Jesus is the Messiah ( II )

Jesus is the Messiah ( II )

Jesus is the Messiah, Part B

IV. Interview with the author

Bringing together several interviews conducted in different parts of the world, we have chosen the questions that seemed to us the most interesting. We report them here, together with the answers of Father Emiliano Tardif.

Father Emiliano Tardif

1. In what does the gift of healing precisely consist?

The gift of healing is, like all the other charisms, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul affirms: To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Then he enumerates nine of them: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, the power of working miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and the gift of interpreting them (1 Cor 12:8-11).

Father, but people say that these extraordinary charisms were meant only for the beginnings of the life of the Church... and that they are no longer necessary now... But who said that? Then the faith that Saint Paul mentions in that very same list was also meant only for the beginnings of the life of the Church? The Second Vatican Council speaks of these extraordinary gifts that are part of the life of the Church today (cf. Lumen Gentium 4 and 12).

Besides this, Cardinal Ratzinger, in his book Rapport sur la foi (The Ratzinger Report), affirms:

“In the heart of a world dried up by rationalist scepticism a new experience of the Holy Spirit has been born, which has taken on the breadth of a worldwide renewal movement. What the New Testament says about the charisms that appeared as visible signs of the Spirit is no longer merely ancient history, forever past: that history is becoming vibrant and relevant again today.”

2. Why does the Catholic Church not yet grant the charisms full citizenship, when in many Evangelical churches they are commonly accepted?

I must point out several aspects:

a) It seems to me that it is because our Church catechizes a great deal and evangelizes little. Signs accompany the proclamation that Jesus is alive, but not in the same proportion when one teaches truths or the doctrine of the faith. The day the explicit announcement of Jesus as Saviour and Lord resurges, we will see wonders in the heavens and signs on the earth. For me, the problem is not the absence of charisms. That is only the consequence. The root of it is that we have ceased to proclaim the announcement of the redemptive death and the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

b) On the other hand, we have fallen into the temptation of Pelagianism: using only human means and relying solely on natural means to carry out the work of God.

When one makes an analysis of reality, one forgets that we count on the power of the One who raised Jesus from the dead. The work of the Church is an impossible mission that surpasses the strength of men. How could it be accomplished without the power of the Holy Spirit?

Neither science nor technology can make up for the action of the Spirit. Let us not forget that if the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labour (Ps 127:1).

c) It can also be a reaction in the face of the exaggerations one sometimes encounters. I too am against deformations, but the existence of the weeds never justifies uprooting the wheat.

d) We see something resurfacing that had been buried, and now that it is resurfacing, we do not know what to do with it or how to use it. But before long, this will be normal. I hope that soon the abnormal will be that a day passed with no healings, and people will be astonished, because at that moment the power of God could not manifest itself.

e) Finally, I can say that there are already many bishops open to these manifestations of a charismatic order. I will cite only three cases:

Monsignor Rafael Bello, Archbishop of Acapulco, wrote a fine pastoral letter on the “New Evangelization 2000” on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the Renewal in his archdiocese. The difference from other episcopal writings is that they speak of the Renewal and evaluate it, whereas in his letter the archbishop wanted to communicate the fruit that he had personally drawn from it. Paragraph 54 says this:

There are many evangelizers who act always under the action of the Holy Spirit. I am happy to cite among them Father Tardif, who is world-famous as such, for he has come very often to evangelize in Mexico City, and he is a friend who preached the charismatic priests' retreat in Acapulco in 1984.

The leitmotif of his preaching, of his personal or circular letters, as of his conversations, is: How easy and effective it is to evangelize with the help of the power of the Holy Spirit! All the countries have heard him speak of the wonders of the Lord and all were filled with admiration (Ac 2:11-12). His extraordinary charism of healing draws thousands and thousands of listeners, and he takes advantage of it to evangelize tirelessly. He thinks like Paul: Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel!

(1 Cor 9:16).

I strongly recommend the study, in groups, of his book Jesus Is Alive. Father Emiliano convinces us that the Renewal is an evangelizing force, because it leads its members to open themselves to the power of the Spirit, to his gifts and to his charisms.

Cardinal Renard confessed to Father Tardif that the Renewal helped priests and bishops to recognize that unbelief and rationalism place obstacles in the way of a fruitful apostolate. The Cardinal added: “We lay rails for the Holy Spirit so that he will adjust to them, and he flies far beyond them. The Holy Spirit does not follow our pastoral programs. It is evident that we need a pastoral program, but every program must be permeable so that the Holy Spirit can make use of it and even transform it. The Church is a permanent Pentecost and not a permanent rationalization.”

Cardinal Ratzinger, in the book cited above, declares:

“What is a sign of hope throughout the whole Church — precisely also in the midst of the crisis of the Church in the Western world — is the blossoming of new movements that no one has planned, that no one has summoned, but that proceed simply from the inner vitality of the faith itself. In them is sketched out — though without any noise — what would make one think of a dawn of Pentecost in the Church. I think, for example, of the Charismatic Movement, of the Neocatechumenate, of Cursillo, Focolare, Communion and Liberation, etc.”

- To conclude, the recent Popes have expressed very beautiful things about the Renewal. The most beautiful is that of Paul VI, when he refers to the Renewal as “a chance for the Church and for the world” (19 May 1975).

3. You speak of exaggerations in the charisms. What are they?

The main problem is when we take them out of their context: In the account of Mark, the sentence preceding the invitation to lay hands on the sick so that they may be healed speaks of proclaiming the Word: “Go into all the world, proclaim the Good News to the whole of creation” (Mk 16:15-18). That is to say, the prodigious signs accompany the proclamation of the Gospel. They do not exist on their own, but when one proclaims salvation in Jesus Christ.

For his part, Matthew concludes his sending into mission with: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:18-19). That is to say, after the healing, sacramental life must follow. It is therefore a chain with three links: Word-Healing-Sacrament. If it is not so, it grows weak.

At the beginning of my ministry, a priest came to visit me in Canada so that I would take part in the Congress he was organizing. I accepted naively. But throughout the whole Congress, he led the prayer, the songs, and gave all the teachings. He presided at the Eucharist, gave the homily, and even made the announcements. Only at the end of the day did he ask me to pray for the sick. It is there that I learned not to pray for the sick when I had not been able to proclaim the victory of Jesus on the cross and the triumph of his resurrection.

4. How did you realize that you had the gift of healing?

After I had prayed for the sick in several prayer groups. On 18 November 1973, a sick man who suffered from arthritis and osteoarthritis asked me to pray for him. At the end of the prayer, he began to walk, leaving his cane behind. He was totally healed. Later, I noticed how, more and more frequently, Jesus healed the sick. Thus began for me this life full of surprises: I would never have imagined how far He could lead me. I believe, moreover, that my ministry is one of evangelizing. When one announces Jesus, when one proclaims the kerygma, that is when these signs appear.

5. Can one learn a charism? Are there techniques?

I would not say that it is learned, but that it is strengthened. And the more one puts it at the service of the sick, the more it develops. It is a free gift which, if one does not use it, does not develop. But if one places it at the service of the sick, it is strengthened and manifests itself more. Today I see many more healings than five years ago, in the same circumstances. The use of the charism makes us grow in faith. The more healings we see, the more certain we are that others too will be healed.

6. What is the principal obstacle to the charisms?

Father Tardif and the healing ministry

I believe that it is the fear of losing our reputation. The charisms are a cross, and many are not ready to carry it. The exercise of certain charisms makes us pass for madmen, others make fun of us, and many are those who belittle us or persecute us. If we were not disposed to die to ourselves, even to the point of abandoning our privileges and our renown, we could not receive these charisms. I remember very well a neighbouring parish priest who made fun of the charismatic movement, and in his Sunday homilies assured that if certain people speak in tongues, it is because they lack vitamins...

I am going to tell you an anecdote that I have already told during the first worldwide retreat of priests organized by the Charismatic Renewal in October 1984 in Rome; there were about six thousand five hundred priests there, more than eighty bishops and several cardinals.

I told them: “Many priests would have very beautiful charisms if they were not so afraid of losing their reputation and were not so concerned about their brand image. Human respect and the fear of what will be said close us to the action of the Spirit. We must die to ourselves, so that the Spirit can pass through us.” Then I told them:

One day, in the course of a retreat, we were full of the joy of the Lord. Everything had taken place in great joy, but at the same time in the peace that comes from the Lord. To close the retreat, the Eucharist had been programmed, presided over by the bishop-father of that diocese. That bishop did not like spontaneous manifestations, nor exultant songs, nor the charisms; he had even forbidden applause and people raising their hands. On several occasions he had spoken out strongly against all these things, which made people a little afraid of him.

When he arrived, the guitars fell silent and the songs of praise became mute, at the same time as raised hands were lowered. Everything took on a very formal and serious tone. At the precise moment when he was about to open the Eucharist, there was a problem with the sound system. Everyone was nervous. The sacristan was checking the fuses, another was turning the microphone on and off, while another was trying to see what had happened to the amplifier. The church, full of impatient people, waited in a tense silence for the beginning of the Mass.

To calm the nerves a little, the Bishop said in a loud voice: It seems we have a small problem with the microphones...! “And with your mind,” replied the crowd. Everyone thought the Mass had begun. Many people have problems with their microphones. They do not leave enough room for the Spirit to move freely. One wants to imprison it in pre-established moulds and one does not let it move with the freedom of the wind that blows where it will. Those who have problems with their microphones, it is because they are too concerned about what others think.

If we were less jealous of our reputation, we would be more open to the Holy Spirit. The fear of being ridiculous prevents us from opening ourselves to the charisms of the Spirit. It is certain that the charisms are humiliating. They lead us to the cross. That is why many fear them and others refuse them. Gone are the restful schedules; the hours of sleep grow shorter. On the other hand, one's reputation does not grow, quite the contrary, one finds oneself weighed down with mockery, criticism and sarcasm... but in the end everything can be overcome, whenever one has no problem with one's microphones.

7. Isn't a gift like that dangerous?

In the first place, it is a gift; that is to say, a gratuitous present from God. Healing is the exclusive work of God that passes through human instruments.

- Besides this, it is for the common good, and not for the one who possesses the gift. It would be very dangerous to appropriate the glory of God for oneself alone. One could even go so far as to condemn someone who had the gift of healing: “Many will say to me on that day: 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? In your name we drove out demons? In your name we worked many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who commit iniquity'” (Mt 7:22-23).

If we place it at the service of the community, it is a precious gift. If we acknowledge that we are only instruments, we will be edified. Nevertheless, the greatest benefit I see in it is that it increases the faith of the community, that it awakens those who sleep, and that it revitalizes the ministry of evangelization, showing Jesus alive in our midst.

8. Father, if Saint Paul says that the essential thing is love, why do you attach so much importance to the charisms?

It is not I who attach it. It is Jesus (cf. Mt 4:23). Saint Paul says that “the signs” characterize the true apostle (cf. 2 Cor 12:12). I would rather ask: Why do some minimize what had great meaning for Jesus?

Unfortunately, we oppose what is complementary. Love in the abstract does not exist. The exercise of a charism, whatever it may be, is a service for the community and consequently it is love.

9. Almost always people speak of Father Tardif as a lone star. Do you work alone?

Besides being a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, I am a member of a community called “The Servants of the Living Christ,” which has eighty-seven members. A ministry of any kind, and above all this one, is very dangerous if it is accomplished alone, riding solo. My brothers in the community love me and correct me. I learn a great deal from them. They do not admire me too much. I am simply their brother, and they are committed to seeing him reach holiness. I very much like preaching retreats with others who give different points of view of evangelization.

Even with couples who can treat family themes in a much more complete way than I would. I am currently working with a lay community. Our community was born in 1981-82. With the help of many benefactors, we were able to obtain a house in the Dominican capital, which is our formation center for evangelizers. The house was inaugurated on 19 March 1984, and on 25 March we began the ministry of adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. That is where the idea came from of calling it the “House of the Annunciation.”

Every day the Blessed Sacrament is exposed from eight o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock in the evening. The community has different ministries, but the first is the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Every afternoon there is a priest available at the house to welcome people who wish spiritual direction. We also have the celebration of the Eucharist. The House is, first of all, a formation center for evangelizers through contemplation of Jesus in the Eucharist. The House of the Annunciation evangelizes through charismatic retreats in the city and outside it.

