Ferdinando shared on WhatsApp a speech by Pope Francis dated January 11, 2023 entitled: "The passion for evangelization". Here are some excerpts from the speech:
(...) "We can ask ourselves: how is our gaze towards others? How many times do we see their defects and not their needs; how many times do we label people for what they do or what they think! Even as Christians we say to ourselves: is he one of us or is he not one of us? This is not the gaze of Jesus: He always looks at each one with mercy, indeed with predilection. And Christians are called to do like Christ, looking like Him especially at the so-called "distant". (...) "Our announcement begins today, where we live. And it doesn't start by trying to convince others, convince no: but by testifying every day to the beauty of the Love that looked at us and raised us up and it will be this beauty, communicating this beauty that will convince people, not communicating us, but the Lord himself. We are those who proclaim the Lord, we do not proclaim ourselves, nor do we proclaim a political party, an ideology, no: we proclaim Jesus. (...) when you see Christians proselytizing, making you a list of people to come... these are not Christians, they are pagans disguised as Christians but their hearts are pagan. The Church grows not through proselytism, it grows through attraction.” (…)
And now some shared comments/reflections:
"...that's what we should all do even in our own spheres! Attract for who we are. Love conquers everything! Everything else is an insignificant side dish" (A.)
“Always simple but effective: it seems that he is one among the people… even when he presents the arguments with an evangelical vision”. (E.L.)
"I deeply agree with the spirit of catechesis. In logical-linguistic terms, the discussion regarding proselytism highlights an insurmountable contradiction in communication: to bring men and women closer to Jesus, the Apostle must reveal the source of his behavior and his belonging.
It is this circumstance that "semiologically" it makes the boundary between testimony, spirit of service and proselytism uncertain, which is seen negatively as a sort of enlistment, which considers the faithful a follower.
A totally anonymous action would help overcome this impasse but would weaken the vital practice of evangelization for the Church which is to make humanity fall in love with Jesus.
I'll try to explain myself. Matthew has Jesus with him at the banquet he organizes. In his absence (today's apostles who announce His Word, who therefore practice the Apostolate to announce Jesus and declare their belonging and adherence to the evangelical values) must resort to signs (cassock, for example, or Saio as in the case of Saint Francis, public events) gestures, words and lifestyles that embody these values.
Therefore, in some way he must make known the source of these values as well as the reason for his adherence to them. In doing this, in reaching out to others, he must essentially indicate the source of values of his action and declare his belonging to the Christian faith. In this declaration there inevitably lurks a residue of insurmountable proselytism which goes against the very desire to practice it and the announcement you are making. It is an insurmountable communicative condition. To avoid this there is only one way out: anonymity, that is to say a Christianity practiced, so to speak, anonymously, deprived of announcement, which is obviously nonsense. What I believe is central in re-evangelization is coherence in life behaviors, in practicing love through help and welcome, in going towards others with an uncovered face without emphasizing or continually reiterating the matrix of one's actions. I would say that the Apostolate should be practiced with a certain confidentiality and sobriety. (M.)