CHAPTER TWO

THE GOSPEL OF HOPE
ENTRUSTED TO THE CHURCH
OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM

“Awake, and strengthen what remains
and is on the point of death” (Rev 3:2)

I. The Lord calls to conversion

Jesus speaks today to our Churches

23. “The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the golden lampstands..., the first and the last, who died and came to life..., the Son of God” (Rev 2:1,8,18). It is Jesus himself who speaks to his Church. His message is addressed to all the individual Particular Churches and concerns their inner life, which is at times marked by the presence of ideas and ways of thinking incompatible with the Gospel tradition, frequently subjected to different forms of persecution and, what is yet more dangerous, beset by troubling symptoms of worldliness, the loss of an earlier faith, and compromise with the “logic” of the world. Not infrequently communities have lost their first love (cf. Rev 2:4).

One sees how our ecclesial communities are struggling with weaknesses, weariness and divisions. They too need to hear anew the voice of the Bridegroom, who invites them to conversion, spurs them on to bold new undertakings and calls forth their commitment to the great task of the “new evangelization”. The Church must constantly submit to the judgment of Christ's word and live her human reality in a state of purification, so as to be ever more perfectly the Bride without spot or wrinkle, adorned with fine linen, bright and pure (cf. Eph 5:27; Rev 19:7-8).

In this way Jesus Christ is calling our Churches in Europe to conversion, and they, with their Lord and by the power of his presence, are becoming bearers of hope for humanity.

The work of the Gospel throughout history

24. Europe has been widely and profoundly permeated by Christianity. “There can be no doubt that, in Europe's complex history, Christianity has been a central and defining element, established on the firm foundation of the classical heritage and the multiple contributions of the various ethnic and cultural steams which have succeeded one another down the centuries. The Christian faith has shaped the culture of the Continent and is inextricably bound up with its history, to the extent that Europe's history would be incomprehensible without reference to the events which marked first the great period of evangelization and then the long centuries when Christianity, despite the painful division between East and West, came to be the religion of the European peoples. Even in modern and contemporary times, when religious unity progressively disintegrated as a result both of further divisions between Christians and the gradual detachment of cultures from the horizon of faith, the role played by faith has continued to be significant”.⁴⁵

25. The Church's concern for Europe is born of her very nature and mission. Down the centuries the Church has been closely linked to our continent, so that Europe's spiritual face gradually took shape thanks to the efforts of great missionaries, the witness of saints and martyrs, and the tireless efforts of monks and nuns, men and women religious and pastors. From the biblical conception of man Europe drew the best of its humanistic culture, found inspiration for its artistic and intellectual creations, created systems of law and, not least, advanced the dignity of the person as a subject of inalienable rights.⁴⁶ The Church, as the bearer of the Gospel, thus helped to spread and consolidate those values which have made European culture universal.

With all this in mind, the Church of today, with a renewed sense of responsibility, is conscious of the urgency of not squandering this precious patrimony and of helping Europe to build herself by revitalizing her original Christian roots.⁴⁷

Showing the true face of Church

26. The entire Church in Europe ought to feel that the Lord's command and call is addressed to her: examine yourself, be converted, “awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death” (Rev 3:2). The need to do so is also born of a consideration of the present time: “The serious situation of indifference towards religion on the part of so many Europeans, the presence of many people even on our continent who do not yet know Jesus Christ and his Church and who are not baptized, the secularism which poisons a wide spectrum of Christians who habitually think, make decisions and live, 'as if Christ did not exist', far from extinguishing our hope, make this hope more humble and more able to trust in God alone. It is from his mercy that we receive the grace and call to conversion”.⁴⁸

27. Although at times, as in the Gospel episode of the calming of the tempest (cf. Mk 4:35-41; Lk 8:22-25), it can appear that Christ is asleep and leaves his barque to be tossed by the tumultuous waves, the Church in Europe is called to grow in the certainty that the Lord, through the gift of his Spirit, is ever present and at work in her midst and in all human history. He prolongs his mission throughout time and makes the Church a stream of new life coursing through the life of humanity as a sign of hope for all.

In a context where a temptation to activism is also attractive at the pastoral level, Christians in Europe must continue to be a transparent image of the Risen Christ, living in close communion with him.

There is a need for communities which, by contemplating and imitating the Virgin Mary, the figure and model of the Church in faith and holiness,⁴⁹ cultivate the sense of liturgical life and of interior life. Before all and above all, they should praise the Lord, worship him and hear his Word. Only in this way will they be able to partake of his mystery and live totally in relation to him as members of his faithful Bride.