This is done through television and radio programs. Each one lives in his own house, but we meet every week to pray, to share, and to organize our apostolate. We have two annual retreats to nourish our spiritual life in a stronger way. The members of the community are lay people; they make no vows, but they take on certain basic commitments.

10. Are you the only one within your evangelizing community to have the gift of healing?

Several of us have the charism of physical healing, others that of inner healing. Of the 87, 11 have received the charism of a word of knowledge, and several have that of prophecy or of deliverance. I am going to tell you something that happened to a catechist at the House: One day a person arrived on crutches; she could barely walk and was looking for Father Tardif so that he would pray for her healing. The catechist who received her informed her that he was not there.

The sick woman was very sorry, but the brother said to her: See, I have neither gold nor silver, but what I have I give you. Come to the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. It is He who will heal you. The sick woman went. After about fifteen minutes of prayer, she came out of the chapel, firm on her legs and walking on her own.

11. Many are those who hold Father Emiliano Tardif to be a saint. What do you think of that?

It always makes me laugh a good deal. Sometimes, when I am alone and go to bed in the evening, I say to myself: “If they knew who I am, they would stay calmer.” I have not ceased to be a country parish priest on a small lost island of the Caribbean Sea. I cannot think that I am more than the donkey that carried Jesus. I know very well that when people cover me with thanks and place their clothing on the ground before me, it is to welcome the Jesus I carry.

And when I have carried him for them, they send me back to my stall; on the way back, no cloaks of flowers nor thanks: I enter the sanctuary of my being and I say: “Lord, how great you are!” This return of the donkey to the house is what keeps us humble. Solitude and the face-to-face with Jesus do not allow us to be deceived. When I kneel and proclaim the wonders of God through the Psalms, I think that if people knew God better, they would fix themselves less on us. My community knows well that I am not a saint, but that I desire to be one.

That is the vocation of every baptized person. But we always imagine a saint as one whose photo can be put on the altar or who works miracles. For me, to be holy is much more than that: it is to be like Jesus. Who does not want to be holy?

Moreover, since my baptism, because I have been rooted in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, I carry within me the germ of holiness through the gift of the Holy Spirit that was granted to me gratuitously, without any merit on my part. The gift of healing is not a sign of holiness; it is a free gift. If I place it at the service of the sick with patience and love, it can help to sanctify me, because it is simply the exercise of charity, and sometimes it is burdensome. One day someone said to me: “Emiliano, aren't you afraid that people will canonize you in your lifetime for so many miracles?” I answered: “I prefer that they take me for a saint rather than for a brigand.”

12. Father, when you preach to the crowds, are there manifestations of collective hysteria?

There are manifestations that I would not call hysteria, but it is a normal enthusiasm in the presence of the saving presence of our God. For example, the Psalms are full of these expressions. Besides this, the scribes and the Pharisees found the cries of “Hosanna!” to the Son of David exaggerated. I ask myself the question, why is it that people shout and get excited before the triumph of their favourite team in the stadium, and they could not express their emotion before the only One who has conquered death? Why could one weep with emotion before an artist, and not weep with joy before the Lord of lords? Although I do not doubt that some people exaggerate the expression of their emotion, I believe that others lack freedom of expression.

But there is indeed sometimes exaltation and emotionalism...

I prefer to find myself facing an excited person rather than a dead person. One can correct and educate the excited person, but what to do with the dead?

13. Why are some people healed and others not? Some who apparently have great faith and even seem to deserve healing are not healed; and, on the contrary, sometimes people are healed whom one would never have imagined?

There are two things to distinguish here. The first is why people are healed, and the other, why they are not. As for the first, I am going to tell you something that happened to us a long time ago now. In the course of a meeting, we were discussing precisely the deep reason for which the Lord heals us. One gave a biblical argument, another relied on the fact that it was a promise of the Lord, etc. There was a young man with a simple air who wanted to give his opinion, but no one gave him the possibility.

At the end, when we had all finished our profound reflections on the theme, the young man said in a calm voice: “I believe that God heals us because we are sick.” After having turned the question over and over in my head, I arrived at the same conclusion: God is a good Father who has compassion on the pain of his children.

As for the reason why others are not healed, I have not the slightest idea. But when I arrive in heaven, that is the first thing I will ask God. What is certain is that even pagans who do not have faith are healed... I have seen some in Africa and in India. It was in the course of an evangelization campaign at Mbandaka in Zaire; one afternoon about twenty thousand people had gathered in the sports stadium for the healing Mass. A pagan child passing by entered out of pure curiosity to see what was happening. It was the moment of Communion.

Then the healing prayer took place. That twelve-year-old child suffered from tachycardia since birth. He quickly felt a strong warmth invade him, as if an electric current were running through his body. It was the living Spirit of God, who raised the body of Jesus in the tomb, filling him and healing him. After the Mass, the child was totally healed of his tachycardia; the doctor was able to verify that what had happened was not pure fruit of his imagination, but truly a genuine healing of the heart.

In the course of the closing of the evangelization campaign, that twelve-year-old child gave his testimony with surprising boldness and ended by giving thanks to the Lord thus: “I am not a Christian, but now I want to become one.”

We are in the presence of the mystery of the love of God. If it is true that the Lord heals only a few, He offers to us all the definitive healing: eternal life, where there will no longer be sickness, nor mourning, nor tears. We receive healing gratuitously, but who are we to ask God: why do you heal this one and not that one? One is not healed because one deserves it; it is a pure gift of God. Josefina Guzman of Zapotiltic, Jal. (Mexico) shows us that the Lord heals us because we are sick and not because we deserve it through our good works. It is an act of pure love.

For some years I suffered from a sickness that made me weak all through the day. My breathing failed me and I could not accomplish the household work. My husband grew angry and said that I was very sluggish. I was desperate and sad. I went to see the doctor, who diagnosed low blood pressure. He recommended that I drink a small glass of cognac every morning. As I did not have the means to buy cognac, I took a small beer. It is certain that I felt better. The next day, I took a slightly larger one and felt even better.

Soon after, I was taking one on rising and another in the afternoon. I added one afterwards to fall asleep. Without realizing it, I was sinking into alcoholism. I did not want to be an alcoholic, but at the same time I could not stop drinking. On one side I felt very weak. On the other, I was drawing near to the grave on account of this vice of alcoholism. I realized in my own flesh how sin acts on our body. Lame of soul, I fell sick in body. I went to see Alcoholicos Anonimos.

1. Translator's note: AA is an association of men and women who share their experience, their strength and their hope, with the aim of solving their common problem and helping others to recover from alcoholism.

There they told me that what did me the most harm was the first glass. I found myself in a dead end: if I did not drink, I could not work; but if I did not work, my husband beat me. I was sure that only a miracle could get me out of that pit so deep. But miracles were for other times and for good people, not for drunkards like me. So I began to attend the meetings of a prayer group of the Renewal, where I had heard it said that the Lord still worked miracles.

There I heard the Word of the Lord, which tells us that sin is at the origin of all evils and all sicknesses. It was then that I said to myself that I lacked a good confession, and I approached the sacrament, taking advantage of the jubilee of the Holy Year 1983. Little by little my health deteriorated. I then went to visit doctor Ismael Espejo, who gave me a Pap test on 24 May 1984. The results showed cancer of the uterus. It was so advanced that I was condemned. Medical science could do nothing for me, but for me the Lord came first.

One day, we were told that Father Emiliano Tardif was coming to Guadalajara and that he was going to celebrate a Mass for the sick in the city Auditorium. In the course of the prayer for the sick, I felt a soft hand rest on my left shoulder. In November of the same year, there was a new gathering at the Jalisco stadium. We were more than sixty thousand people praising God for his wonders. After Communion, Father Emiliano began the healing prayer, assuring that Jesus was going to heal many sick people, but not all.

I said to myself: “You, you are part of those who will not be healed, because you are a drunkard and you do not deserve it.” I then placed myself in the hands of the Virgin Mary, so that she would present me to her divine Son. Father Emiliano, in a word of knowledge, said that five people were healed of cancer, including a woman suffering from cancer of the womb. I took the word of the Lord seriously.

I stood up from my seat and cried out with all my strength: “It is me!” People turned toward me, some distrustful, others full of joy, but I was sure that the Lord had just healed me. On 4 January 85, tests were done on me again. The result was wonderful. The cancer was no longer there! The doctor could not explain what had happened, given that he had detected a fifth-degree cancer spread over the whole pelvis; but I was perfectly healed. I repeated to him the words of Father Tardif: “Jesus is the master of the impossible.”

There remains for me this last examination of 10 July 1986, so that it will be confirmed. I no longer needed alcohol either. Gone are the little beers. I have now recovered the strength of my youth. My fortress is the Lord! He is my shield! The Lord healed my soul, and healed my body! I offer my medical reports to whoever wants them. I no longer need them. I prefer rather to prepare myself for the final examination, when Jesus will ask me what I have done for those poorer than myself.

14. What do you feel within yourself when a blind person begins to see or a paralysed person rises from his stretcher?

It fills me with joy, as when I myself was healed by the Lord. I am going to tell you only two cases of healing that show the merciful love of God, and you will tell me afterwards if that does not fill you with joy. I was preaching a retreat in the province of Quebec. The first evening, in the course of the healing prayer, I received a word from the Lord saying that he was healing a person deaf in the left ear.

I asked who was concerned, and a police officer rose, very moved, saying: “It is me; I heard nothing on the left side and now I hear perfectly.” On the second evening of the retreat, there was another healing prayer. A word of knowledge said that a person who had had an accident and suffered a great deal from the spine was healed. I asked who was this person who felt a great warmth in the back: “Rise, and you will realize that your pain has disappeared.”

With tears in his eyes, he said: “It is me; I no longer feel any pain.” On the third evening, one of the words of knowledge said “There is someone here who suffers under the nails of his toes; you feel your feet warm, very warm, and the Lord heals them for you.” I asked who it was, and the police officer rose a third time, saying: “It is me.” It was his third healing. He suffered from gout, but I did not know that this sickness was called that.

After that, people no longer wanted the police officer to come back on the fourth day, fearing that he would take up all the healings of the week. I told them: “No, for healing it is not like that. The power of Jesus touches each one. As in the course of the wedding at Cana, he transformed so much water into wine that another wedding could have been celebrated, God has shown special mercy to our brother so that we may entrust ourselves to his love. Our God has blessings in reserve for all his children.”

Fifteen days later, we were preaching a retreat in Montreal, and there the police officer gave the testimony of his triple healing: hearing, spine, and gout. That man, who had been very far from God, lived such a great change that now — I came across him again while preaching recently in his town, La Sarre — he is one of the leaders of the diocesan Renewal, in which he and his wife are very engaged. The triple healing touched the whole family for a spiritual transformation. That is the most beautiful part of all the testimony.

God is not stingy. Sometimes one suffers from several things and asks the Lord for only one healing, as if it were something that would cost a great deal. One must have trust and dare to ask for everything; God always gives beyond our expectation. Another very likeable testimony that shows the humour of God is what happened at Santiago del Estero in Argentina in 1984, in a stadium crowded with thirty thousand people, in the course of an evangelization mission that lasted five evenings. After the preaching, we had the celebration of the Eucharist.

A mother had brought with her her five-year-old son, paralysed for two years. During Communion, since the child could not move, his mother left him seated on his seat and went to receive Communion. There were so many people that she took a little time to come back near her son. But at the end of the Mass, she approached the microphone in tears, asking who had taken her paralysed child, who was seated on his seat. Someone realized that the “little lost one” was at the back, playing with other children.

The Lord had healed him in the course of the healing prayer: the child had come down from his seat and had gone off to play with other little ones.

15. And what do you feel when people are not healed?

It fills me with compassion, but I do not feel that anything has been taken from them. I insist by saying that Jesus never said that all the sick would be healed, but that He would give us signs for the evangelization. Healings are the signs that accompany the proclamation of the Gospel, but it is not necessary that all be healed for one to believe in the Word of God. A journalist said to me one day: “I believe that all these gatherings should be suspended, for many people come hoping to be healed and return home sick. It is even worse to be disappointed than never to have hoped.” I answered him then: “The hospitals would also have to be closed, because many of those who enter them come out between four boards, bound for the cemetery.”

