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Gospel Saints Papal Teaching Congregation Pontifical Mission Societies Urban University Mission texts Animation Statistics From the Holy See Testimonies Martyrology Jubilee 2000 Church life Missionaries Religious institutes Movements & Associations Catholic universities Culture History Art Cinema / Photo Radio & tv Music Poetry Health Technology Geography News 360° Dossier In-depth study Interviews Stories Book review Children’s corner		"That in the local Churches of Asia, The Holy Spirit may kindle renewed ardour for Evangelising the entire continent" Pope John Paul II's missionary prayer intention for the month of May 2003. Comment by Prof. Salvatore Martinez, Renewal in the Spirit co-ordinator for Italy Rome (Fides Service) - John Paul II, at the end of the Great Jubilee of 2000 with his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, called the entire Church to "start afresh from Christ" This means first of all to "return to Christ, render Him present in the power of the Holy Spirit". The Pope himself explains: "The missionary mandate accompanies us into the Third Millennium and urges us to share the enthusiasm of the very first Christians: we can count on the power of the same Spirit who was poured out at Pentecost and who impels us still today to start out anew, sustained by the hope "which does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). (NMI 58). The Evangelising mission of the Church "will not be possible without the working of the Holy Spirit" affirms Paul VI in his Encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi 75. Reading through the Gospels it is easy to see that the whole of Christ's teaching, his very mission, is directed towards the bestowing of the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of his power: only through the Spirit - today as in early Christian times - is it possible to spread the Gospel, handing Jesus to the world. Jesus begins his public ministry in the <power of the Holy Spirit> (cf Lk 4,14) and he promises his disciples of every era the same power: <remain in the Upper Room until you have received power from on high and then will be my witnesses to end of earth> (cf. Lk 24,49; Acts 1,8). "Stay here in prayer and then go out to evangelise": this is the secret which Jesus revealed to his apostles! Prayer prepares the continual "comings" of the Spirit, which always lead to testimony and fidelity to the Gospel, even to martyrdom. Prayer and evangelisation in the power of the Spirit, "extend" the presence Christ within us and outside us, in history; rendering our heart the heart of the world. In this way no one is a stranger to the heart of the Church; for the Church no one is an enemy or an unwelcome stranger. Thus the Spirit renders the "Upper Room of Pentecost" a "piazza" enlarging the physical space of one room (the new born Church) to a world without frontiers (the universal Church) in which authentic disciples of Jesus experience new courage to proclaim to people of every tongue and race <the Gospel in the Holy Spirit, things which angels desired to see> (cf Pt 12). St Paul says that the Gospel is diffused <not only by word but also through the Holy Spirit and with profound conviction> (1 Thess. 1,5). The Church today has the same power to preach, to heal, to set free, that Jesus had, because she is - in space and time - the sacrament of the saving power of Jesus in history. Moreover Jesus reminds us that a Christian cannot remain silent and inert if he or she is docile to the Holy Spirit: <The Spirit will teach you at all times that must say> (Lk 12,12), <because not you but the Spirit will speak> (Mk 13,11). Without the Spirit the Word in indeclinable; evangelisation a stagnant river; Paradise a forgotten reality; the Eucharist an impenetrable mystery; the Church a mother without a heart. For the first time in 1983, speaking to the Churches on the continent of Latin America, John Paul II spoke of "evangelisation with new ardour". The "new evangeliser" is a prophet, moulded by the Spirit, who nourishes himself enthusiastically with the Word, a Word "baked by the Spirit" which burns in the heart and on the lips, which cannot be withheld and must be proclaimed. Various methods and strategies of evangelisation exist and multiply, with consoling relapses, which appeal to human and social science. I am profoundly convinced that none of them, indeed even all of them put together, could replace the discrete, surprising, totally divine action in us of the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit even the most refined preparation can do nothing; the most convincing dialectic is powerless among men; all schemes for catechises reveal themselves to be inconsistent. As the Apostle John affirms: <The testimony of Jesus is the spirit prophecy> (Rev. 19,10) So there is urgent need of evangelisation sustained by prophetic spirituality which re-affirms the Lordship of Jesus in every situation, ecclesial and social, in which resignation and desperation appear to <dampen the Spirit> (cf 1 Thess 5,19). In this Year of the Rosary, we look to Mary to "her ardent gaze for the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost" (cfr Acts 1,14) (Rosarium Viginis Mariae, 10). Mary will teach us to believe, to hope beyond hope, when our missionary work appears fruitless. From the day in which she believed that the promise of the Angel Gabriel would be fulfilled, Mary does not cease to tell her children <nothing is impossible to those who believe> (Lk 1,37). Biographical note. In 1997 Salvatore Martinez was appointed first lay co-ordinator in Italy of Renewal in the Spirit movement which has over 1,800 groups and communities. Martinez is married, he is en expert on music, gives conferences and has written various works on spirituality. He is president of a Foundation for human development and of an Art Formation Academy and a member of various international ecumenical bodies. (Fides Service 14/4/2003 EM lines 32 Words: 422)

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