Jesus is the way!

One of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Catholic Church in the 1960s is the new movements and communities – which the Pope quite frequently speaks of. One of these new communities, the Neocatechumenal Way, was recently approved by the Vatican. Zenit news interviewed Kiko Argüello, one of the initiators of the Way. The Way has a strong emphasis upon baptism, the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit – all wonderful things! Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: Why is baptismal catechesis the key to evangelize modern man?

Arguello: Because baptism opens to us the door of the Church, participation in divine nature. As St. Paul says, "For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

The problem of the man of today is that, because of original sin, he lives everything for himself; he has placed himself at the center of the universe, substituting God as the center of his person, and does not realize that he lives enslaved, condemned to live for himself. This causes profound suffering, because the truth is something else; because God is total love, total giving to the other that he has shown in Christ; man suffers because he doesn't love like Christ.

In countries where transcendence has been denied for years, where God has been denied, as in the former Communist countries, the rate of suicides is very high, because happiness is to live in the truth, and truth is love. And this original sin can only be erased through baptism.

That is why it is important to call men back to the faith, through preaching, the proclamation of the kerygma, the proclamation of Christ dead and risen. When Peter makes this proclamation on the day of Pentecost, the people are moved and ask him what they should do. Peter replies: "Be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The first baptismal fonts were pools -- the Council talks again of immersion -- to which the neophyte descended by steps. This first form of baptism represents perfectly what this sacrament means: death of the old man and resurrection to new life, to man regenerated by the Holy Spirit, who can love and give himself. That is why the crucified Christ is the true image of the free man.

Q: Is this, therefore, the answer to secularization?

Arguello: Of course. How can man be free of the sin that acts in him? Only Christ can free man, make him able to love others, make him share in his divine nature. This is something fantastic that changes man's life; it must be told to the whole universe; the world must be re-evangelized.

As Pope John Paul II said, this new evangelization requires new ways, new contents, and this is what God has inspired through the Way. Now that the statutes have been approved, we can offer this Way to bishops and to the entire Church, to carry forward the new evangelization.

Amen! I hope this article hits you, because it definitely hit me and made me realize how important it is to carry on this new evangelization to the world. People are spiritually dying to know the love of Jesus Christ! How can I live in this freedom of Christ and not share it with others!

What did you get from this article? Comments?