At the general audience on 15 February Pope Francis explained what is “the key to the success of evangelization”.
The Holy Father continued with his series of catechism dedicated to the passion to evangelize and encouraged reflection on the “missionary discourse” found in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Saint Matthew.
Along these lines, the Pope explained that “the key to the success of evangelization” consists in transmitting the Gospel “with simplicity and meekness, without attachment to material goods and together, in community .”
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The Pontiff recalled that the proclamation “is born from the encounter with the Lord” and that “all Christian activity, especially the mission, begins there.”
“Only those who are with Him can carry the Gospel of Jesus,” he warned.
The Pope also pointed out that “following Christ is not an intimate act”, because “without proclamation, without service, without mission, the relationship with Him does not grow”.
Then, the Holy Father highlighted that the motivation for evangelization is that “the proclamation does not start from us, but from the beauty of what we have received for free, without merit”, because it is “such a great gift that we cannot keep it for us”.
Likewise, Pope Francis recalled that Jesus invited us to “go and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is near”, for which he stressed “this is what must be said, first and foremost: God is close to us ” .
“The announcement must give primacy to God, and to others the opportunity to welcome him, to realize that he is close, and I am behind,” he said.
In addition, the Holy Father stressed that witnessing that “involves the mind, the heart, the hands, is essential in evangelization. The three languages of the person: thought, affection and works”.
In this way, he indicated that it is necessary to announce ” showing Jesus more than talking about Jesus “, for which he advised to go with simplicity, without relying “on material certainties”.
Finally, Pope Francis invited them to go together, because “the Lord sends all the disciples, but no one goes alone” because “the apostolic Church is entirely missionary and in the mission, it finds its unity.”