That is not how I see it. I believe that all the sick who come to these gatherings, even if they are not healed physically, can receive graces. The awakening of faith is, for many, an important healing. Even if the sick person is not healed, he receives a blessing from the Lord. The following report, entitled “Coming Back to Life,” is written in a very beautiful way by José M. Troche of the newspaper El Diario of Asunción, Paraguay, on 22 April 1988: He was there, faded like a flower in autumn. Sad. Waiting for death.

And the years passed, and that death that he expected as a liberation from his sufferings did not come. He felt himself a prisoner and yet there was no net to prevent his escape; however, he could not even escape, had he desired it. There is no sadder prison than that of the wheelchair, whose crew carries a tragic impotence. He could no longer bear it. At forty years old, he was tied to his chair and was a slave to his family.

They led him where he did not want to go; they took him out into the street when he would have wanted to rest; they put him to bed when he wanted to walk about. No one had time for him. Think that he had worked like a slave for twenty years, earning penny after penny, until he could set up a business from which they could have lived without worry, but he could no longer look after it.

Every day — since that Sunday afternoon, five years earlier — he woke up with the same anguish. He did mentally everything he could to get out of his bed, but his legs no longer obeyed him. He clung to the grips that had been installed for him at the head of his bed and thus managed to stand up. He looked at his legs: enormous, muscular, an athlete's legs; but they were asleep. The car accident had been terrible, but he had managed to survive. The other one — a seventeen-year-old youth — had died.

“Why did I not die in his place?” he lamented; he suffered at being like a living dead man, and he had had enough. The last time I saw him, he was more downcast than ever. He wanted to die, but did not even have the courage to kill himself. But... something happened, not long ago. As every Sunday, his eldest son pushed the wheelchair toward the Sunday Mass. I met him quite by chance. I had prepared myself to listen to his monotonous litany of complaints, but he was already another man. He was smiling as he had not smiled in years.

He had put on a white shirt, and had set aside his sad grey jacket. He even smelled of French perfume, evident proof that he had risen again to everyday life. “Why that face?” he said to me straight away. Who knows what face I was making while looking at him. It was not my usual face of commiseration, nor anything like it. It was rather a perplexed, astonished face. And my eyes, for sure, were asking what had happened...

He went on smiling. It is a miracle! I thought. “Yes, my friend, it is a miracle,” he said to me as if he were reading my thoughts. And he told me the whole story. In reality, he believed himself dead, because his soul was dead. Without hope, without accepting his condition as a disabled man, forgetting that the body has other vital organs more important than the two legs. “The miracle took place one night. My children took me to the Stadium, more compassionate than ever, thinking that I would leave playing football, as before. You see that not at all. I look as before, apparently.

But everything has changed, since that night.” From that night on, he felt that he was a useful, strong man, full of life, even though he could not walk. From that night on, he began to live again. That night, he understood that he was not alone, and that the paralysis of his legs was nothing in the face of the cancer of his soul. And that night, he was healed. He was healed in his soul, of his pessimism; he no longer even needs to be healed in his legs.

16. How can you always be happy in spite of all these sick people who seek you out, live every day with the pain and be like a sponge that absorbs the bitterness of human misery? Do you not suffer from the pain of all these people?

I suffer from seeing all this suffering, but it does not depress me. The Lord gives us compassion, which is a degree of love for the sick person... Besides this, I am a witness of the great love of our God for the one who suffers. If it is true that I am in contact every day with the pain of man, it is just as certain that every day I can touch the merciful power of God. Then I repeat with Saint Paul: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Neither sickness nor death will be able to do it!

17. How does this word of knowledge work, through which you know what God is doing?

I neither see nor feel anything. Nevertheless, I have the inner certainty that a person is being healed of something. The certainty is confirmed when I certify that the sick person has truly been healed. It is an inner impulse, a movement of the Spirit. It is like for Saint Peter, throwing himself on the sea to walk on the waters. The Lord said one day to a contemplative nun: “Every time you give a word of knowledge, you must make an act of faith as you do when you recognize that I am present in the Sacred Host.” It is like when one sets out on a road full of fog: at the beginning one sees only what is before oneself, but as one advances, one sees further.

For example, I have the certainty that someone is healed in the ear. As I say it, it appears to me that it is a woman who feels a warmth, and even her age... If I were not sure that this comes from the Lord, I would never dare to tell a woman her age... Here is the very beautiful testimony that Sister Regina Catteeuw brings us in her letter of 10 October 1988: Reverend Father Tardif. It is with great joy and gratitude that I write to you to announce good news: Lucas is born. He is the first child of my brother and of his wife Maria Rosa, married since 22 August 1975.

On 14 November, in Ghent, the penultimate word of knowledge that you gave was: “There is a couple married for twelve years who have not been able to have a child. Within a year, they will hold a baby in their arms.” On 22 August, exactly the thirteenth anniversary of their marriage, a baby with black hair was born, weighing three kilos six hundred and fifty grams. When my brother took his son in his arms, he exclaimed with tenderness: “You have been so long in our expectations and in our dreams. Each year the spring and the winter returned, but you did not come.

But if you did not come earlier, that is a secret between God alone and you.” The faith of the whole family has grown. A big greeting from Maria Rosa, Lucas and little Lucas

Sister Regina Catteeuw

The exercise of the charisms is a path of growth in faith. Every time I give a word of knowledge, I throw myself into the water, certain that the Lord never fails. It is also a path of love, because it serves the community. All the charisms are for service and are, for that reason, manifestations of the greatest of the charisms: love. The word of knowledge is an act of faith, both on the part of the one who gives it and of the sick person who hears it; and God, who gives faith, answers that faith.

18. Do you work miracles?

One day, a Colombian journalist asked me exactly the same question. I answered him: “No, none of that. Everything is very simple: I pray and Jesus heals.” The next day, he published an article in a daily newspaper entitled: “Father Tardif prays and Jesus heals.” When I saw the newspaper, I exclaimed: “At last, a journalist who has understood!” The gift of healing is for others, not for oneself. It happens that I am sick: if the gift of healing were for me, I would lay my hands on my head, I would pray and I would be healed, but that is not how it happens.

In the course of a weekend retreat for two thousand Spanish-speakers at Tucson in Arizona, the Lord healed many sick people, including cases of very serious illnesses, above all arthritis and paralysis. At two o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday, I had a very high fever. I had caught a chill and I had difficulty giving my last teaching. At the end of the retreat, I had to lie down for a day and a half.

I was saying to myself: “If the gift of healing were for one's own good, I would lay my hands on myself and heal myself at once, to get out of my bed.” But the Lord showed me again that it is not I who heals; it is He.

19. Tell us about a healing that attracted your attention by something particular.

I am going to tell you several of them that show the humour of our God. In 1984, I was preaching a retreat in the city of Monterrey. In the course of the Eucharist, it was very difficult to distribute Communion, for all the aisles were packed with people. Helped by a few ushers, I made my way toward the back. As I passed through the middle of the crowd, some wanted to touch me, others even went so far as to ask me to pray for them; I thought: “But if Jesus himself can heal them, I do not know why they seek out Father Emiliano.”

In the middle of all that crowd, I saw a woman with tears in her eyes. She was carrying a little child in her arms. The child looked at me with tenderness. I then remembered that paralysed man at the pool of Bethesda (Jn 5) who could not get into the miraculous water because he had no one to help him. I then approached the child and kissed him. He smiled; I continued to distribute Communion. Ordinarily, I do not kiss when I give Communion, but at that precise moment, I had felt the desire to do so and I did...

The next day, the lady went to the microphone before the crowd and said: “Yesterday, at the moment of Communion, Father Emiliano passed near us. Quickly, he turned around and gave a kiss to my little boy, who is two years old and completely deaf. I want to give thanks, because since yesterday my son can hear. God has healed him. Glory to his Name!”

From that moment on, it complicated my life. Everyone wanted me to give them a kiss; but I told them: “No, kisses are only for children. Women must receive kisses from their husbands.” Nevertheless, the teaching bore fruit. I healed no one. The kiss, although it was a sign of love, could not even heal a headache. What had happened was that I was carrying Jesus in my hands, and it was Jesus himself who had healed the little deaf child. I am only the donkey that carries Jesus, and that is why He continues to heal the sick. The worst would be to fix one's eyes on the donkey and not on the one it carries on its back. The day we realize that we are all bearers of Jesus Christ, that day our ministry will be transformed: we will no longer speak so much of Jesus, we will let him act in all his power.

The way Jesus heals is so strange that we cannot fail to tell what happened at Monte Maria, where every Sunday more than fifty thousand people gather for the celebration of the Eucharist, during which Father Gilberto Gomez says a prayer for the sick. In the course of one of these celebrations, the pole of the Vatican flag fell and struck a person who was walking bent over, knocking him down. Everyone was saddened to see that this tube so large and so heavy had fallen precisely on a sick person. To everyone's surprise, the sick man straightened up on his own. The tube had straightened his spine. Still today, he walks normally.

The ways of God are full of good surprises. Sometimes God heals us by a kiss, sometimes by “a blow of the tube.” Another very curious healing, which at first posed a problem for me but afterwards made me laugh a great deal, took place at Arequipa, in Peru, in 1985. In the course of the prayer for the sick, the first word of knowledge I received and gave was the following: “At this moment, the Lord is healing a paralytic.” Then, in a louder voice, I added: “In the name of Jesus, rise.” None of those in wheelchairs had the boldness to make the step in faith...

Then I specified: “The Lord is healing a paralytic at this moment. The sign that identifies you, and so that you may know that it is you whom the Lord is healing, you feel a slight warmth in your legs and you tremble. You who feel this warmth, stand up in the name of the Lord.”... No one moved. A tense silence enveloped the atmosphere. I insisted again, in a slow but clear voice: “The paralytic whom the Lord is healing, stand up.” No one rose. In the face of the dubious look of the sceptics, it seemed that this time nothing would happen.

Then I said — and it appeared to some to be a good excuse —: “Well, in a while, you will be able to give your testimony,” and I went on giving other words of knowledge.

Although they were all confirmed, this first one remained for me “stuck in my throat.” To conclude, I announced: “The Lord is opening the ears of a deaf man.” At that moment, a deaf man seated in a wheelchair stood up and began to cry out: “Father, I hear, I hear! Before, I heard nothing!” Then I declared: “Of course! You are the paralytic whom the Lord has healed, but since you were also deaf, you did not realize that the Lord had healed you of your paralysis.

In the name of the Lord, walk...” And that man began to walk amid the applause, the laughter and the joy of the crowd... At the end, I told them: “Every day one learns something. From today on, I am going to ask the Lord to begin by healing the deaf, to spare us these embarrassing situations in which He places us...”

20. Father, what effect does it have on you to be so close to the power of God? It must not be easy to get used to the Lord manifesting himself every day?

There is the same danger as for the one who celebrates Mass every day. In the same way that we run the risk of growing cold in celebrating the Eucharist, we could grow accustomed to this ministry. Faith must be renewed every day. Fortunately, the testimonies are there to edify us. If we could not see the confirmation of what the Lord accomplishes, I believe we would have given up long ago. One can sometimes be discouraged, but the testimonies strengthen us to go forward. It is in seeing the joy of those who are healed that I find again the courage to pray for the sick.

21. Do the healings not make one forget the value of suffering?

I am going to answer you with a fact from everyday life: One day my plane was delayed and I arrived late for a retreat. The bishop received me with some impatience because he had to leave and had waited for me only to give me a few indications. As soon as I arrived, without almost greeting me, he said to me very seriously: “Father, suffering and sickness enter as well into the plan of God. We must not lose the value of the suffering caused by sickness. I ask you, please, that there be no healing ministry in the course of the Mass.”

Then, looking at his watch, he added: “Forgive me if I do not stay for your talk, but the dentist has been waiting for me already for half an hour...” I answered him simply: “But, Monsignor, is not your toothache a suffering that has value in the eyes of God? Why could the doctor heal us and not Jesus?”

To conclude, it is I who ask: Does the world lack pain? In this world that already suffers too much, do we still need more crosses, or the power of the cross that brings us all the fruits of the Redemption? We must not forget the prophetic word concerning Jesus: He took up our weaknesses and bore our diseases. By his wounds we are healed. In the course of the congress at Lourdes, there were so many healings that a priest approached me and said: “It seems to me that there are too many healings.” Showing him the long line of those who came to give their testimony, I asked him: “Which one of them would you do away with?”

