Proclaiming the Gospel in Daily Life
"Some know nothing of God... because they have not been spoken to in terms they can understand." In many ways, we can kindly make known the figure and teachings of Jesus and His Church: through a family conversation, by participating in catechesis, by upholding Christian dogma with clarity, charity, and firmness in a discussion, or by praising a good book or article... At times, through a silence that others value, or by writing a simple letter thanking the social media for a job well done... It always does someone good, perhaps in a way we could never have suspected. In any case, each of us should ask ourselves during this time of prayer: "How can I be more effective, a better instrument? What obstacles am I putting in the way of grace? What environments, what people could I reach if I were less comfortable—more in love with God!—and had a greater spirit of sacrifice?"
We must keep in mind that we will often have to go against the grain, just as so many good Christians have done throughout the centuries. With the Lord’s help, we will be strong enough not to let ourselves be carried away by fashionable errors or permissive and licentious customs that contradict both natural and Christian moral law. And even then, we will speak of God to our fellow men without missing a single opportunity: "I see all the incidents of life—those of each individual existence and, in a way, those of the great crossroads of history—as so many calls that God addresses to men, so that they may face the truth; and as occasions offered to us Christians to announce, through our deeds and our words aided by grace, the Spirit to whom we belong (cf. Lk 9:55)."
"Each generation of Christians must redeem and sanctify its own time: to do so, it needs to understand and share the anxieties of other men, their equals, in order to make known to them, with the gift of tongues, how they should respond to the action of the Holy Spirit, to the permanent outpouring of the riches of the Divine Heart. It is up to us, as Christians, to announce in these days—to this world of which we are a part and in which we live—the message of the Gospel, which is both ancient and new."
Always, and especially in the most difficult situations, the Holy Spirit will enlighten us, and we will know what to say and how we ought to behave.
HCD