the Apostolic Commission Christ gave the Apostles before His Ascension. These are also the lessons we learn from the Liturgical season of the Church though the Liturgy used slightly different terms: Life of Repentance is used instead of conversion taught during Advent and Lent, Faith is used instead of entrance to the Kingdom of God and union with Jesus Christ. Hope is used for Easter. And during the season of Pentecost we learn union with the Holy Spirit the uncreated soul of the Church. The feast of Christ the King summarizes the attainment of eternal life.
This is also the description used by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church like St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas. And this is what the Magisterium had been teaching all these centuries. This basic lesson is what Pope Benedict wants all Bishops and priest to review with all the faithful this “Year of Faith” using the ‘New Evangelization”….. what Scriptures, the Fathers and the Magisterium had been teaching.
A schema had been prepared on this for the Bishop’s Synod in Rome on the anniversary of Vatican II and this had been published a few weeks ago. Let us compare this schema prepared for the Bishop’s Synod with the schema presented by Pope Benedict.
Observe that the schema for the Bishop’s Synod skipped the first two steps of Pope Benedict’s outline.The Pope’s first step, Conversion and second step, entrance into the Catholic Church were omitted. The Bishop Synod’s schema begins with Pope Benedict’s 3rd step which is Faith, i.e. personal encounter with the humanity of Christ, the created soul of the Catholic Church. The Synod’s first chapter is entitled “Jesus Christ, the Good News of God to humanity.” The title and contents of this Chapter 1 describes the theological virtue of Faith. The description is similar to the Holy Father’s description of stage No. 3 in his ‘New Evangelization.’
But without conversion and entrance into the Catholic Church it is impossible to attain the supernatural virtue of Faith, and it is even more impossible to attain Charity. The schema for the Bishop’s Synod assumes that the Bishops and priests have been converted from their sinful life, had entered the Catholic Church, and have received graces that will make them merit the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. The Holy Father is not working on this assumption shown by his continuous repetition that all priests should be contemplatives.
We have just celebrated the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Gospel clearly states that Peter’s knowledge about Christ did not come from man but from the Father in Heaven. For Evangelization the preacher should be a contemplative, in this case Jesus Christ. And the people must be Evangelized to become contemplatives so that they, too, may recognize Christ not from men but from the Father. This is why the Pope had been repeating the need for contemplation. The preacher must be a contemplative and the listeners must be taught to be contemplative…… that in short is the “New Evangelization.”
If we note the schema of the Bishop’s Synod, the Bishops around the world are being asked for their ideas on how to Evangelize in this our times. They are not being asked how Christ would want them to Evangelize. They are being asked ‘what men says,’ not what God is saying. And so Chapter 1 of the schema for the Bishop’s Synod is defective because it is asking what men-bishops are thinking on how to encounter Christ. “Not flesh and blood had taught you this. But My Father in heaven.” The “New Evangelization” consists in Contemplative Bishops and priest teaching the lay to become contemplatives so that they in turn may be taught by the Father in Heaven.
Without Pope Benedict’s step 1, conversion, no one can be Evangelized. Much more without Pope Benedict’s step 1 and step 2. Chapter 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the Bishop Synod’s schema deals with acts of evangelization which the Evangelizer cannot do without themselves undergoing conversion and entrance into the Catholic Church. . Even if the evangelist is a contemplative and even a mystic if they follow the Synod’s schema they will not be able to evangelize either because their listeners would not be able to build their Faith on nothing or if they are not contemplatives they would not be able to explain the truths properly. Faith can only be given to those who have been completely converted from their sinful life and have the grace that will make them merit the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
Let us summarize this observation using the Gospel of St. Peter and Paul. Christ was a contemplative and He taught the apostles, like Peter, to be contemplatives. Peter was not a contemplative at the beginning. He became a contemplative in that Gospel when Christ said: “Flesh and Blood had not explained this to you but my heavenly Father. That is the “New Evangelization”….the process by which a contemplative (Christ) leads another soul (St. Peter) to contemplation. When one becomes a contemplative then it is God who teaches that soul the truths of the Catholic Church. The “New Evangelization”, therefore, is a process wherein a contemplative leads another soul to contemplation. The contemplative does not teach the truths to the other person. The contemplative teaches the other person to be contemplative. And it is God, not flesh and blood, who teaches the contemplative the truths of the Catholic Faith.
The problems is that most priests are taught by ‘flesh and blood’ and sometimes just by papers and books in the seminaries or theological lecture halls. . This is not the way to evangelize evangelizers. So they in turn cannot teach others to be contemplatives to be taught by God. They end up knowing nothing of the teachings of Christ. Pope Benedict’s ‘New Evangelization’ consists in contemplatives (i.e. those who have undergone the four steps he had enumerated in his treatise on the “New Evangelization”) teaching and leding others to be contemplatives wherewith they learn the teachings of Christ directly from God…….and not from flesh and blood.
The schema prepared for the Bishop’s Synod heavily depends on Evangelizing the unenvagelized Catholics towards the ‘door of faith’ by a schema made by flesh and blood……..and not by the Father in Heaven.