FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL

WEAVING IT ALL TOGETHER

In this third millennium, during these end times, the 3 most important words in understanding the fullness of our vision and mission are “evangelization,” “family” and “life.” The 3 are distinct from each other, but at the same time form one unified strand making up the fullness of God’s work in and through us.

Evangelization
Evangelization is the proclamation of the good news of salvation in Jesus to the world. All Christians should be evangelizers. We in CFC-FFL exist to evangelize.

Evangelizers need to be formed, and this happens in the family. From the time that a child is born, to the time when he ventures out into the world, parents introduce their child to God, by bringing Christ into the home environment. As effective evangelizers need to be witnesses, children are formed in the home so that they grow in Christian virtues. They need to see in their parents the passion to proclaim Christ. Finally, as they themselves go into the environments of the world in order to evangelize, family members continue to be supported and sustained by a home base that provides love, comfort and strength.

Evangelizers witness to life that is lived to the full or in abundance. This does not necessarily relate to material abundance, but to fullness of grace and blessings that can only come from a loving and merciful God. Evangelizers witness to the love of God in Jesus, and they become effective when they live lives of love, peace, hope and joy.
Thus crucial to evangelization are the family and the culture of life.

Family
The object and subject of our evangelization is the family. We evangelize the family, and the evangelized family, together with many others, in turn evangelizes the world.

The family is of crucial importance because it is the basic unit of society. It is the formation and training ground for society’s future members. The strength and vibrancy of families will determine the strength and vibrancy of the larger society. John Paul II said that “the future of humanity passes by way of the family.” Thus, everyone can participate in the renewal of society simply by living a life in Christ within the family.
The family is where life happens. Firstly, children are born of parents, and they all together make up a family. Secondly, the family is the place of nurture, where children experience love, caring, sharing, and the fullness of life as intended by God. Finally, the family reaches out to the world so that the life of Christ it is experiencing will be shared by many more.

Thus the family is all about life and evangelization.

Life
The mission of Jesus is about life. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10b). For people in the world, Jesus came and gave his life on the cross in order to win life for us who are sinners. This is the good news of salvation in Jesus, that before we were dead in sin, and now we are alive in Christ. Thus in our mission for life, we evangelize.

But the mission of Jesus is not only about spiritual life but about earthly life in abundance as well. It is life lived to the full, to its fullest potential, according to the blessings God has already reserved for His people.

The enjoyment of God’s blessings begins in the family. This is where life is nurtured. No matter what is happening out in the world, the family provides a haven, a piece of Kingdom ground, a verdant oasis amidst the barrenness of relationships in the outside world. In the home, family members learn how to really live, that is, according to the way of life of Jesus.

But God is not about building spiritual ghettos. So the family needs to go into the world and do its share to enable people first of all just to live, and then secondly to live life to the full. This means fighting against the culture of death. This means fighting against poverty and social injustice. This means working to build a world of solidarity, justice and peace.

Thus life is very much about evangelization and about family.

CFC-FFL
CFC-FFL is an evangelistic and missionary community. We exist to evangelize and to do mission. Such is our call, our work, our privilege and our responsibility. We are centered on Christ and everything we do is about Christ. We struggle to build God’s kingdom on earth, while looking to our eternal reward in heaven. We proclaim Christ and desire that Jesus be accepted throughout the world as Savior and Lord. We do our work in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In our work of evangelization, we focus on renewing the family and on defending life. This is one inter-woven work. In the Church there are many other groups, communities and movements that have been raised by God to do one or another of these different aspects. There are those who evangelize but do not directly build up the family or fight for life. There are those who support marriage and the family but do not proclaim Christ or fully uphold the culture of life. There are pro-lifers or those working to improve the quality of human life (like helping the poor) but who do not proclaim Christ or work for family renewal. At times, in a veering away from God’s intent, such might even collaborate with those working against the culture of life.

For our part, we as CFC-FFL necessarily are involved in all three aspects of evangelization, family and life.

The challenge
In the world today, the enemy has focused on the essentials in opposing the work of God. The enemy has targeted faith and the lordship of Jesus by means of secular humanism, radical feminism, consumerism, communism, fascism, New Age, Freemasonry. The enemy has attacked the family by means of divorce, separation, same-sex marriage, valueless sex education, pornography, sexual immorality. The enemy has assaulted life by means of the culture of death, through abortion, contraception, sterilization, euthanasia, assisted suicide, poverty, social injustice, genocide.

We in CFC-FFL have been called to stand up for God and His work. We evangelize, renew the family, and defend life. These are at the very heart of God. These are the very reason for our existence.

February 16, 2009

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