Proclaim the Gospel with simplicity and generosity: Pope Francis

Vatican City, 11 June 2013: ‘Proclaim the Gospel with simplicity and generosity’, exhorted Pope Francis on Tuesday during the Mass he celebrated at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope also reiterated that, in the Church, the witness of poverty saves us from becoming mere organizers of the works. And the Pope warned that when we want to make a ‘rich Church’, the Church starts "aging", and "does not have life." The Mass was concelebrated by, among others, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, and attended by priests and employees of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pope Francis said: “The preaching of the Gospel arises from gratuitousness, amazement of salvation and that is what I got for free, I have to give it for free. And from the beginning these were so. St. Peter did not have a bank account, and when he had to pay taxes, the Lord sent him to the sea to catch a fish and find the coin in the fish, to pay. Philip, when he found the economy minister of Queen Candace, did not think: "Ah, well, let an organization to sustain the gospel, because ..."... No! He has not negotiated with him: he preached, baptized and gone.”

The Kingdom of God, continued the Pope, "is a free gift." And noted that, from the beginning of the Christian community, this attitude has been subjected to temptation. There, he said, "the temptation to seek strength" elsewhere than in gratuity, while "Our strength is the gratuitousness of the gospel." Furthermore, he found that "always, in the Church, there was this temptation." And this creates "a little 'confusion," he warned, as well, "the announcement seems to proselytize, and that way you do not go." The Lord, he added, "has invited us to preach, not to proselytize." Citing Benedict XVI, he said that "the Church grows not to proselytize, but to attract". And this attraction, he said, comes from the testimony of "those who proclaim the gratuity of salvation":

“Everything is grace. Everything. And what are the signs when an apostle lives in gratuity, asked the Pope. There are so many, but I underline just the two: First, poverty. The proclamation of the Gospel must go by the way of poverty. The testimony of this poverty: I do not have wealth, my wealth is the only gift I received, this gratuity God: this is our wealth! And this saves us from poverty to become organizers, entrepreneurs ... You must carry on the works of the Church, and some are a little 'complicated, but with the heart of poverty, not with the heart of a business or investment, no?”

"The Church – Pope added - is not an NGO: it is something else, more important, and this is the result of gratuity. "Poverty, reiterated the Pope, "is one of the signs of this gratuity." Another sign, he added "is the ability of praise. When an apostle does not live this gratuity, he loses the ability to praise the Lord."
“These two are the signs of an apostle who lives this gratuity: poverty and the ability to praise the Lord. And when we find the apostles who want to make a Church rich and a Church without the gratuitousness of praise, the church ages, the Church becomes an NGO, the Church has no life. Today we ask the Lord for the grace to acknowledge this generosity: "Freely you have received, freely you give." Let’s go forward recognizing this gratuity, gift of God, concluded Pope Francis.
Source: VR Sedoc