Pope John Paul II’s missionary prayer intention for March 2005: For the local Churches: may they realise the need to educate Christians to holiness in order to face the challenges of new evangelisation. Comment by Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, Archbishop of Dar es Salam, Tanzania.

Rome (Fides Service) - In the first Letter of Saint Peter the call of every Christian to holiness is expressed in the following words: “but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct since it is written, ” (1 Pet 1, 15-16). This call to holiness addressed to each one of Christ’s followers is all the more urgent today for the proper realisation of new evangelisation also in mission territories. One of the greatest challenges to effective new evangelisation in the world today is to show the relevance of the Gospel message to modern man.
The period of first evangelisation in mission areas like ours was accompanied by prospects of a materially better life. People who received the Gospel message had better chances of education and thereby obtained a more elevated style of life. When overdrawn, this distorted to a great extent the basic message of the Gospel: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. (Mt 5,3). A number of people converted to Christianity mainly (if not solely) to earn that better life.
The changed conditions in which evangelisation is being carried out today even in mission lands is that which believes that a better life is obtainable even outside the Gospel message. Material prosperity of the ‘rich person’ creates a sense of prosperity, self-satisfaction independently of the Gospel message. Consequently people adopt an attitude of indifferent to the Gospel message: what do I gain in receiving the message of Jesus Christ?
The task of new evangelisation is to reveal the fact that behind what modern man seems to enjoy in material prosperity lies a deep ‘spiritual poverty’ which renders the seeming self-satisfaction or indifference to the Gospel complete self-deceit. Only a holy life of the agent of the new evangelisation lived in conformity with the Gospel message” Blessed are the poor in spirit” radiating true joy and self-satisfaction, will convince modern man of the relevance of the Gospel also today. Hence the very great importance of the Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of March 2005 given above. + Polycarp Cardinal Pengo (Fides Service 28/2/2005 lines 29, words 415)