22. Have you already seen wonders of every kind?

I believe that we have still seen nothing. The Lord reserves greater surprises for us every day. Pentecost has begun. We are going to see even greater things. A glorious age is approaching, such as has never existed until now. The world, more than ever, needs Jesus, and he is going to manifest himself with all the power of his Holy Spirit. In Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, on 19 May 1975, Ralph Martin gave a prophecy that said: “An age of evangelization is coming such as has never yet been seen in my Church.”

The prophet Joel announces signs in the sky and wonders on the earth, and we see them: In March 1987, toward five o'clock in the afternoon, I was preaching at Coatzacoalcos when suddenly the sun was covered by a cloud that, while moving, gave the impression that the sun was dancing. We were fifteen thousand people who saw it. God is great! On the feast of Christ the King in 1984 at Monte Maria in Mexico, the clouds formed an immense cross in the sky, soon followed by two others on each side. - In Zaire, I was preaching in French. A woman who spoke only the Lingala dialect understood me perfectly. God wants to give us signs that He is alive and has the power to save the world. We will see even greater things.

23. And if one day there were no more healings?

If there were no more healings at all, I would be very worried and I would ask myself what is wrong with me, because the Lord cannot cease to fulfil his promises. He promised that signs and wonders would accompany the proclamation.

24. Have you also had to suffer persecution or rejection?

Yes. I have been criticized, sometimes with irony, even by priests. On other occasions, I have been ridiculed... but that is part of my ministry. There are still bishops who do not authorize the healing ministry. They say that it is fanaticism. However, it is at the heart of the Gospel, as the sign that accompanies the proclamation. The criticisms do not hurt me personally. What hurts me is to see hearts close themselves to the merciful love of Jesus, who wants to manifest himself through signs and wonders.

25. Father, does all this pose a problem for your Congregation?

At the beginning, a brother of my Congregation came to see me privately and advised me, “Try to get yourself out of all this. Until now, we have always been considered a serious Congregation, and with all your follies, we are going to be mocked.” I answered him: “I do not want to get out of it, because I see fruit in the change of so many people. Never before had my priesthood been so fruitful.”

The most curious thing is that not long ago my Provincial Superior had me called, saying, “We had a meeting of the Provincial Superiors of Europe, and they complain that you preach a great deal in those countries without ever saying that you are a Missionary of the Sacred Heart.” I objected to him: “I do not say it because there are some who are not proud that I am charismatic; they are even embarrassed by it. What I always confess is that I belong to the Heart of Jesus.” The Superior General advised me one day: “Emiliano, I would not want you to have problems with the bishops.”

To which I answered him: “Father, I have problems with no one. I believe that it is the others who have problems with me.” Thanks be to God, I have now been given complete freedom to preach full-time throughout the world. My agenda is so full that I do not even have time to fall sick.

26. When people are healed, what happens to them afterwards?

The person who has been healed needs accompaniment in her process of evangelization. Our error would be not to take care of her afterwards. It is not healing that gives faith, but it disposes us wonderfully to receive the Word of the Lord that engenders faith. If we do not take advantage of this optimum moment to present Jesus to the healed person, we have lost the best opportunity to evangelize her. There are people who live a great healing, but afterwards, no one accompanies them.

They receive the seed with great joy and happiness, but if it is not watered nor enriched, it can be lost for lack of care. Healing does not replace evangelization; it accompanies it. In the month of October 1988, I was able to preach in five countries of Africa with Father Jo Heglin, M.S.C. One of these countries was Burkina Faso. There were more than four hundred leaders of the Renewal gathered for a whole week. But every evening of the retreat, we all went before the Cathedral for a Mass at six o'clock in the evening, which many Muslims attended.

These believe in God (Allah), but consider Jesus Christ as one more prophet. A healing that touched me deeply was that of a 45-year-old Muslim woman who suffered from paralysis of the right side. A friend had invited her to the healing Mass, saying to her: “This evening, many sick people will be healed; come with us.” That woman came to the healing Mass and during the prayer, the Lord healed her. In the course of the closing Mass, she gave her testimony before thousands of people: “Open your hearts to Jesus; Jesus is alive. I am a witness of it. I suffered from paralysis of the right side.

I went to many hospitals and they did not heal me, but a friend brought me to the healing Mass on Tuesday evening. I am a Muslim, but I came and Jesus saved me. My name is Zenabo, but from today on I want to be a Christian and I will be called Catherine.” The Holy Spirit, in a few minutes, had convinced her that Jesus was the Messiah Saviour and that there is no other Name given to men by which we may be saved. What happens after a healing is always wonderful.

Healing generally is like an explosion that generates a chain reaction, to transform not only the healed person, but also all those who surround her. Here is the proof of it in the following testimony:

Guadalajara, Jal., 11 October 1984.

My name is Maria Guadalupe Lopez de Preciado. My husband, Armando Preciado, is a reporter for the newspaper El Occidental. We have been married for thirteen years and we have a son and a daughter. We want by this testimony to praise, bless and glorify the Lord, for He has worked wonders in our lives, even though we had almost forgotten him. On 3 July 1984, we had to have our daughter Claudia hospitalized in clinic fourteen of the Social Security, to be operated on for what was thought to be a hernia. The next day, we arrived early to see our little one and to know how she was doing.

We were astonished to see above her bed a request for a radiological examination, which is not current practice, and even less so when patients have just been operated on. The doctor, very pessimistic, told us that it seemed that Claudia had cancer. A biopsy had been done on her; we would have the results the following week. If the result was positive, she would have to be operated on again straight away.

On the 11th, around noon, we awaited the results with great anguish. Doctor Barragan confirmed to us that our daughter indeed had an inoperable cancer. The results of the biopsy indicated an abdominal neuroblastoma, stage III (inoperable): it is a matter of two tumours that invade the abdomen almost entirely. Only a miracle could save our daughter. We went to the prayer assembly to ask for her healing. Then the little one was taken to the Oncology Service of another hospital, to Doctor Juan Arroyo, who confirmed to us the seriousness of the illness.

We continued to pray. The Lord gave us the joy of attending the holy Mass celebrated by Father Emiliano Tardif at the Auditorium on 28 June at five o'clock in the afternoon. Despite all our difficulties in getting in, we succeeded. It was a true celebration where the Lord offered physical or inner healing to several brothers. The father named the people who were healed, and desperate, we heard nothing that could have concerned our little one. At the end of the Mass, my daughter and I approached Father Tardif and in tears, I said to him:

“Father, my daughter has a nearly incurable cancer, and if she dies, I too want to die. She is my only daughter.” The father, in a calm and reassuring voice, said to me: “Do not weep, madam. In the name of the Lord, your daughter will be healed.” Having said that, he placed his hand on Claudia's head and prayed for five seconds. That is already three months ago. The treatments of chemotherapy and radiotherapy are finished, with no negative reaction in my daughter. We send you copies of our daughter's file, in which one of the sheets, dated 12 November, reads verbatim: “The tumours have disappeared.

The patient may go home.” Following this wonder of the Lord, our lives have changed, our unity has been strengthened. Many of our friends have joined prayer groups. As for us, we are following the Life in the Spirit Seminar. It is for the praise and glory of the Lord that we give this testimony, which is the manifest presence of the Christ who is alive, who loves us and who looks at us with eyes full of compassion and mercy.

27. Do you follow a method or a line?

A method, no. I always announce Jesus first and I encourage faith. Then I pray for the healing of sin by means of conversion, and finally I pray for physical healings. There is not a retreat in which I have not seen tangible healings. But that does not mean that all the sick must be healed. Miracles are signs of the power of God, which show that Jesus is alive and which serve for the growth of our faith. God does not want us merely restored, but entirely healed: body and soul, as also in our relationships with others.

28. What advice would you give to the people who exercise this same healing ministry?

The advice is not to pray for healing without evangelizing. We must not begin by praying at once for physical healing, without taking care of the spiritual life of the sick person. If people feel very far from God, we must help them so that they repent of their sins. The case of the paralytic, whose sins were first forgiven before he was healed, is classic for exercising this ministry. If we pray solely for physical healing and we do not take care of the conversion of the infirm person, we do a veterinarian's work: the latter takes care only of the body. One must be concerned with forgiveness and inner healing. If the healing ministry is reduced to physical healing, without being concerned for the life of faith, it is not worth having this charism.

29. It is said that you know very important people in every field: kings, presidents and cardinals have asked you for prayer and have invited you to their private Mass. Who is the most important person you know personally?

For me, the most important is Jesus. But we are all important, since we are sons of God. There is no greater title in this world than that of son of God. Every person is worth as much, since Jesus gave his life for him. We have been redeemed at the price of the precious blood of Christ Jesus. All the people I meet are important, but the most important of all is Jesus, the Lord of lords.

Yes, father, but we were referring to a living person.

Jesus is alive! Since He rose on the third day from the tomb, He is alive, never to die again. And not only that: He has life to give it to all those who believe in his Name. You too can meet him. He is there and He knocks at the door of your heart. If you hear his voice and you open the door to him, He will enter your house and invite you to the banquet of the Kingdom...

30. What is the message of Father Emiliano Tardif?

I do nothing but preach that Jesus is the only Messiah and that we must not expect another. The essence of my preaching is to manifest that Jesus is alive today in his Church. I believe that I have less and less to say day by day, for I realize that the essential thing is to be a witness of what we have seen and heard. Every day I realize that the important thing is not to speak of Jesus, but to let him act with all the power of his Holy Spirit.

31. Finally, given the growing importance of the gift of healing and the number of people who go to Eucharists where one prays for the sick, what does God want to tell us through all these signs?

Through these signs, the Lord comes to manifest to us his total victory. Jesus came to liberate his people from sin, but in addition there are the consequences of the latter, such as sickness and death. Jesus gives signs of his victory over sin, healing the sick and raising the dead. Jesus rises glorious from the tomb, and it is there that the definitive sign of his victory is found, because death entered the world on account of sin, as Saint Paul affirms (Rom 5:12). I note that each healing is an evident sign of the victory of Jesus.

It is also a manifestation of the love of God. We must remember what Jesus said to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you.” Then he added: “So that you may know that the Son of man has the power to forgive sins on earth, I order you: rise, take up your mat and go home” (Mk 2:9-11). For me it is the clearest sentence to explain the meaning of healing: to demonstrate the victory of Jesus over sin. He has the power to forgive sins, and thereby to destroy their consequences.

All these signs repeat to us only one thing: Jesus is the Messiah, saviour of this world, and we must not expect another. This Messiah is alive today, and He gives life to those who believe in his name.

Conclusion

I would like to end this chapter entitled “Interview with the author” with what happened to me one day concerning an interview. A journalist of the French weekly V.S.D. (Vendredi, Samedi, Dimanche) asked me one day for an interview for his newspaper, which prints four hundred thousand copies. He declares that “to answer the questions of so many people who cannot meet him,” he turned himself into “a detective, searching heaven, sea and earth for two months, before being able to locate Father Tardif by telephone and fix the meeting at Santo Domingo.”

He then recounts his trip to the Caribbean and the crossing of Sabaneta: “A white church and a handful of little pink and turquoise houses, on the flank of the green mountain... and precisely because this habitat is disinherited of the earth, Father Tardif visits it so that one may not be deprived of heaven.”

Following that appears a photo of Father Emiliano Tardif smiling on a donkey on a path of the Caribbean island, with the following caption: “On the back of a mule, Father Tardif evangelizes the peasants.” Shortly after the publication of that report, I went to Paris, and many people told me that they had been extremely astonished that I had let myself be interviewed by such a publication, which is not religious, but rather deals with light and superficial topics. They were scandalized to see my photo in the midst of worldly people and of scarcely Christian articles.

I did not answer their criticisms, but I thought that if Jesus had sat at the table of the tax collectors and was followed by prostitutes, there was no need to be afraid of that kind of situation. A year later, I was preaching at Strasbourg; I then had to go on to Dijon. Roger, a member of the community of “Jacob's Well,” offered to drive me there by car. On the way, I asked him how he had met the Lord, and he began to tell me the story of his life, how he had remained for long years far from the faith and from all contact with the Church.

