AMERICA/URUGUAY - “Trust in the Holy Spirit and pray for the missionary and evangelising courage of the early Christians to transform the Church and the world with witness of your life”: the Bishop of Florida in Uruguay issues Lenten Message

Friday, 5 March 2004

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Florida (Fides Service) - A call that prayer, conversion of life-style, listening and docility to the Word of God, practices typical of the Season of Lent, may reawaken the missionary vocation in every heart, was launched by Bishop Raul Scarrone Carrero, Bishop of Florida in Uruguay in a message for Lent 2004. The Bishop says he hopes that in families, in Christian groups, communities parishes, missionary awareness may grow and renew everyone with love so that each person may carry out the missionary task that Jesus assigned to all baptised Christians. “I invite all of you at the beginning of Lent, to trust in the Holy Spirit and ask Him in prayer to grant you the same evangelising and missionary courage as the early Christian communities, to transform with your life witness the Church and the world.”
Bishop Scarrone, stressing the urgency of missionary activity, said that in the world today, alongside generous witnesses of the Gospel there are baptised Christians who live mediocre lives with an attitude of resistance or indifference, if not open rebellion to God’s call, while the world expects Christians to bear coherent witness of communion and solidarity.
Recalling that Florida diocese has opted for “evangelisation, evangelisation and evangelisation”, the Bishop says that the Gospel is not an abstract reality, floating in the air, it is always an “historical event” which takes flesh in concrete persons who announce it and communicate it, accept it in their heart and live it. Since there can be no evangelisation without evangelisers there can be no new evangelisation without new evangelisers. Therefore the most urgent problem in the Church today is the scarcity of evangelisers: “Many parishes, communities and groups live their faith but they feel no call to share it. Many Christians, including convinced and practising ones, are completely unaware of their responsibility to announce and share their faith with others”. (R.Z) (Agenzia Fides 5/3/2004; righe 24 - parole 314)