Once upon a time…

 Eight months after his election, the Pope published his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, “The Gospel's Joy”. Our Holy Father wishes to touch the hearts of all Christians when writing, so he uses a style that is not academic and with a vocabulary that all can understand.

His first exhortation (counsel) spoke about his programme to invite the faithful “ to a new way of evangelising” in response to the call of Christ who asked that “we open wide the doors (of the Church) to let everyone out to go meet the world and humanity.”

A Saying…

They should be troubled in conscience that so many, our brothers and sisters, live without the sense of purpose and consolation that come from knowing Jesus Christ (...)

 “Go out, go out and offer the life of Jesus Christ to all. I am repeating exactly what I said many times to the priests and lay persons of Buenos Aires: I prefer a Church that is damaged, wounded because of the paths it takes to reach out than a Church that is sick because it is closed in upon itself and its comfort of hanging onto its own security. I do not want a Church that is preoccupied of being the centre of attention and that ends up enclosed and entangled in procedures and obsessions. If there is anything that must saintly preoccupy and worry our consciousness, it is our fellowmen who live without the strength, the light and the consolation Jesus' friendship, who live without a community of faith that welcomes them, and without a reason to live on the horizon.” Gaudium Evangeli n°49

A Prayer…

 Today let us pray for the Church to be renewed by the fire of the Holy Spirit; that it continues like never before its work of evangelisation by announcing the Good News. May the Church be inspired to know how to give the message of the Gospel in todays world.

Three ways to pray for this intention:
1. I click immediately on the tab “I pray” just below, and I carefully read the “prayer to the Holy Spirit for Pope Francis”
2. I say 10 Hail Marys and I click on the tab “I pray”
3. I offer 3 minutes of silence, heart to heart, with God, then I click on the tab “I pray”