1. The TWO evangelizations..
Both evangelizations were demonstrated by Christ, Himself. The so-called ‘classical’ evangelization was shown by Christ at the beginning of His ministry and is described at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. The ‘new’ evangelization was described by St. Mark in the Gospel of the 14th Sunday in ordinary time (Chapter 6).
The ‘classical’ evangelization consist in three steps; first, ‘ to make disciples of all nations.’ Secondly; ‘to baptize….’ And thirdly, ‘to teach them all My commands and how to observe them.’ In the ‘new’ evangelization the words of the Gospel are; ‘and He could not teach them nor perform miracles because of their unbelief. In the ‘classical’ evangelization’ we preach; in the ‘new’ evangelization we keep quiet in the face of unbelief…..though if we are contemplatives, as Pope Benedict wrote, we will find a few predestined souls straggling in the sidewalks…..to them we may still go and preach. The scenario for this ‘new’ evangelization is that we are contemplatives; because they alone can find the few predestined souls apart from the unbelieving crowd.
The essence of evangelization is identical in both evangelization. The slight difference is that in the ‘classical’ there is much preaching. While in the ‘new’ evangelization’ there is more quiet. This difference is very clear in the Gospels referred to.
2. Neither evangelization is being observed today.
The crisis of Faith in the Church was caused by the heresy of nominalism that disabled souls from making the proper disposition necessary for the reception of Faith. The first step in the classical evangelization, ‘to make disciples of all nations,’ which is the life of repentance. This was erased by the heresy. The result was that the second step, baptism, became ineffective and, the third step, knowledge of the commands of Christ, became impossible.
From the 14th century, because of the belief that Divine Revelation does not exist in reality and that private revelation is paramount, the Catholic Church slowly turned Protestant and never recovered. The Council of Trent was an attenpt to break the descend of the Catholic Church but it also did not work because it is saints that reform the Church, not ecumenical councils.
Because the present generation of priests are infected by this heresy which made it impossible for them to know the old ‘classical’ evangelization, it became even more impossible for them to understand the ‘new’ evangelization of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict……because the ‘new’ evangelization is based on and is an improvement of the classical evangelization. Today, absolutely nobody is talking about the ‘new’ evangelization’ though seminars and Bishop’s Synod pretend to teach the ‘new’ evangelization.’ For example, the Bishop’s Synod of 2012 was about the ‘new’ evangelization. But the Synod intentionally omitted the essence of both the classical and ‘new’ evangelization. So the descend into deeper error continues and is most obvious in the Bishop’s Synod of 2014. And the ‘instrumentum laboris’ in preparation for the Bishop’s Synod of 2015 shows a worsening scenario.
Neither program of evangelization is being observed today. Catholic evangelization today is purely public relation gimmicks used by politicians and movie stars; kissing all kinds of books and persons, embracing everybody, dressing up in King burgers, riding small cars, offering foot balls to God, blessing coca leaves…..well as St. Matthew wrote; even the pagans can do that. Indeed, as Hilaire Belloc had written earlier, the world had returned into paganism and the men of the Catholic Church is leading this descend..
3. The punishment for sin is to easily descend to a worst sin. St. Thomas of Aquinas.
All of these crisis in the Church is bound to happen, not because of William of Ockam or Martin Luther. But because it was prophesied in Scriptures. St. Bonaventure and Blessed John Newman had very aptly described what is happening today as early as their times. All knowledgeable Catholics know this. Even Robert Benson, a convert and later on Catholic priests made it into an Apocalyptic novel. There he showed the ‘great apostasy’ mentioned by St. Paul. with an anti-pope, a disgruntled former Catholic priest, leading the apostasy in league with the head of the United States. And the anti-pope’s name was Francis. Pope Francis read this book and commented on it in one of his homilies.
4. The worst sin.
The continuous descend into evil will result, not so much in the mere physical possession of Satan but the spiritual possession of Satan as what happened to Judas. Judas was the pre-figure of the priests and bishops of these times refereed to by St. Paul as the ‘great apostasy.’ Being one of the first bishop recruited by Christ, Himself, Judas was spiritually possessed by Satan. And he ended up doing unimaginable evils. That was on Good Friday, the sixth day of the week. And Pope Benedict reminded us that we are in the sixth day; referring to the sixth day in St. Bonaventure’s ‘Theology of History.
The worst sin committed today by the whole world is prompted by their being spiritually possessed by the devil. It is ordinarily manifested in the killing of one’s neighbor who has done nothing wrong towards ayone. This can be from abortion to terrorism. which is essentially irrational killing of the bodies. Within the Catholic Church this is an attempt to kill the Mystical Body of Christ; the killing of the souls through bishops encouraging others to sin as what happened during the Bishop’s Synod of 2014 up to the rampant corruption of the youth done by some bishops. This way they kill the soul. To whom much is given the greater is the punishment if the gift is misused.
. This dual blitzkrieg by both the world and some members of the hierarchy on the Church was described by Blessed John Newman in his book ‘The confederacy of evil.’
The worst sin was the sin of Judas, deicide. The sin of the confederacy of evil is the killing of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is deicide, too. “Why are you persecuting Me” was Christ’s complain when St. Paul was persecuting the Church.
5. Because neither the classical nor the ‘new’ evangeliation is being used by priests and bishops today. what are they using to save souls today? Nothing. They are merely using panaceas and lots of public relation gimmicks to deaden the pains of unbelief. But without Faith in a faithless era because no one knows how to teach how to make an act of Faith what do we do? The ‘new’ evangelization of John Paul and Benedict states; ‘be a contemplative and learn these things directly from God.’
6. How to become a contemplative.
Two steps. First, is the classical ‘fuga mundo’. Second, to learn from Christ who is meek and humble of heart. This is the Gospel on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. It was what Elijah and the Carmelites are doing. The Carmelites are following the example of the prophet Elijah. And like all prophets up to St. John they detached themselves from the world. They flee away from the world and live in deserts, forests, mountain tops and in islands. Someone engaged in the things of the world will find it impossible to be a contemplative.
And what do they do away from the world? They imitate the meekness of Christ by being meek towards all their companions and they imitate the humility of Christ by being obedient to their superiors. These are the two steps. Of course, upon doing these they will not become instant contemplatives. Their growth in the contemplative life will be a gradual process that completely depends on the grace of God. What happens is that slowly as they live the contemplative life, God begins to teach them many things about Divine Revelation.
How would they look like if they do the two steps mentioned above? They would live the ‘new’ monasticism described by St.Bonaventure and mentioned by Pope Benedict as the important element of the ‘new’ evangelization.