28. In the face of recurring impulses to division and opposition, the different Particular Churches in Europe, strengthened also by their bond with the Successor of Peter, must be committed to being a true locus and means of communion for the whole People of God in faith and love.⁵⁰ They should therefore foster a climate of fraternal charity, lived with Gospel radicalism in the name of Jesus and in his love; they should create cordial relationships, communication, shared responsibility and participation, missionary consciousness, concern and readiness to serve. They should be prompted by attitudes of esteem, acceptance and mutual correction (cf. Rom 12:10; 15:7-14), as well as of service and reciprocal support (cf. Gal 5:13; 6:2), mutual forgiveness (cf. Col 3:13), and mutual edification (cf. 1 Thes 5:11). They need to set in place a pastoral programme which by maximizing all legitimate diversity would also foster ready cooperation among individuals and groups. They need to revitalize participatory bodies as valuable instruments of communion aimed at a united missionary activity, and enabling the emergence of adequately trained and qualified pastoral workers. In this way, the Churches themselves, enlivened by the communion which is the manifestation of God's love, the ground and reason for the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5), will be a more brilliant reflection of the Trinity, as well as a challenging sign which invites belief (cf. Jn 17:21).

29. If communion in the Church is to be experienced more fully, there is a need to make the most of the variety of charisms and vocations which increasingly converge on unity and can enrich it (cf. 1 Cor 12). In this regard, the new movements and the new ecclesial communities must “abandon every temptation to claim rights of primogeniture and every mutual incomprehension”, advance along the path of more authentic communion between themselves and with all other ecclesial realities, and “live with love in full obedience to the Bishops”. But it is also necessary for the Bishops “to show them that fatherhood and that love which are proper to Pastors” ⁵¹ and to acknowledge, maximize and coordinate their charisms and their presence for the building up of the one Church.

Thanks to an increase in cooperation between the different ecclesial bodies under the loving leadership of their pastors, the whole Church will be able to present to all a more beautiful and credible face, a clearer and more evident reflection of the Lord's own face, and will then be able to give new hope and comfort both to those who seek her and to those who, even though not seeking her, nonetheless need her.

In order to respond to the Gospel's call to conversion, “we must join in making a humble and courageous examination of conscience, in order to acknowledge our fears and our mistakes, sincerely confess our slowness to believe, our omissions, our infidelities and our faults”.⁵² Far from fostering an attitude of hopelessness and discouragement, the evangelical acknowledgment of one's sins will surely awaken within the community the experience of each one of the baptized: the joy of profound liberation and the grace of a new beginning which will enable it to set out with greater vigour upon the path of evangelization.

Advancing towards Christian unity

30. Finally, the Gospel of hope is also a forceful summons to conversion in the field of ecumenism. In the conviction that Christian unity corresponds to the Lord's prayer “that they may all be one” (cf. Jn 17:11), and that it is essential today for greater credibility in evangelization and the growth of European unity, all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities need to “be assisted and encouraged to see the journey of ecumenism as a 'travelling together' towards Christ”⁵³ and towards the visible unity which he wills, so that unity in diversity may shine forth within the Church as a gift of the Holy Spirit, the builder of communion.

If this is to happen, there is need for patient and persevering commitment on the part of all, a commitment inspired both by genuine hope and sober realism, aimed at “the enhancing of all that already unites us, sincere reciprocal esteem, the elimination of prejudice, knowledge and mutual love”.⁵⁴ Consequently, the pursuit of unity, in order to have a firm basis, cannot fail to include the passionate search for truth through dialogue and discussion which can acknowledge the progress already made and consider it an incentive for even greater progress in resolving the disagreements which continue to divide Christians.

31. Dialogue must continue with firm resolve, undaunted by difficulties and hardship. It should be carried on “under different aspects (doctrinal, spiritual and practical), following the logic of the exchange of gifts which the Spirit awakens in every Church; it should train the community and the faithful, and young people in particular, to experience moments of encounter and to make ecumenism, rightly understood, an ordinary dimension of ecclesial life and activity”.⁵⁵

Such dialogue represents one of the chief concerns of the Church, especially in this Europe, which in the last millennium witnessed the rise of all too many divisions between Christians and which is today moving towards greater unity. We may not halt on this journey nor may we turn back! We need to continue this journey in a spirit of trust, so that mutual respect, the search for truth, cooperation in charity and above all the ecumenism of holiness, will not fail, with God's help, to bear fruit.

32. Despite the inevitable difficulties, I ask everyone to acknowledge and appreciate, in love and fraternity, the contribution which the Eastern Catholic Churches can offer for a more genuine building up of unity ⁵⁶ through their very presence, the richness of their tradition, the witness of their “unity in diversity”, the inculturation which they have accomplished in their proclamation of the Gospel, and the diversity of their rites. At the same time I wish to assure once more the pastors and our brothers and sisters of the Orthodox Churches that the new evangelization is in no way to be confused with proselytism, without prejudice to the duty of respect for truth, for freedom and for the dignity of every person.