He continued: “But it happened that one weekend I bought the review V.S.D., where I found an article by a priest who, curiously, was called like you, Tardif. It seemed interesting to me because he spoke of a marvellous God that I did not know. It drew my attention so much that I enquired where I could find a group of the Renewal. I then followed a Life in the Spirit seminar, where I had a personal meeting with Jesus that changed my life. That is where I met this God who loved me and who wanted to show me all his forgiveness.

I repented and opened the doors of my heart to him, so that He might come and save everything that was lost. I went to confession, and since then, I am another man.”

I said to him: - But that Father Tardif of the review V.S.D., it is me... - What? You are from Santo Domingo? - In my heart, yes, but I was born in Canada. We then gave thanks to God, who makes use of every means, even that kind of review, to draw his children closer, who experience true love and do not drink along the way at broken cisterns, but at the true source of living water. If I had published my testimony in the “Annals of the Propagation of the Faith,” Roger would never have met the Lord, since that is not the kind of magazine he bought to amuse himself. How great the Lord is! His ways are not our ways and his criteria are not ours.

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THE NEW

EVANGELIZATION

Today, the Holy Father speaks tirelessly of the New Evangelization. From his visit to Haiti in 1983, where he used this term for the first time, he has never ceased to allude to this theme. There is almost no occasion where he does not refer to it. The Pope points out the three aspects in which the Evangelization must be new: New in its ardour. New in its methods. New in its expression. Let us note well that it is not new in its content. It is clear that newness cannot bear on that.

There is no other Gospel than the one announced by Jesus himself and repeated by the apostles: Jesus is the only Saviour. There is no other mediator between God and men. The Gospel is the person of Jesus Christ. The Good News is that God so loved the world that he gave it his only Son, not to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through him (Jn 3:17). The Good News is not something, but someone: Jesus, who gave his life for us, rose from the dead on the third day, and is alive, never to die again.

Thus, his very person is the message of the great love of God for us: although we are sinners, He delivered his Son to death, so that all those who believe in him might have eternal life. The Good News that gives hope whatever the situation or circumstance is that death has been conquered by the resurrection of Jesus. Even if Jesus had pronounced no discourse, or the evangelists had reported none of his teachings, the central message would not have been devalued: he is the Word, and his way of living is the greatest and most fundamental message.

The Gospel is always the same and will always remain so. Even if an angel come from heaven announced a different Gospel than this one, it would be false and anathema, according to the vigorous expression of Saint Paul (Ga 1:7-9). We therefore do not need a new Gospel, but a New Evangelization. Let us see together what the newness of the evangelization means.

1 - New in its ardour

No one can feel an ardour for evangelization if he has not first had a personal encounter with the risen Jesus. The reason is quite simple: the word ardour comes from “to be burning,” and we can be burning only if we are before the fire of the Spirit of the risen Christ. The hearts of the disciples of Emmaus burn when Jesus himself explains the Scriptures to them: it is for that reason that they quickly return to Jerusalem to give testimony of what happened to them along the way.

Burning for the Gospel is a fundamental element in evangelization: - May the zeal of the House of the Lord devour us. May we, like Peter and John, be unable to cease speaking of everything we have seen and heard. - May we, like Jeremiah, have a fire burning our bones that drives us to evangelize in season and out of season. To renew the ardour, we must return to the first love, the very one that seduced us and drove us to give ourselves unconditionally to Jesus. It is only then that we will be disposed to accomplish our prophetic mission, however bitter or difficult it may appear.

If our heart is burning with love for Jesus Christ, our mouth will necessarily proclaim his message of salvation, and our life will be a reflection of his. The preacher, more than theories and doctrines about Jesus, must have Jesus in his heart. It is for this reason that Pope Paul VI said that the world today has more need of witnesses than of masters. New evangelizers are needed, set ablaze with the fire of the Spirit; witnesses who do not repeat what they have read or studied, but who cannot cease to tell what they have seen and heard.

It must be noticeable that they are filled with the Spirit. Two seminarians had gone to an Introductory retreat to the Charismatic Renewal. They came back so happy that they went straight to the seminary Rector to tell him what they had lived. He looked at them with doubt, but listened to them with attention and respect.

Very quickly, one of the two, a little imprudently, said to him: “Monsignor, do you not want us to pray right away so that you may receive the Holy Spirit?” He, a little embarrassed, answered: “The Holy Spirit, I received him at the moment of my baptism. The Spirit was given to me again on the day of my Confirmation, and again on the day of my priestly ordination...” After a few seconds of tense silence, the other seminarian added: “Then, Monsignor, could we not pray that it may be visible?” Ardour for the Gospel drives us to be set ablaze in our apostolate, in such a way that despite the magnitude of the task, there is always a stronger reason: love.

At the end of 1984, after having preached a consecutive month in Quebec, I went to France. From there to Holland, where I was able to announce the Good News at Eindhoven and Rotterdam. Apart from the very intense work, there was in addition the weight of simultaneous translation. I was so tired and I was so cold that I began to think of my little house at La Romana, and of the warm and pleasant climate of the Caribbean; that quiet parish by the sea, my community, etc.

But in the course of my morning prayer, the Lord gave me a reading of little Thérèse that said: “If one day love should fail, then the apostles will no longer preach the Gospel.” I understood and said: “Emiliano, do not complain that there is still much to do...” After an Evangelization campaign in Paraguay, we were ending the last retreat with a healing Mass in the gymnasium of the major seminary. It was estimated that there must have been more than twenty thousand people.

The whole Eucharist was broadcast by television, and many people were able to see the healings that the Lord was accomplishing and to hear the living testimonies of healing, like that of doctor Galeano Duarte, of Caacupé: “In the course of last Thursday's Mass, I showed the crowd my crutches, which I no longer needed, since I could walk without them... Before, when people approached me to pray for my healing, I told them that we had to wait, that God has his hour for each one. But on Thursday, it was my hour, and He healed me.

And I found myself walking in the streets of Asunción. I feel that my legs do not cease to grow stronger. I am very happy to be able to walk. According to the doctors' diagnosis, I was to spend the rest of my life with my crutches. I could not take a step without them, and now I am healed. For that: Glory to God!”

The next day, I was returning to Santo Domingo, via Miami, with my companion of evangelization. At our arrival at the airplane, we were recognized, and seats in first class were offered to us, whereas our tickets were for tourist class. We of course accepted, grateful in the face of so much kindness. After the takeoff of the airplane, the co-pilot came to see me, asking me whether he could speak to me and whether I would accept to pray for him. I did so, more quickly than usual, because he had to go to his post and I also wanted to rest a little...

When I had finished, the one in charge of the cabin said to me: “Father, I heard yesterday the testimonies of healing on television. Could you pray for me?” I then thought: “I am going to make another retreat here.” We talked and prayed together. When he stood up, he told me: “Father, the stewardesses are dying to speak with you.” I answered: “Let them come.” He added: “The problem is that they cannot come and sit here, in first class...” “Well,” I asked him, “where can I speak with them?” “If you agree, father,” he told me, “you could come into the galley of the airplane...”

I therefore stood up, leaving my comfortable first-class seat, to go into the galley of the airplane. The curtain was closed and I was offered a stool so high that my feet dangled. The seat was made of iron and I could barely hold on to it. The first one said to me: “Last night, I took part in your Mass and I very much wanted to speak to you...” The second told me that she had followed the Mass on television and that she had the desire to receive spiritual direction. They thus came one after another in turn, replacing each other in their work so that I could pray for each of them.

I could not get used to my stool, where I spent more than an hour, all the while laughing at having fallen into the trap by accepting my first-class seat. On returning to my seat, I said to my companion: “Let us give thanks to God that the pilot did not come to ask for an interview!” When our passion is Jesus, we can always evangelize, in all circumstances. Sometimes, there is no time left for us to rest, but if our rest is Jesus, then we see everything differently.

2 - New in its method: Kerygma and Catechesis

The method is the pedagogical path for announcing the Gospel. The Good News has an organized system with steps that are well defined and clear. In the integral process of evangelization, we can and must clearly distinguish two successive moments which, although interdependent, are different: The kerygma, which is the announcement of the person of Jesus. The catechesis, which is the transmission of the deposit of faith.

If we take as point of departure the six kerygmatic discourses of the Acts of the Apostles (Ac 2:14-39; 3:12-26; 4:9-12 and 20; 5:29-32; 10:34-43; 13:16-41), we will realize that the content of the kerygma is different from that of the catechesis. The kerygma or First Announcement, the base of our faith, is centred on the proclamation of Jesus, with the three most important events: his death, his resurrection and his glorification, with his three greatest titles: Saviour, Lord and Messiah.

It is therefore not a doctrine that one must understand through the intelligence, but a person who must be accepted freely by faith.

In the kerygma, one does not speak of something, but of Someone. The unchangeable base of Christianity is Christ Jesus. Without this base, everything one would build upon it (whether catechesis, morality or theology) would be as if built on sand. One of the first definitions of Christianity was neither philosophy, nor doctrine, nor teaching, but “life” (cf. Ac 5:20). The kerygma leads us to a personal encounter with the risen Christ and to an experience of his salvation, which makes us new creatures through faith and conversion.

Our great error of method in the pastoral work of evangelization is to insist on the teaching and the catechesis of people who are not yet born again. In the course of a preaching tour in Egypt, we visited the imposing Pyramids. We were told that for the journey of the deceased into the beyond, plates of exquisite dishes were left for him. Unfortunately, these foods so rich were lost, since the dead man could never taste them.

That is what happens when we give the rich food of doctrine, of morality or of orthodoxy to those who are still dead, because they have not made the experience of the Life in abundance that Christ came to bring to the earth. That is why, when Jesus arrived at the house of Jairus, where his twelve-year-old daughter had just died, the first thing He did was to raise her to life, and it is only after that He asked that food be served to her. Some think that it is by eating that the dead rise again, but that is not the case.

Very often our doctrinal structure is perfect, but it presupposes something that does not yet exist.

There was a very active and dynamic priest who liked to organize the liturgy with great care. But as he wanted to do everything himself, he always forgot one aspect. One day, he organized a procession of the Blessed Sacrament. He had paid attention to all the details: the choir, the altar servers, the songs, the candles, the incense, the order, etc. The ceremony began on time. The organ was playing, the people were singing and all were walking in order, while the sweet smell of incense gave a touch of solemnity and recollection. Dressed in his cope and covered by the humeral veil supported by four well-dressed acolytes, the priest raised the monstrance respectfully toward the sky.

The procession was about to come to an end when an acolyte approached the priest to speak to him. The latter resisted, because that went outside his scheme and his organization. However, in the face of the insistence of the acolyte, he asked him what was happening. “Father,” the altar server said to him, “you forgot to put the Host in the monstrance...” The priest then lowered the monstrance to check and realized that he had truly forgotten it. He could not restrain himself and exclaimed aloud: “I always forget one little detail!” Sometimes, we have everything well organized. Our pastoral schemes are fabulous, our plans are well made. Everything is perfect... but we forget the little detail...

In 1985, we were addressing this theme with a group of missionaries from Japan. One of them commented: “This is the central point for evangelizing these countries. If we do not first of all present the kerygma to them, we are condemned to work for a minimum fruit.” Then the bishop emeritus of Fukuoka acknowledged: “We have built our structures very carefully, but sometimes we have forgotten to present Jesus.” For catechesis to bear abundant fruit, it must be in its place: always after the kerygmatic announcement. For life to grow, there must first have been birth.

One is born to the New Life by the response of faith and conversion to the message of salvation. Catechesis neither comprises nor, even less, replaces the kerygma. It presupposes it. Doing catechesis without having previously transmitted the kerygma is to forget the little detail. The information of catechesis does not suffice; the Holy Spirit must fashion the image of Christ in us.

Unfortunately, in the formation of a Christian, one sometimes forgets the little detail that has become the cornerstone of Christian life. In the Catholic Church, we have the richness of the deposit of faith, the teaching of the apostles, the magisterium of the Church, sacramental life, etc., but all this has a base: the person of Jesus who died and rose again. It is the cornerstone on which the whole work is built. If we do not build on this unshakeable rock, the least storm or a gust of wind will bring the edifice to the ground, and its ruin will be great.

