St. John Paul II stated that the New Evangelization would be new in its ardor, that is, it would be a new fire of evangelization. This new fire is nothing less than a rekindling, or fanning into flame, of the gift of faith that we have received1 by God’s grace. Our call to be disciples starts with a call to be men and women of prayer. If our hearts are not on fire with a love of God that is personal, then we have little to offer others.
There are many challenges to being men and women of prayer today. The world seems to have become increasingly noisy and filled with distractions. The technologies that were created to make our lives easier have in many ways made us more busy, more anxious and less connected in authentic ways to others. The average person in today’s society spends 3 hours and 15 minutes on a smartphone. That equates to 50 full days out of the year most people spend looking at a screen in the palm of their hand instead of at another person.
The fear of missing out or societal pressures of doing more lead many of us to fill our personal and family schedules with things that might be good to a certain extent but detract from the greater goods of quality time spent with family or the authentic rest (sabbath) that our hearts and minds need in order to be healthy.
The anxiety, violence and division that seem to be ever increasing in our society need to be countered by the rest and peace that only God can give us. As the lights from our phones and other screens have grown brighter, the fire of prayer and evangelization has grown dimmer.
In many ways our world is growing cold and dark…let us set it ablaze with a new fire of God’s love kindled within us! Think of how the world has changed since the advent of the smartphone 17 years ago. Imagine what our Archdiocese would look like in the next few decades if there were as many hearts on fire for love of God in prayer and dedicated to evangelization as there are smartphones.
Therefore, in order for All Things to be Made New, our hearts must be made new in prayer each and every day so that a new fire of evangelization takes place. It demands more of a challenge today than ever before in Church history to commit to being a man or woman of prayer. Pope Francis exhorts us:
I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. Joy of the Gospel 3
This may seem overwhelming, but all fires start with a spark. Rekindling the fire of faith through prayer can look very simple on the surface, but that simple start can have lasting effects.
Perhaps the habit of consistent Sunday Mass has faltered in your life due to busyness or boredom. Recommit! God desires to nourish us in ways that the world cannot. Perhaps the Lord is calling you to turn down the noise in your life and put down the phone for 5-10 minutes in order to speak to Him in prayer about what is going on in your life. Do it! Social media does not have the answers your heart is searching for, but God does! Read scripture, go for a contemplative walk…sing!
Wherever you are on your faith journey, commit to growing deeper! I am imploring us to beg God to rekindle a real, true, personal and authentic relationship with each one of us and to set our hearts on fire for love of Him and for each other. Nothing that we attempt to do as a Church or as individuals will ever bear fruit that will last unless it is rooted and grounded in prayer.
An authentic encounter with Jesus always leads us to encounter others in a new way. Jesus wants us to draw others to him. At Pentecost the disciples were filled with the new ardor of the Holy Spirit and left the comfort and security of the upper room to go out and bring others to Jesus!
