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What to carry in the evangelizer backpack?
Review and comments from the book Let's talk about Mons. Berzosa's New Evangelization.








 

I am reading the book "Let's talk about New Evangelization" by Msgr. Berzosa and I liked it very much. It may be too schematic in some parts, but in general, it outlines a clear blueprint of what we have to understand as New Evangelization. One of the strengths of the book is the use of similes that make the text attractive, simple and easily recoded.

One of these uses similes has to do with what we would have to carry in the evangelizer's suitcase. I have taken the license to exchange suitcase for a backpack because I believe that evangelization sometimes involves going down stony and cheating paths. Well, what does Mons Berzosa tell us that we should throw in the backpack?

A chair with four legs: community, announcement, celebration, and commitment. Why a chair? Chairs are resting tools that allow us to deter comfortably to reflect on what we are living and what we have to face. Mons Berzosa points to the community as one of those legs and I agree. Without a community from which evangelization departs and to which we return to those who have "fished", there is no evangelization. But the other three legs are also important. In ad What do we have to communicate and how we have to do it. The celebration, both Liturgical and every moment when we gather in the Name of the Lord. There's the Commitment. What is a Christian without commitment? What an evangelizer is he who at first is cast back. These are issues that must underpin our reflection.

A medal, with two faces: King and Kingdom. The medal is an element that we have hanging around our necks and that serves to remind us of our goal. The King is Christ and the Kingdom is his divine plan. We, as long as our will conforms to the Will of God, will be effective tools to show the King and work for the Kingdom of God. The evangelizer wears the two-faced medal to his neck because he assumes commitment and integrates it into his life.



A compass, well oriented. The north passionate love of Jesus Christ: South: ecclesiolatry; This: formation and prayer; West: Commitment and public presence. The compass serves us not to get lost in our mission. With the compass, we can know where we are at all times and where we want to go. Thanks to it, we will be able to chart the itinerary to be made.

A pillbox, humor even to laugh at ourselves, love in the form of tenderness to change people, patience to sow without expecting a reward. To the pills that Mons Berzosa suggests to us, I would add others that are very interesting: clear answers to share with those who ignore them, reference texts for the moments that it is necessary to catch their breath, prayers to give thanks alone or in the union of those who are with us, thanks to give it to all the people with whom we come, simplicity to know how to get off the pedestals and wash the feet of our friends, solitude to reflect, ... There are many useful pills that we can and should take with us.

A map or GPS, which involves, above all, a healthy ecclesiology; non-deficit. In this sense, ecclesiological deficits must be overcome, which is the most opposed to the absolutization of a posture or the contrast of positions. What do you mean, Mons Berzosa? The Church is the image of Christ on earth and that we cannot cut Christ and work only on the piece or understanding that we find pleasant. Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is also a Master, Martyr, and Servant. We cannot reduce our work to one of these aspects and despise others. Nor can we reject one or more aspects that we do not like. But each of us indeed has a special charisma that takes precedence over one or more aspects. If we are unable to cover all these aspects, let us unite and complement ourselves. Union makes strength, even when we evangelize.

Christ sent the Apostles to proclaim the Kingdom in two (Mk 6:7-13). Evangelization is not a task of snipers or Lone Criers. The New Evangelization is a task of the whole community, of the whole Church.








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