3 - New in its expression

To understand this, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the first and the greatest of the evangelizers, to realize how He himself transmitted the Good News of salvation. Jesus presented the Gospel in a very simple manner. Saint Matthew wonderfully summarizes the activity of Jesus Christ in a very beautiful text: Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people (Mt 4:23 and 9:35). The evangelization of Jesus comprised two fundamental aspects: the announcement of the Word and the healing of the sick.

The announcement of the Word

Today, some think that the testimony of life suffices and that it is not necessary to proclaim the Word. However, there has existed no more authentic testimony of life than that of Jesus, and he announced the Word by every means, going through the cities and the villages. Evangelii Nuntiandi, in its paragraph 22, affirms that although the testimony of life is the first way of proclaiming the Good News, that does not suffice and must be accompanied by the Word of life. There is no true evangelization if one does not announce the Name, the doctrine, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus, Son of God. The message is the person of Jesus.

The healing of the sick

Jesus accomplished signs and wonders that gathered the crowds, and to these crowds, He taught the Word of salvation. There are people who maintain that the most important thing is to proclaim the Word and that the miraculous signs are not necessary. However, many places of prayer are empty because it does not suffice to hear the Word; people want to see its effectiveness. There must be manifestations in which the triumph of Jesus Christ over sin, sickness and death is revealed.

When we announce the Word with signs, the crowds gather, not only to hear, but to see that the Word of Jesus is being fulfilled. They are then more disposed to respond to the message of salvation by an act of adherence to the person of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. When we preach this way, we see things like those recounted in El Diario of Asunción, Paraguay, on 22 April 1985, in the article entitled: “Faith calls together more than forty thousand faithful.”

It is with an unusual power of convocation, given that there was no publicity for the coming of this Canadian charismatic priest to our country, that more than forty thousand people gathered in the stadium of the Club Cerro Porteño

The evangelization campaign of the Charismatic Renewal through the preaching of Father Tardif produced a great spectacle of faith in Jesus Christ. The place, too small, could not contain the great crowd that wanted to take part in the ceremony; many people had to remain outside. Thousands of people followed the celebration on their television sets. One can say in all honesty that Channel 13 broke the record of what is called the audience rating, according to the comments made in the evening.

At present the Catholic Church exerts a great attraction on all the faithful, since without any advertising campaign, the whole country has profited from the message and the prayers of the priest. One must also point out the place held in the news today by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement in the country and in the world. In silence, it does not cease to extend its influence in a surprising way. This movement, within the Church, takes charge of revitalizing the power of faith in the Christian world.

The signs accompany the proclamation of the kerygma, but we have never seen signs accompanying theological theses, although they support the same arguments. Now that we are returning to the preaching of the kerygma, we see these signs that gather so many people that it poses problems that will have to be resolved. When the Word is accompanied by signs, the problem is not knowing how to make people come, but rather how to handle all those who come. Is it not curious, this telegram that was sent to me on 4 May 1986 from Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA, which said this: “Thank you for not coming to preach for the gathering of 13 to 18 May 1986. We cannot find a place large enough to contain all the people who want to listen to the Word of the Lord. Sincerely,”

Father Roberto Trabold

Healings and miracles are not secondary appendages of evangelization, for it is through them that the effectiveness of the proclaimed Word is revealed. In time past, it was said that the miracles served to prove the veracity of the doctrine. They have, however, an even more important function: they show that the God we preach truly acts. It is salvation in act. Thus, the miraculous signs and the healings offer us a wonderful opportunity to manifest the action of God, and not only to speak of a God whom no one can see and whom one cannot see acting.

In the course of an ecumenical congress, a Bishop of Pakistan told us, very convinced: I have now been working in Pakistan for more than twenty-five years. I can say that I am the person who has converted the most Muslims: about a thousand in all my ministry. At the end of my career, I realize that if we do not preach to the Muslims the Gospel with the signs and wonders that show that our religion is not an ideology, but a reality, we waste our time exercising our ministry in their midst, for they are of an anti-Christian culture, but not antichrist.

For his part, a delegate from Ireland added: Before, man lifted his gaze to heaven in the face of every problem and difficulty. Faced with an epidemic, a crusade of prayer was made. If it did not rain, people organized days of intercession to beg God to send water. Today, the vaccines have not made one forget God. But the worst is that one has separated oneself from Him in other more transcendent spheres. Sometimes one wants to build the Kingdom with mere techniques and organization.

But if it is certain that the Muslims need this kind of sign, I dare to affirm that for the Western and developed world, they are even more necessary. Man lives at the expense of his own strength and must experience that the power from on high exists: the strength of the Holy Spirit. Personally, I believe that the new expression for preaching the Gospel must be that the Word be accompanied by signs of power. Thus Paul preached (cf. 1 Th 1:5). The miracles themselves authenticated his apostolic ministry (cf. 2 Cor 12:12).

As if there could be no true, complete apostle, without these signs.

I believe that Jesus has not changed his pastoral approach, and it is for that reason that in our days He continues to manifest himself with power to contemporary man. Jesus has not changed his pastoral method, since the one He has is effective. He has no need of congresses of Pastoral work or of weeks of “updating” or “recycling,” because his method still works and there is nothing better that could displace it. He continues to heal, He gathers the crowds, the Word is announced, and those who open themselves to faith are converted.

On 23 December 1987, Father Paul Pegeaud of Issia in the Ivory Coast writes to me and tells me: The evangelization tour left a deep trace in the parish. I regret having not invited more pagans, since each healed pagan became a catechumen. There were spectacular healings, like that of a four-year-old hunchbacked child. He was in the arms of his daddy, who is a doctor. When the prayer for the sick began, he began to sweat profusely. He fell to the ground and writhed about as if he had found himself in a pot of boiling water.

Then he felt that something was pulling him by the head and by the hands, and he stood up on his own. Then he said to his daddy: “Daddy, one can say that you are a good doctor.” His father answered him, very moved: “But it is not I who healed you. It is Jesus of Nazareth...” When he returned home, the daddy tried to take a little liqueur, for he liked that very much, but his mouth rejected it, and he was thus delivered from alcoholism. We have other very beautiful cases of family reconciliation and of forgiveness.

We had very often preached that Jesus is risen and gives life, but we now have many witnesses who confirm it.

We had very often read and preached the healings spoken of in the Gospel, but now they have seen them with their own eyes. The Gospel has found a new value for Christians and never ceases to astonish the pagans. There are those who criticize the exaggerations of the healing ministry. I do the same, because they exist sometimes. But those who point out the extremes should also speak of those who exaggerate by default, that is to say those who never take this evangelical aspect into account. For me this last exaggeration is more dangerous, for it leads us to forget that the power of God manifests salvation to the man of today.

Sometimes, if one is short-sighted, one thinks that healing is everything and one does not discover its value. One does not perceive the scope of such a sign: healing triggers a chain reaction in the different spheres of the person's life and of those who surround him, as one sees in the following case: At Santiago de los Caballeros, in the Dominican Republic, in the autumn of 1987, a very great healing occurred. Oscar Lama had had a car accident, after which he had remained in a coma for two months. He was transferred to a well-known hospital in Pittsburgh, in the United States, where he spent several weeks.

There, when it was noted that there was nothing more to be done — a part of his brain had been removed — he was sent home. If he should manage to come out of his coma, he would lead a vegetative life, without any human characteristic. In the course of a healing Mass at the Cathedral of Valverde, his daddy asked us to come to his house to pray for his son. We went there, the parish priest of the Cathedral and I. We prayed to the Lord to heal him, and that for about five to eight minutes.

It was impressive to see that human being totally motionless, who reacted to no stimulus and had not the slightest movement of his own. The next day, in the morning, Oscar called his parents. It was, for them, a great emotion to hear him speak. During the week, he watched the sports programs on television and remembered the name of all the reputed players he knew. His memory came back to him, as did the other mental faculties. Later, he stood up, and thanks to an intense therapy and exercise, he began again to walk.

Today Oscar Lama has a quite normal professional job. This healing was, for the whole family, a call to the faith; including one of his best friends, who visited him regularly and came to confess to me. When Oscar returned to the church, his friend made his first communion at his side. The whole family was touched spiritually through this healing. The same thing had happened as at the wedding at Cana, where Saint John says: Jesus manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him (Jn 2:11). This sign awakened the faith in those who surrounded him.

Healing had become an instrument of evangelization.

4 - New ways of evangelizing

We must seek new ways of preaching the Gospel. What we have done up to today does not suffice. We must preach in the stadiums, employ means still little used by Catholics, such as radio and the press. The imagination must lead us to seek new expressions of the Gospel through music, art, culture. We can no longer wait for people to come to the Church. We must go out. Jesus said: “Go and proclaim.” He did not say: “Wait for others to come to you.” The stadiums, the squares, the shopping centres and every social gathering can be centres of evangelization. Our community, the Servants of the Living Christ, evangelizes by television. Although this is a very costly ministry and we do not have the necessary means, we take steps in faith.

In the same way that Moses did not wait to have enough gold to buy the necessary food for his crossing in the desert, but made a step in faith, so we have launched ourselves. Gold and silver we have none, but what we have, we give: Jesus, with the advantage that He is the only one people need. We can count on the best artist in the world: the one who made of his life and his death a work of art. That suffices for us. If we put the little that we have, do you believe that the Lord will let us down?

Our program began on a local channel; now it is broadcast nationally every day. We have even received testimonies of every kind. A woman was in her kitchen, at home, and she was watching the evangelization program on television. At the moment of the prayer for the sick, she knelt down and prayed for the child she had desired to have for the ten years she had been married. At that moment, she felt a very strong emotion and a warmth that invaded her. The Lord healed her of the problem that caused her sterility.

Shortly after, the couple was expecting a baby, who was born in the best conditions and was baptized with the name of Emmanuel. When we heard about this case, we invited them to the television. While she was giving her testimony, the camera was fixed on the face of the little one, in the arms of his father. It was truly a very beautiful testimony.

We must use every means to evangelize. I have heard of a person at Santiago de los Caballeros who was healed by the Lord while listening on cassette to the prayer for the sick. Through this means, one can reach the persons who do not know how to read, or those who simply do not like it. The telephone as well is a means of evangelization. At the House of the Annunciation, we have a telephone listening service all day long to receive the calls of persons in need, some desperate and even on the verge of suicide. Through the telephone we evangelize them and pray for them; we have marvellous results.

Here is a letter I received:

21 February 1983

Reverend father,

I do not know how to thank God for the healing of my daughter Maria Guadalupe. In the course of the year 1978, you came to Guadalajara, for a retreat of priests. As it was impossible for me to meet you, I had enquired about your lodging and had left you a message, asking you to pray for my daughter: she had a tumour in both breasts, and the doctors had decided to remove it.

She had begun her hormonal treatment for barely four days when I learned that you were here, and I emboldened myself, like the woman with the haemorrhage, to ask you, if you had a little time left, to meet us and pray for my daughter. You were so kind as to do it. When my daughter spoke with you, she wept with joy. Not a week passed before we realized that she no longer had any tumour. That is five years since, and she has never again had any problem. From the beginning, we have given thanks to God for you.

May God bless you for this great help you brought us, without troubling yourself about the fatigue you were surely going to feel with all this work. God is so great that He profited from this call to fill us all with joy.

Mrs Dolores S. de Reyes

The following testimony comes from a woman who telephoned me one day from Spain to the Dominican Republic: At the beginning of the year 1982, after having searched for you in every corner, I managed to reach you by telephone. After a few moments of waiting, you answered me from the other side of the Atlantic. I presented to you my grief over my husband's sickness, and you did not tell me that you were going to pray for him; you straight away made a little prayer for him on the telephone. I am coming to tell you that my husband is now perfectly healed of his ailment, and I realize that with the Lord, distances do not count.

The Lord has also manifested himself through letters. As I receive a great deal of mail asking for prayer and I do not have time to read it all, a religious sister takes care of answering, assuring that on the next first Friday, I will offer the Eucharist for those who asked for prayer. It is thus that a few months ago I received a letter from Brazil in which a woman said to me: Dear Father Emiliano, Some time ago, I had written to you to tell you my grief and my suffering.

