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Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The strength of those who proclaim the salvation of Christ is not based on "plausible words of wisdom"; but "in demonstration of the Spirit and power", which always leads to set oneself in motion and to go out of oneself. This is why the Gospel of Christ "is proclaimed by walking". One does not proclaim the Gospel standing still, locked in an office, at one’s desk or at one’s computer, arguing like ‘keyboard warriors’". Thus Pope Francis placed the spotlight on the dynamic and non-self-referential traits that always accompany every authentic apostolic work. He did so today, Wednesday, April 12, during the General Audience, resuming the cycle of catecheses dedicated to the passion for the proclamation of the Gospel and apostolic zeal. Taking his cue from the letters of St. Paul, the Bishop of Rome observed that even the Apostle of the Gentiles is not unaware of the danger of a distorted zeal, oriented in the wrong direction, "given that he himself had fallen into this danger before the providential fall on the road to Damascus". Even today - noted the Pontiff at the beginning of his catechesis, before the multitude gathered in St. Peter's Square - it is necessary to recognize "the solicitude with which some devote themselves to the wrong pursuits even within the Christian community itself; one can boast of a false evangelical zeal while actually pursuing vainglory or one’s own convictions or a little bit of love of self".
An authentic momentum for the proclamation of the salvation brought by Christ - continued the Pope - is always characterized by some distinctive traits. Among them, "there is the readiness to spread the Gospel, translated by some as 'zeal'". A readiness that Saint Paul also suggests by referring to the "feet" and "shoes" of the true heralds of the Gospel of Jesus, in the passage from the Letter to the Ephesians read at the opening of the Audience ("So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace"). A metaphor that echoes the words of the Prophet Isaiah about the feet "of the messenger of good news who proclaims salvation". The heralds of the Gospel - the Pope remarked, taking a cue from the words of Saint Paul - are a bit like the feet of the body of Christ which is the Church. There is no proclamation without movement, without ‘going out’, without initiative. This mean there is no Christian if not on the move; no Christian if the Christian does not go out of themself in order to set out on the journey and bear the proclamation". And the Gospel is not proclaimed "by replacing the creativity of proclamation with copy-and-paste ideas taken from here and there. The Gospel is proclaimed by moving, by walking, by going”. Therefore, "Whoever proclaims the Gospel" is ready to go, and knows that the Lord passes by in a surprising way; He or she must therefore be free from schemes and prepared for an unexpected and new action".
And it is important "to have this readiness for the newness of the Gospel, this attitude that involves momentum, taking the initiative, going first. It means not letting pass by the opportunities to promulgate the Gospel of peace, that peace that Christ knows how to give more and better than the world gives". "And for this reason", added the Pontiff in the final part of his speech "I exhort you to be evangelizers who are moving, without fear, who go forward, in order to bring the beauty of Jesus, to bring the newness of Jesus who changes everything". (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 12/4/2023)
