Dr. Janet Diaz
A
nyone who pays attention to news coverage about the
which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their
pope can call to mind images of Pope Francis, possibly
joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction,”
breaking security protocol, reaching out to some of the most
Pope Francis writes in his November 2013 apostolic exhortation,
vulnerable human beings in his midst. He certainly does
The Joy of the Gospel. “True faith in the incarnate Son of God
“remove his sandals before the other,” so to speak, showing
is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the
affection towards defenseless infants, the poor in the slums of
community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The
Rio, the mother contemplating an abortion, or disabled adults
Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution
and children.
of tenderness” (no. 88).
He intentionally touches those that many of us might
Why is true faith in Jesus Christ “inseparable” from self-giving?
rather avoid, defying our natural fear of these encounters and
What does the pope mean when he talks about “a revolution of
embodying the connection between our faith and self-giving.
tenderness”?
“The Gospel tells us constantly to
run the risk of a face-to-face encounter
with others, with their physical presence
Faith Leads to Self-Giving
How do we explain the seeming
Order a booklet copy of
The Joy of the Gospel
at www.pauline.org
or download as a PDF
at www.vatican.va.
In his exhortation, Pope Francis speaks
of the basic foundation from which all of
our work of evangelization must flow. This
foundation rests upon our ever-renewed, daily commitment to a
deep personal encounter with Jesus Christ (cf. no. 3).
And what does this foundation look like in its human
expression? It is love expressed through joyful evangelization:
“The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who
encounter Jesus. . . . In this Exhortation I wish to encourage
the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of
evangelization marked by . . . joy” (no. 1).
The joy that results from our encounter with Jesus and our
acceptance of his offer of salvation is not simply a private joy.
It must find expression in all of our human interaction.
Within this message of encouragement, Francis repeatedly
emphasizes the integrity of the gospel message. He clarifies
that we should always speak of the “harmonious totality of the
Christian message” (no. 39). In this sense, we are to understand
as a false dichotomy the division that some pundits try to
define as two camps within Christian life. There are not “social
Catholics” and “doctrinal Catholics”; the message of the gospel
is one integrated message that applies equally to our care of
the unborn and the poor. It is God’s love which gives purpose
to the lives of all and then compels us to love others: “For if
we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives,
how can we fail to share that love with others?” (no. 8).
contradiction of giving—not receiving—as a
source of authentic joy?
Because this joyful love cannot be
expressed in a vacuum, Francis cautions
that we must always remember that “the
Gospel is not merely about our personal
relationship with God” (no. 180). Although the source of
our joy will forever be based, again, upon our personal
relationship with Jesus Christ and our acceptance of his
offer of salvation, we are expected to, in turn, mirror this joy
not simply in our relationships but also in our missionary
outreach.
Francis assures us that it is the giving of our lives to others
that helps to keep the fount of joy open and flowing. He
writes about the imperative of self-giving and the ensuing
happiness we experience in many different ways; one of the
most tender is his description of the delight we encounter
when we are honored to serve others, to “remove our sandals”
in honor of the other (cf. no. 169).
Who Is “the Other”?
What does Pope Francis mean when he writes, in this
global sense, of “the other”? This terminology often has been
associated with certain philosophical schools of thought that
emphasize human beings’ isolation in the world. According
to this worldview, we are alone in our own personal realities,
isolated within the lonely scope of our individual experiences,
without any hope for lasting joy in this