I had the great joy of receiving your letter, in which you promised me your prayer in the course of the first Friday Eucharist. Father, I want to tell you that it is precisely on that day that I was healed of my ailments. May God bless you in your ministry. I had not been able to read this letter, but the Lord, he had read it and had taken care of this woman.

The new expression is not the methods nor the instruments we use in evangelization, but to count on the power of the Holy Spirit and to make use of every instrument within our reach to announce the Good News.

5 - The New Evangelization is integral

The whole Gospel for the whole man and for all men. The whole Gospel

The Gospel is Jesus. There is no other. But we must not forget the mystery of his Body. Jesus forms a body with his Church; that is why one cannot evangelize integrally if we reduce the Gospel to the sole presentation of the person of Jesus and we forget his body, which is the Church. He extended his mission to his own: “As the Father sent me, so I also send you” (Jn 20:21). Since then, the salvation of Jesus is made present and effective through the ministry of the Church. That is why to separate the body from the head is to betray the Gospel. To omit the ecclesial aspect would be to separate the couple Christ-Church.

When a scribe questioned Jesus about the first commandment, he answered him: “The first commandment is to love God; but the second is to love one's neighbour.” The two are inseparable. Henceforth, the relationship with God implies a relationship with the other members of the Body. On the other hand, the complete Gospel also includes the signs of power that show that the Kingdom is in our midst. We cannot omit the charisms without mutilating the Gospel.

One day, a Bishop invited me to preach a priestly retreat in Canada, but on the condition that one would not pray for physical healing and that one would not address the theme of the charisms, particularly healing. I suggested to him that he invite another preacher who would not speak of the healing ministry, for I could not refrain from speaking of what I had seen and heard. Then the Bishop answered me: “Come and preach to us the complete Gospel.”

In my first talk, I took the text where Saint Matthew summarizes the evangelizing pedagogy of Jesus: Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people (Mt 4:23). I then added: “Jesus has not changed his method. We cannot invent a better method than his. To remove an element from the Gospel is to believe that our methods are better than those of Jesus. To suppress the healings is a betrayal of the Gospel.”

For the whole man

The Gospel must not only reach the transformation of the heart, but also everything that concerns the human person. Man is body, soul and spirit; consequently, salvation must extend to the human being in his entirety. Jesus did not come to save souls, but persons who are body and soul. In my own experience, I have been able to notice that God takes two paths: - That of the paralytic: first He forgives his sins, then He heals his body (cf. Mc 2:9-12). - That of the man born blind: He begins by healing him and afterwards transforms him inwardly (Jn 9).

The plan of God is to touch the whole man. Consequently, evangelization must be salvific in all the aspects of human life: to reach the whole man: liberation from sin, from ignorance and from death. But it must also satisfy the fundamental needs of every man: food, clothing, health, and decent lodging, as a son of God.

For all men

The evangelization that is salvific must also be liberating: to reach all the human structures: political, economic and social life.

To transform the unjust and inhuman structures.

To influence cultures, imbuing them with the criteria and values of the Gospel.

God wanted to liberate and save us not as isolated individuals, without any link between us, but He formed a people.

The Gospel must therefore transform the relations of individuals and of peoples, inaugurating the civilization of love: new heavens and a new earth.

The power of the Gospel is at its maximum when, having transformed individuals, these are capable “of reaching and, as it were, of upsetting by the force of the Gospel the criteria of judgment, the determining values, the points of interest, the lines of thought, the sources of inspiration and the models of life of humanity.”

What can best summarize what this integral New Evangelization means is this: A few years ago, I found myself in the diocese of Monsignor Carlos Talavera, where I was preaching a weekend retreat. There were more than twenty thousand people there, eager to hear the Word of salvation and to see its effectiveness. After we had preached the Word of life and the Lord had healed many sick people, the Bishop said to that immense crowd: “To evangelize is not only to speak of Jesus Christ, but to allow him to act, so that He may spread his salvation in this world.

To evangelize is to sow the salvific activity of Jesus. It no longer suffices for the world that we speak of Jesus; it needs to see him acting. Otherwise, it will no longer believe in him. If on one side the world is not satisfied with words and wants deeds, on the other our personal testimony does not suffice: the salvation of Jesus Christ must become effective in all the spheres of human life.

We are called to change the points of interest, the models of life and the values that determine the conduct of men. Then, yes, the world can realize that the Kingdom has arrived, and that Jesus is truly the Messiah who came to bring a new way of life among men, groups and nations. To evangelize is to leave the salvific activity of Jesus Christ sown, so that with the strength of the seed that grows on its own, human reality may be made fruitful, so that the plan of God may be accomplished in this world.

To evangelize is to save all those who find themselves caught in the claws of Satan, whether through esotericism and occultism, or through contact of every kind with healers and spiritism. Not to mention the satanic cult, which spreads more and more. It is evident that the principal weapon of the enemy is the lie; he deceives us by making us believe that he is only in that kind of thing. But he is also in excessive consumption, covetousness, injustice, the arms race, pornography, abortion, and every form of corruption and inordinate ambition.

The enemy has a thousand roundabout ways of deceiving us: today there are systems that are under the power of Satan. Nazism was one. But certain forms of capitalism, of socialism, and of totalitarian regimes, such as National Security carried to the extreme, where the rights of the human person, made in the image and likeness of God, are violated, are also anti-evangelical. The Gospel is not an evasion of reality, but a leaven that transforms our economic, political, social, commercial and ecclesial life... Then, yes, we can affirm that the Kingdom has arrived, and it is what determines the life of society.

6 - The New Evangelization, work of the Holy Spirit

Evangelization is an eminently divine work, since it is a matter of establishing the Kingdom of God in this world, while on the other hand divine life is engendered in the hearts of men. And this is possible only with the cooperation of the action of the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit is indispensable, both in the evangelizer and in the one evangelized.

In the evangelizer

He anoints him with his power, so that the announced Word may reach the hearts of those who listen to it as an effective Word, capable of converting. It is neither our rhetoric, nor the oratorical gifts, nor the ease of speaking that convince people. The Holy Spirit can, of course, make use of all that, but in the end, the principal agent of evangelization is he. Evangelization sows divine life, and that is an action proper to the Holy Spirit. He certainly needs our collaboration, but without the Holy Spirit our effort and our good will could not transform the world nor the hearts of persons. If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labour (Ps 127:1).

Paul, Apollos, or any other evangelizer are only instruments, but the only one who makes the seed grow is God. We are not capable of converting anyone. That is the work proper of the Holy Spirit. One day, a well-known, very fiery preacher was preaching a Lenten retreat in a temple overflowing with people. He was very emotional and made great gestures, using beautiful literary figures and citing the great thinkers of Christianity. At the end of his preaching, he went into the sacristy, to rest a little.

He sat down in a comfortable armchair and unbuttoned his Roman collar. As if he had fought a great battle, he relaxed and stretched out his legs. Very soon, an old woman entered unexpectedly and said to him: “Father, I am ready to change my life. I entrust my life into the hands of the Lord Jesus.”

The priest, with an air of satisfaction, immediately noting the fruits of his eloquent preaching, asked her: “And what sentence of my sermon convinced you to be converted?” She answered him in all frankness: “No, father, it is none of what you said, but when, in the midst of so much heat, you took out your white handkerchief, I reflected and said to myself: Madeleine, and your soul, which is so black...

And when you blew your nose, it made such a noise in the microphone that it made me think of the trumpets of the last judgment, and then I decided to go to confession immediately...”

Sometimes, the Lord makes use of the “trumpets of the last judgment” to touch a heart. His ways are always original. He makes use of every circumstance and every detail.

In the one evangelized

The Lord knocks at the door of hearts and at the same time gives the grace so that they may be able to open: when Paul was preaching at Philippi, there was a woman named Lydia who listened with great attention. But Saint Luke declares that the Lord opened her heart, so that she devoted herself to the words of Paul (Ac 16:14). God gives the grace to respond to his call. The strength of the Charismatic Renewal is rooted in the experience of the power of the Holy Spirit. We know that the work of God does not depend on our strengths nor on our abilities, but that it also does not stop at our limits or our defects. God is even greater than all our miseries.

The New Evangelization is effective when it is animated by the violent wind of Pentecost. It is the cornerstone of an effective evangelization. The secret of Peter's success when he converted three thousand people on that glorious morning lies in the fact that he had just come down from the Cenacle, filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit and of his charisms. That is why Pope Paul VI affirms: “The techniques of evangelization are good, but the most perfected ones cannot replace the discreet action of the Spirit.” The kerygma, or fundamental evangelization, culminates with an experience of the power of the Holy Spirit. The new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit. That is why, without him, there can be no complete evangelization. We have claimed to convince with the truth instead of letting the Holy Spirit do his work. 1. Evangelii Nuntiandi, § 75.

7 - New evangelizers for a New Evangelization

We certainly need a New Evangelization along the line indicated above. But there can be no New Evangelization without new evangelizers who transmit what they have experienced. D. Dino said at the closing Mass of the National Gathering of the Italian Renewal at Rimini, before forty thousand people: “Go and proclaim that Christ is alive.” “In this Eucharist that concludes our Gathering, while we raise our hymn of thanksgiving toward the Father, for all that we have seen with our own eyes, for what we have contemplated, and for what our hands have touched, there remains for us, as for the apostles, only to announce to the world with strength this marvellous experience, telling what the risen Christ has done for us.

Since the day when, before the empty tomb, Mary of Magdala wept because her Jesus had been taken from her, the message of the Angel resounded: Why do you seek among the dead the one who is living? He is not here! He is risen! Like the apostles first, then all Christians, down to us, we must welcome this message, to live it and then to proclaim it to all: Christ is alive today as yesterday and forever! The one who died on the cross left the tomb and is alive.

From the darkness of that tomb surges a brilliant light that illuminates all men, to give birth to a new creation. If Jesus is not found in the empty tomb of Jerusalem, certainly He is found in all the parts of the world. Jesus did not invite his apostles to transmit theories or abstract ideas, but to testify to what they had seen and heard. Evangelization must come from those who have had a personal experience with the risen Christ.

Unfortunately, it seems that we have always been more concerned with teaching the doctrine than with communicating life. To grow in the life of God, one must first be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We have strongly emphasized this in these days. An evangelizer, before all else, is a witness who has a personal experience of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, and transmits to others, more than a doctrine, a living person who offers life in abundance. It is only afterwards, and always afterwards, that one must give catechesis and teach morality.

Sometimes, we make every effort so that people observe the commandments. We must not forget that the Law was given after the theophany of Sinai. Consequently, no one can be an authentic messenger of the Gospel, if he has not himself made the experience of the new life given by Jesus Christ. When we become witnesses of what Jesus has done, then everything changes. Our announcement, our evangelization, is quickly accompanied by the signs and wonders that the Lord has promised.

An announcement, a preaching, must not be a way of speaking well of Jesus, but of collaborating and of letting him make use of us as an instrument in his hand, so that He may act with the power of his Spirit; that means that we must announce to all his merciful love, that we must make it known that Jesus loves each one without distinction, like convinced witnesses. Someone said these days, we are reliving what happened two thousand years ago. Yes, the gifts of the Spirit are not ancient history. “The world of today, weary of following masters, lets itself be led by witnesses,” said Paul VI. Witnesses who have lived the experience of the new life brought by Jesus Christ, in the personal encounter with the Risen One.

Dear brothers, if we want to be true evangelizers, there remains for us only to repeat with the apostles: “We cannot, as for us, refrain from publishing what we have seen and heard” (Ac 4:20). What we have heard and what we have seen provokes us. The evangelizer, if he is not a witness who has had his personal encounter with the risen Christ, becomes a propagandist of abstract theories.

He must have experienced salvation in his own flesh, to be able to assure others: “What happened to me can happen to you too.” It is logical that the New Evangelization cannot be accomplished without a new type of evangelizers. The disciples of Jesus had already gone off to evangelize, and yet Jesus insisted on the fact that they needed something they did not yet have: “You are going to receive a power, that of the Holy Spirit, and you will be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1:8). We too need to be renewed by the Spirit of Jesus.

