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Thursday, February 8, 2007

Pope Extols Gospel as Antidote to Consumerism

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 7, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI exhorted the faithful to proclaim the Gospel especially in environments marked by a "consumerist culture."...
In his greeting, the Pontiff invited the faithful of Lombardy to "proclaim and witness the Gospel in each of their realms, especially where the negative features emerge of a consumerist and hedonist culture, of secularism and individualism, where old and new forms of poverty are recorded, with worrying signs of youthful malaise and phenomena of violence and criminality."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see a need for this everywhere I am every day. And I want so badly to be able to speak up, but it's like I have no idea what to say. I honestly don't know what it means to "proclaim the Gospel". Is it something you do? Is it something you say? Is it the way I live my life - like the example and light I'm supposed to be? Cause that's all I know to do, just be an example, and I'm not so sure I'm even very good at that..the last thing I need to do is open my mouth! (or maybe that's just the lie i've come to believe)

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the phrase, "proclaim the Gospel", is a college memory - A man would stand every other day on a bench outside the campus post office and scream passages from the Gospel at the top of his lungs. Then he would proceed to interpret it however he saw fit...usually picking out an innocent girl just walking to class wearing a shorter-than-necessary skirt, or a couple holding hands, and calling them fornicators while damning the entire campus to hell.
I realize this guy was a little off his rocker, to say the least.
So, where's the happy medium between silence or just not knowing what to say, and looking like a complete nut case in public? I mean, I don't mind being a public nut case for Jesus, but if I'm going to open my mouth and speak, I'd like to make sure the words I'm saying aren't just making things worse.

How do I go about "proclaiming" the Gospel?