{"id":6528,"date":"2021-08-09T13:11:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T17:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/news\/news-2\/popes-prayer-intention-august-church-way\/"},"modified":"2021-08-09T13:11:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T17:11:20","slug":"popes-prayer-intention-august-church-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/news\/news-2\/popes-prayer-intention-august-church-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope’s prayer intention for August: Church on the way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Vatican News<\/a>
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\nIn his video message for his prayer intention for August, Pope Francis reminds the faithful that \u201cthe vocation of the Church is evangelization,\u201d and even more, \u201cthe Church\u2019s identity is evangelization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

In this month, the Holy Father reflects on the situation of the Church, its vocation and its identity, and calls us to renew it \u201cby discerning God\u2019s will in our daily life,\u201d and \u201cembarking on a transformation guided by the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cOur own reform as persons is that transformation,\u201d the Pope said. This allows the \u201cHoly Spirit, the gift of God in our hearts, to remind us what Jesus taught and helps us to put into practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Evangelization and a more missionary option<\/strong>
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\nPope Francis begins with the specific vocation of the Church, which is to evangelize. The Holy Father dreams of an even more missionary option: “one that goes out to meet others without proselytism and transforms its structures for the evangelization of today\u2019s world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

He emphasizes that he is not talking about proselytism but rather a reform of the Church through \u201ca reform of ourselves, without prefabricated ideas, without ideological prejudices and rigidity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

To make progress in this regard, Pope Francis invites all to move forward based on spiritual experience: \u201can experience of prayer, an experience of charity and an experience of service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Reforming the Church<\/strong>
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\n\u201cLet us remember that the Church always has difficulties,\u201d the Pope said, explaining that the Church goes through crises because she is alive; not like the dead who do not go through crises.<\/p>\n\n

In a statement accompanying the Pope\u2019s prayer intention, the Pope\u2019s Worldwide Prayer Network, which prepares \u201cThe Pope Video\u201d each month, explains that in the recent letter Pope Francis wrote to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, in which he refused his offer of resignation, the Holy Father acknowledged the crisis in the Church brought about by abuse cases, emphasizing the need for reform.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cA reform… does not consist in words but in attitudes that have the courage to face the crisis, to assume reality whatever the consequences may be. And every reform begins with oneself. The reform in the Church was made by men and women who were not afraid to enter into crisis and let themselves be reformed by the Lord,\u201d the Pope said.<\/p>\n\n

Concluding the video message, the Holy Father invited all to pray for the Church, \u201cthat she may receive from the Holy Spirit the grace and strength to reform herself in the light of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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