July 11, 2012 Wednesday: St. Benedict
“As you go, make this announcement: 'The reign of God is at hand!'”
People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in
experience than in teaching, and in life and action than in theories. The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission: Christ, whose mission we continue, is the "witness" par excellence (Rev 1:5; 3:14) and the model of all Christian witness...
The first form of witness is the very life of the missionary, of the
Christian family, and of the ecclesial community, which reveal a new way of living. The missionary who, despite all his or her human limitations and defects, lives a simple life, taking Christ as the model, is a sign of God and of transcendent realities. But everyone in the Church, striving to imitate the Divine Master, can and must bear this kind of witness; in many cases it is the only possible way of being a missionary.
The evangelical witness which the world finds most appealing is that of concern for people, and of charity toward the poor, the weak and those who suffer. The complete generosity underlying this attitude and these actions stands in marked contrast to human selfishness. It raises precisequestions which lead to God and to the Gospel. A commitment to peace,justice, human rights and human promotion is also a witness to the Gospel when it is a sign of concern for persons and is directed toward integral
human development.
-Blessed John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
Redemptoris Missio, 42
People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in
experience than in teaching, and in life and action than in theories. The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission: Christ, whose mission we continue, is the "witness" par excellence (Rev 1:5; 3:14) and the model of all Christian witness...
The first form of witness is the very life of the missionary, of the
Christian family, and of the ecclesial community, which reveal a new way of living. The missionary who, despite all his or her human limitations and defects, lives a simple life, taking Christ as the model, is a sign of God and of transcendent realities. But everyone in the Church, striving to imitate the Divine Master, can and must bear this kind of witness; in many cases it is the only possible way of being a missionary.
The evangelical witness which the world finds most appealing is that of concern for people, and of charity toward the poor, the weak and those who suffer. The complete generosity underlying this attitude and these actions stands in marked contrast to human selfishness. It raises precisequestions which lead to God and to the Gospel. A commitment to peace,justice, human rights and human promotion is also a witness to the Gospel when it is a sign of concern for persons and is directed toward integral
human development.
-Blessed John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
Redemptoris Missio, 42
