Father Jose Pastor Ramirez
One of the great tasks of the Catholic Church and of any Christian religious confession is to “carry Jesus”; if it did not, it would be a dead Church. In addition, it must be continually returning to the source to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, which is much more than a verbal message.
Families and parishes constitute two essential platforms for evangelization and catechesis; two humanizing instances. But both require regeneration. They must live an individual and group process of conversion to Jesus, delving into the essentials of the Gospel.
Today, the pastoral of transmission is not enough because it is reduced only to a received heritage, to a doctrine, to a morality, to a practice of the sacraments, of devotions, of prayer and of the discipline of the Church; new paths of pastoral action must be sought, giving life to the pastoral care of welcome, of the proposal of faith and of dialogue. The Church should not be perceived in any place as an institution that imposes, judges or threatens from its undisputed sacred authority, but as a place of freedom and invitation.
The renewal of the Church is not achieved because of fear, self-defensive behavior, restorationism and the passivity of the Christian people. It must be recognized that for many years the congregation was trained for submission, obedience, silence and passivity. In addition, Christianity has been exhibited as a religion of authority and not of call. Today a more fluid dialogue of the Church with society, with the family and with young people is required.
Sometimes, novelty frightens us, we have to recover the freshness of the Gospel: return to the personal encounter with Jesus, live and announce the essentials of the Gospel. Only what leads to Jesus and what comes from Him is valid. The Christian and the pastor must be people who are convinced, enthusiastic, sure, in love with Jesus in order to convince.
We must combat spiritual worldliness, unhealthy forms of spirituality, unevangelical lifestyles, gossip and wars among Christians. It is convenient to leave the sacristies to exhibit the audacity, creativity and courage of the Spirit.
Definitively, it is necessary to return to Jesus through a humble and joyful conversion. We must recover the identity of disciples and followers of Him.
Jesus must be present in the activity, the planning and the organization. One must know how to renounce what does not work pastorally. We must return to the source and recover the original freshness of the Gospel. You have to read, study, meditate and live the Word.
We need an evangelization and a parish, school and university catechesis that allows us to respond to Jesus’ mandate “go make disciples of all peoples”. The Gospel is the great force that drives and dynamizes communities. The task is not to expose a religion, but to teach the “Way of the Lord” to make the Christian faith a lifestyle.