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INTRODUCTION
1.
Rejoicing in the faith received and praising Christ for this immense gift, the
Church in America has recently celebrated the fifth centenary of the first
preaching of the Gospel on its soil. The commemoration made all American
Catholics more deeply aware of Christ's desire to meet the inhabitants of the
so-called New World so that, gathering them into his Church, he might be
present in the continent's history. The evangelization of America is not only a
gift from the Lord; it is also a source of new responsibilities. Thanks to the
work of those who preached the Gospel through the length and breadth of the
continent, countless sons and daughters have been generated by the Church and
the Holy Spirit.(1) Now, no less than in the past, the words of the
Apostle echo in their hearts: “If I preach the Gospel, I have no reason to
boast. It is my duty: woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).
This duty is founded on the Risen Lord's command to the Apostles before he
ascended into heaven: “Preach the Gospel to all creation” (Mk 16:15).
This
command applies to the whole Church; and, in this moment of her history, the
Church in America is called to take it up and respond with loving generosity to
the fundamental task of evangelization. This was what my Predecessor Paul VI,
the first Pope to visit America, stressed at Bogotà: “It will be our
task, [Lord Jesus], as your representatives and stewards of your divine
mysteries (cf. 1 Cor 4:1; 1 Pt 4:10), to spread among men the
treasures of your word, your grace, your example”.(2) For the disciple
of Christ the duty to evangelize is an obligation of love. “The love of Christ
impels us” (2 Cor 5:14), declares the Apostle Paul, recalling all that
the Son of God did for us in his redeeming sacrifice: “One man has died for all
. . . that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for him who
died and was raised for their sake” (2 Cor 5:14-15).
The
celebration of anniversaries which evoke in a particular way Christ's love for
us stirs in our soul not only a sense of gratitude but also a sense of the need
to “proclaim the wonders of God”, to evangelize. Thus, the recent celebration
of the five hundredth anniversary of the coming of the Gospel to America — the
moment, that is, when Christ first called America to faith — and the
approaching Jubilee, when the Church will celebrate the two thousandth
anniversary of the Incarnation of the Son of God, are special times when our
hearts spontaneously ring out in gratitude to the Lord. Realizing the greatness
of the gifts received, the pilgrim Church in America wishes to bring the whole
of society and every man and woman to share in the riches of faith and
communion in Christ.
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