What shows the difference between an evangelizer and a new evangelizer is Pentecost. Only the Holy Spirit makes us witnesses of the resurrection of Christ Jesus. He who has not had his personal experience of Pentecost cannot evangelize with strength, for no one can touch hearts except the Holy Spirit, who makes us proclaim that Jesus is Lord and Saviour. The new evangelizer is not satisfied with knowledge, nor with service, nor with proclamation. There is something deeper than all this. Three people seem exemplary; however, they lacked the little detail.

Nicodemus

Nicodemus was a sage, a master in Israel, who knew the Law and whom all consulted for the most difficult questions. However, in spite of his knowledge, his titles and his reputation, he lacked a fundamental little detail: being born again. It is not enough to know things with the head. They must be known by experience. One can be an expert in the things of the Lord, have titles in religious sciences and even be graduated in theology from a renowned University; that does not suffice. It is not bad, but what had happened to the priest of the procession can happen, who had organized everything perfectly, but had forgotten the little detail. He who is born again communicates the new life; otherwise, it is reduced to theory or to pure incarnate-less doctrine.

Samuel

His mother Hannah consecrated him to the Lord as soon as he was weaned. The singing of the Psalms was the first music he heard, and liturgical ceremonies were the setting of his childhood. That is why it is not surprising to find him from his youth in the Temple, rendering services at the side of the Priest Eli. Scripture affirms that Samuel served the Lord in the Sanctuary (1 Sm 3:1). However, we are told, six verses further on, that Samuel did not yet know the Lord.

That is to say, although he had been consecrated by his mother, in spite of all those hours of service and consecration to the things of the Lord, he did not even know the person he was serving. Unfortunately, we can be consecrated to the service of the House of the Lord, but without knowing the Lord. One can work hours in the vineyard of the Lord, without knowing the Vinedresser, nor being in love with the heir. We can be for the things of the Lord, without, however, being for the Lord of things.

But as soon as Samuel began to listen, not only to the Word of the Lord, but to the Lord who spoke to him, he became a prophet.

That is to say, we can accomplish a service (including the ministry of the Word) as mere hired workers, professionals of office, but when we have had a personal encounter with the Lord, then we become prophets.

Cleopas

Jesus had managed to revive the hopes of liberation of Israel. As legitimate son of David, he nourished the expectation of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. However, everything vanished in three days. The high priests and the scribes arrested him unexpectedly, condemned him and executed him, to avoid the danger that threatened the existing structures. Thus the feast of the Passover was splashed with the blood of another innocent lamb, which was shed on the mount of Calvary. In all those who had followed him, the call of national restoration was quickly extinguished. There was nothing more to be done.

Some hid themselves, others scattered, and many were those who deserted, denying their relationship with the crucified one. Thus died another of those dreams of liberation and justice of the people of Israel. On the first day of the week, two disciples went out of the fortified city of David to walk the arid road of disappointment, while the sun was dying, leaving the whole world in mourning.

They conversed among themselves, sad and with dark faces, about everything that had happened to Jesus of Nazareth; they remembered his miracles and his healings: he had done everything well, without hurting or grieving anyone. They admired his great power and acknowledged that there was a power of God in him... but everything was well over and their hope had completely disappeared. Quickly, and on the same road, a pilgrim joined the two disciples. He had a travelling staff in his hand, leather sandals and a light white tunic.

He approached and, seeing the anguish of the travellers, said to them, “What were you talking about?” Astonished at so much ignorance, they stopped, with dark faces, because He was touching an open wound that had not yet healed. Then they said to him: “Are you the only inhabitant of the city who does not know what happened there? In what tomb were you hidden for three days, so as not to realize the news that has shaken the bowels of the earth and dimmed the light of the sun? You know nothing of what all Jerusalem talks about and what the world will comment on for many years?

The mysterious traveller, shrugging his shoulders, answered with an astonished air: “What things?” That question refreshed the memory of Cleopas, who immediately began to tell him everything he knew about Jesus: the miracles, the healings and his prophetic mission. With a sad air, he added: “We ourselves had hoped that it was he who was going to deliver Israel, but... our authorities condemned him to death and hanged him on the cross; and it is already three days since these things happened...” Cleopas had heard the cries of the crowd demanding the condemnation of the King of the Jews.

He was present at the procession toward Calvary and, from a sheltered place, he had been a witness of his last breath. He had seen how the stone had been rolled to seal the tomb. That is why he spoke with authority of all these details. Then, without conviction, and ill at ease, he added “...it happened that this morning some women who are of our number went to the tomb and stunned us by telling us that they had not found his body, but that they had had the vision of angels who say he is living...

However, to make sure of all this, some of our number went to the tomb; the stone had been removed, but they did not see the angels...” Cleopas had spoken with assurance of everything that related to the life and to the death of the Master, but when it came to the resurrection, he contented himself with repeating what the women had said that the angels had said. He did not have the personal experience that Jesus was alive; that is why he had to tell what others said that others had said.

He who has not had the experience of the risen Christ will always have to repeat what others have said or written on the subject, because he has nothing to say by himself. If we realize well, the discourse of Cleopas contains the same message as that of Peter on the day of Pentecost, but with the following differences: - Peter announces a Good News, whereas Cleopas only transmits news. Cleopas refers to the death and to the resurrection with a sad air. His account of the events is wrapped in disappointment. His joy had remained buried in the tomb of the crucified one.

Peter transmits a testimony of what he himself has experienced, whereas Cleopas simply repeats from memory what others have reported to him, that others had said. - Pentecost is the testimony of the Spirit. On the road to Emmaus, Cleopas only repeats the testimony of the women. Peter is convinced of what he speaks. Cleopas only repeats.

- And all this because of a great difference at the root: Cleopas was the reporter of what his correspondents had transmitted to him about the resurrection, whereas Peter testifies to what he himself has experienced. It is therefore fitting that we ask ourselves: Are we simple reporters or true evangelizers? A reporter informs, but converts no one, whereas a testimony has the force of conviction. Cleopas proclaims news, but not the Gospel. It is not enough to know technically the truths and the facts that one proclaims.

One must at the same time be a witness who evangelizes with a contagious joy, a firm hope and a personal assurance. That is why the result is obvious: the discourse of a witness, anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit, converts three thousand souls. Whereas with three thousand discourses like that of Cleopas the reporter, one converts no one. In summary, it is not enough to be, neither sages like Nicodemus, nor workers in the vineyard like Samuel, nor preachers like Cleopas. One must make a personal encounter with the risen Jesus.

It is the fundamental little detail that makes us new evangelizers. The New Evangelization can only be carried out by new evangelizers who have been renewed by the Spirit of God and anointed by his power, and who are witnesses that Jesus is alive.

8 - New strategy

The New Evangelization requires a new strategy. The only way to communicate the whole Gospel to the whole man and to all men is that we work as the body of Christ. The unity of all the members of the Body of Christ is imperative to be able to evangelize effectively. In the course of the last meal, Jesus interceded in the priestly prayer: “Father, may they be one, so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). From this text, we can realize that unity turns directly to the profit of evangelization. Whereas if each one works alone or on the margin of the others, he will be like a member detached from the body, which loses all its strength and all its effectiveness.

The unity of the different Movements of the Church must be an imperative beyond the prestige or the recognition of our movement. What must interest us above all is that the Gospel reaches all men and all human structures. If we do not renounce our particularism, which is a form of selfishness, we will have no effectiveness in evangelization.

Saint Luke recounts an episode that marvellously illustrates the fruit of unity (cf Lc 5:1-7): After Simon Peter had spent the whole night fishing without catching anything, and had experienced the bitter taste of failure, he drew back to the edge of the water to wash his nets. But Jesus went up into his boat and led it into the deep waters. We must go much deeper than where we have arrived today. Whereas if we do not go into deep waters, or if, discouraged, we wash our nets, we will never succeed in the abundant catch that we need.

When they found themselves in the middle of the sea of Tiberias, he ordered them to cast their nets to fish. Although that seems incongruous to Peter, he executed it on the Word of the Lord.

Here is the secret of the New Evangelization: if we do it in our own name or in the name of one group or Movement, we will be like Peter when he fished a whole night without catching anything. But when he did it in the Name of the Lord, the quantity of fish was so great that his net almost broke and he could not haul it in. The following teaching is by far the richest: if he persisted in hauling in the net full of fish, it would have broken. If they had succeeded, the boat would have sunk under the weight and they would have perished, for they were far from the shore.

They then made signs to their companions in the other boat, so that they would come to their help. When they arrived, they hauled in the net together and filled the two boats to the point that they were sinking. Alone, we cannot haul in the net, because it does not hold. It is broken and it is lost. If we want to load all the fish into our boat, they will be so numerous that the net will break and the fish will be lost.

The prudent strategy was to ask for the help of their associates. When these arrived, the operation could fortunately be accomplished. The teaching is that, for us to have success in evangelization, we must help one another. Otherwise, the boat of Peter would remain empty or would sink. And they filled the two boats so much: there is fish for all. All the boats can be filled, but always on the same condition: collaborating with one another.

If Peter had wanted all the catch for himself, he would have lost it completely, but when he decided to share it with his colleagues in the other boat, he was able to fill his own. On the other hand, it is when his companions, who were on the shore without having caught anything, decided to help in a disinterested way those who were fishing that they saw their boat fill as well. We have too little time to evangelize. We cannot afford the luxury of wasting it with jealousies, envies or criticisms.

We must take advantage of it to evangelize, sharing our spoils, our experience and all the good that we have accumulated over the course of our career. In my opinion, the greatest miracle is not the quantity of fish they obtained, but the unity of the fishermen. The abundance of fish was not a miracle, but the logical consequence of the unity of the fishermen. When we evangelize united as the body of Christ, we will be surprised at the great power we have when we work together.

That is why I would not call this passage the “miracle catch of fish,” but rather: when we unite to evangelize, the testimony of the love we manifest has a greater power than the words we pronounce. That is why Jesus says in the priestly prayer: “Father, may they be one as you and I are one, so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). That is to say, the testimony of Christian unity is a sign that shows that the Kingdom has arrived in this world, and it redounds directly to the favour of evangelization.

Conclusion

The New Evangelization is the fruit of the New Spirit promised by the prophet Ezekiel: I will put within you a New Spirit... (Ez 36:26). Only the Holy Spirit can renew the face of the earth, renewing the hearts of those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour. He alone makes us proclaim that Jesus is the Lord. The Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus in the Jordan is the same one who strengthens the evangelizers to announce the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead and opens hearts, disposing them to respond to the call of conversion.

The New Evangelization is integral: the whole Gospel for the whole man and for all men. The Gospel that changes hearts also transforms the relations of men and establishes a new way of life, in accord with the values and the criteria of the Gospel. In a word, it establishes the civilization of love, a kingdom of justice, joy and peace in the Spirit.

The New Evangelization cannot exist without new evangelizers who are not reporters who repeat what others have said, but witnesses with open eyes and a beating heart who have experienced the New Life and have touched the Word of Life. Evangelizers who evangelize with the ardour of one who has lived a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and who cannot refrain from speaking of what he has lived.

In the course of the International Congress of the Renewal celebrated in Rome in 1975, there was a prophecy in Saint Peter's Basilica in which Ralph Martin said, among other things: “An age of evangelization is coming such as has never yet been seen in my Church.” Seven years later, the Pope began to speak of the New Evangelization. Will the New Evangelization not be the path by which this prophecy is accomplished?

On the other hand, within the Renewal is born the project “Evangelization 2000,” which encourages Catholics to be evangelizers and which attempts to offer Jesus a great gift for his two thousandth anniversary: a more Christian world, without wars nor injustices, a world where justice and peace, solidarity and love reign. We are approaching the year 2000. Many will speak of catastrophes, but we are the messengers of the Good News: God so loved the world that He sent his only Son, not to condemn it, but so that the world might be saved.

We are at the end of this second millennium, and if it is quite true that there are great problems and that we are in danger of a nuclear catastrophe, it is no less certain that God loves this world and wants to save it. We are on the eve of an anniversary: it is going to be 2000 years that Jesus is alive and gives life to those who believe in his name. And the Gospel, instead of fading or weakening, finds a new brilliance. There is no other answer for the man of today than the way of life and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. We are approaching the year 2000, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We do not need a new Gospel, but a New Evangelization. It is the hour to evangelize, and to evangelize united.

Reproduced

On 11 February 2001

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

World Day of the Sick

By Yves Rancourt, priest

St-Georges

P.Q. Canada