Abp. Garcia-Siller: The spirit of Evangelisation

(Vatican Radio) Despite “contrary winds”, the Church today “is alive and growing” and is guided “above all by the Holy Spirit”, these were the words of Pope Benedict XVI Saturday morning as he thanked Synod participants in the final working session.

One of those participants is Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller. The 56 year old leader of the Archdiocese of San Antonio gave what was probably one of the shortest interventions of the entire Synod. But what it lacked in length it made up for in content. As usual he got right to the point.
“In order that Jesus Christ’s salvation may reach the whole world and transform it, that the Church may be renewed and holiness may flourish in it, that we Christians go forward with the New Evangelization, we need a new Pentecost”.

Abp. Gustavo-Siller, Mexican born and bred, but sent to the USA by his order the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit in 1980, dropped by Vatican Radio to tell us why:

“We live in a world with great values, its great advances in technology, incredible conquest and discoveries in different fields of knowledge. The world has been evolving. But its also a world that has been wounded by the economic crisis in various countries, marked by ecological deterioration. It’s a world where many people have to immigrate where youth struggle to find there place, a world that has banished God and as a consequence of this finds the meaning of life and the future seemingly hopeless. This world reality is calling out, is invoking the new outpouring of the Holy Spirit”.

In the end if as the propositions state the Holy Trinity is the source of the New Evangelisation, than invoking the Holy Spirit is a good place to start. But Apb. Garcia-Siller went once step further and asked his brother bishops and the Holy Father to consider consecrating the world to the Holy Spirit”.

Emer McCarthy reports Listen:

H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Gustavo GARCÍA-SILLER, M.Sp.S., Archbishop of San Antonio (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

We live in a world of great promise but also of great need, sometimes marked by darkness. As the Church seeks to respond to our world situation and to evangelize in new ways, we must also realize that we are a Church with struggles. This world reality is calling for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Our Popes have called us to remember that “evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 75). In order that Jesus Christ’s salvation may reach the whole world and transform it, that the Church may be renewed and holiness may flourish in it, that we Christians go forward with the New Evangelization, we need a new Pentecost. In order that this Year of Faith yield the new Pentecost that we need, I propose to you, brother Bishops, that this Synod humbly ask the Holy Father to consecrate the world to the Holy Spirit.