Peter J. Vaghi - Encountering Jesus in Wordsacramentsand Works of Charity

In grateful memory of my dear father,
Joseph P. Vaghi, Jr. (19202012)
May he rest in eternal peace!

Special gratitude to the parishioners of
Little Flower Parish
and members of the John Carroll Society,
to my editor Robert Hamma,
and to Reverend Anthony Lickteig.

Contents

by Cardinal Donald Wuerl

Part I: Encountering Jesus in His Word

Part II: Encountering Jesus in the Sacraments

Part III: Encountering Jesus in Works of Charity

Foreword

The call of the New Evangelization is to deepen our own faith in Jesus and his Gospel, to confirm our confidence in its power to transform the world, and finally to share this Good News with others. This is the vision of the recently concluded 2012 Synod on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith and the challenge of the Churchs perennial mission to bring people to Christ.

Monsignor Peter Vaghi takes the title of his book Encountering Jesus in Word, Sacraments, and Works of Charity from Benedict XVIs encyclical letter God Is Love . But the text of this inspiring publication begins with an even wider perspective. Jesus entrusted the Church to go out to all nations and share the joy of the Gospel and with this command established evangelization as the mission of the Church (Mt 28:1820). Pope Paul VI in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi described the Church as a community which is in its turn evangelizing, meaning that those who have experienced the love of Jesus and live within the Church can and must communicate and spread it (13).

Following the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council and with the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, the Church began to think about a new expression of Catholic evangelization in response to a rapidly changing world. The New Evangelization opens up a way of seeing a whole range of activities carried on by the Church to spread the Good News. Following the Synod in 2012, we can speak of three aspects of evangelization.

First, ordinary pastoral ministry must be more animated by the fire of the Spirit. Second, we are called to proclaim the Gospel to those people who do not know Jesus Christ. Finally, the mission of the New Evangelization is to find new ways to help renew the faith lives of people who have drifted away from the Church so that they may encounter Jesus Christ anew, rediscover the joy of faith and return to the religious practice in the community of the faithful (Homily for Closing Mass, Synod of Bishops, October 28, 2012).

Monsignor Vaghi writes that the idea for this book came from Benedict XVIs reflections on the New Evangelization. As a successful pastor with long experience, Monsignor Vaghi has given us an example of the pastoral application of Benedict XVIs vision for more fully engaging the parish and the laity in the mission of the Church.

Encountering Jesus in Word, Sacraments and Works of Charity is a type of formation manual for Catholics who desire to be evangelizers. It invites the reader to take up the practice of meditation on scripture, reflecting on his or her own experience in order to find ways to act on those reflections in personal witness and works of charity. We are asked not just to read about how to encounter the Lord in the Word, but also to take up the Word and find ourselves in the story of Jesus life and mission.

In this way we discover that evangelization is not a program but rather a way of life. It is a way of living out our baptismal vocation in our family and with our coworkers and neighbors. Catholic evangelizers are helped to realize that the sacraments shape our vision and our approach to evangelization. Our participation in the sacraments is what makes evangelization Catholic.