Goodness Grows: Evangelii Gaudium and Modern Life

Image from Word on Fire

When was the last time that you were overwhelmed by the joy of the gospel? When was the last time that you were overwhelmed by joy at all? Secular life on campus and in the modern world is particularly attuned to draining the soul. In my final year at Penn, my awareness of this fact has become heightened. Students begrudgingly work and study and attend classes for most hours of the day, only allowing themselves to find manufactured refuge for a few nights a week. This is not life as it was designed for us. 

Following a renewal of my faith at the end of my first year at Penn, I have slowly been discovering and encountering the true joy and beauty of the gospel. Over the past year in particular, my understanding of evangelization – as well as the dire need for it – has been set alight. The gospel is not merely something which should guide our own morality and influence the way we experience the world around us. God Himself has commanded us to share the truths of our existence with those we encounter.

Pope Francis’ 2013 papal exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium,” is designed to emphasize this very command, calling upon Catholics to not only boldly make known the joy, peace, and renewal which are indicative of a Christ-centered life, but to be re-convicted of such things. Pope Francis writes, “Every authentic experience of truth and goodness seeks by its very nature to grow within us, and any person who has experienced a profound liberation becomes more sensitive to the needs of others.” God in His infinite goodness has given us gifts which are eternal, infinitely growing, and designed to be shared. We cannot sit idly by while the souls of the rest of the world yearn to be reminded who they are and what they truly are made for. We proclaim God’s goodness and mercy through our prayer. The world needs us to proclaim it with our lives.