August’s Intention:
For Evangelization in the City
Let us pray that in large cities often marked by anonymity and loneliness we find new ways to proclaim the Gospel, discovering creative paths to build community.
Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd,
You walk through our streets and squares,
enter tall buildings and humble neighborhoods,
and silently accompany millions who seek meaning amid noise and haste.
You know, Lord, the heart of the city:
its lights and shadows, its noise and loneliness.
We know that cities are called to be places of freedom and opportunity,
but they can also become spaces of anonymity and isolation.
That’s why today we ask You for a renewed gaze,
able to discover in urban life
fertile ground for proclaiming your Gospel.
Give us a creative and deep faith,
that doesn’t remain in words, but becomes flesh
through simple and loving gestures.
Make us a Church that goes forth, able to reach out to the peripheries,
to console those who are lonely, and to sow fraternity and
connection instead of giving in to indifference.
Lord, may our urban communities be open and welcoming homes,
places where hope is shared, where no one feels invisible,
and where the joy of your Gospel shines in
the hidden lives of so many brothers and sisters.
Make us your witnesses in the city,
bold and creative missionaries,
who proclaim your Love with their lives—
a Love capable of overcoming haste, noise, and anonymity.
Amen.
A Blade of Grass in a Concrete Jungle
A Reflection by Fr. Nicholas F. Martorano, O.S.A.
This month the Holy Father, Pope Leo, is asking us to pray that evangelization in our cities finds “fertile ground for proclaiming the Gospel.” He asks for “creative and deep faith that doesn’t remain in words, but becomes flesh through simple and loving gestures.” Over my many years living and ministering in the city, I have seen what the pope is calling for today in city life and how evangelization is taking place on city streets. I have witnessed the Holy Spirit visibly active in the community, allowing the Lord to be a Shepherd in the urban setting.
I have experienced the Gospel message proclaimed “through simple and loving gestures” by those with listening ears and responding hearts and hands. Surely the city brings with it a myriad of noises, a complex of buildings, a fast pace in life, row home living, and people passing each other, pre-occupied and determined to fulfill a purpose. Yes, this could cause people to feel lonely, isolated, and lost. For some, these feelings are so overwhelming that they become too difficult for them to control alone.
Here is where the Holy Spirit acting through other faithful and emotionally stronger individuals – many who are active Christian disciples – come forward and reach out with loving and helping gestures, providing hope and strength to those feeling lonely and isolated. Members of the Christian community empathetically fill in the gaps and hurts of others in need, allowing Jesus to come alive through them. The Gospel is powerfully proclaimed by those with a living faith through acts of charity, and is then witnessed by others nearby who need to be and are evangelized with the Good News.
Often one will experience neighbors becoming like family members, especially to those living alone, such as the elderly and sick in the neighborhood. Again, Jesus shepherds His flock through those who care and want to become available to others with critical issues. The Good News comes alive through the actions of caring hearts who know Christ and live Him in everyday life. The city is graced with giving individuals who contradict what others – looking at cities with fear – sadly miss, because their fear limits or blurs their vision of the authentic goodness taking place every day, all around them.
Yes, problems – both of individuals and groups – are tackled through the working of the Holy Spirit with love, hope, and concern for the troubled. Through a variety of actively Christ-centered individuals and groups, charitable organizations, Church outreach, and more, the Gospel is alive seeking to meet the challenges of the searching youth, hurting adults, and lonely elderly. God is truly active and visible and the Gospel Message is being made known and faith seekers are being evangelized!
The city is often called a concrete jungle, but you can always find a blade of grass growing through a crack in the concrete. It becomes a sign of the love and hope one will experience even in the “jungle.” Maybe there are different and deeper types of crosses to deal with in the city because of the variety of people, cultures, many different challenges, and confused life choices, but remember that the True Cross leads to the Resurrection and New Life! A fuller life is offered in the city because of those disciples who make Christ active at all times and places as a Good Shepherd. The “joy of the Gospel is shining in the lives of so many brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Come Holy Spirit – continue to renew the face of the city! May many hopeful and faithful blades of grass break through the concrete problems of city life, so that the Good News is witnessed to by those with restless hearts searching for the truth who is Jesus Christ. Pope Leo, your prayer is becoming a reality!
