EVANGELII GAUDIUM - page 133

133
are valued in different cultural settings, including
those unconventional modes of beauty which
may mean little to the evangelizers, yet prove
particularly attractive for others.
168. As for the moral component of cat-
echesis, which promotes growth in fidelity to the
Gospel way of life, it is helpful to stress again
and again the attractiveness and the ideal of a life
of wisdom, self-fulfilment and enrichment. In
the light of that positive message, our rejection
of the evils which endanger that life can be bet-
ter understood. Rather than experts in dire pre-
dictions, dour judges bent on rooting out every
threat and deviation, we should appear as joyful
messengers of challenging proposals, guardians
of the goodness and beauty which shine forth in
a life of fidelity to the Gospel.
Personal accompaniment in processes of growth
169. In a culture paradoxically suffering from
anonymity and at the same time obsessed with
the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly
given over to morbid curiosity, the Church must
look more closely and sympathetically at oth-
ers whenever necessary. In our world, ordained
ministers and other pastoral workers can make
present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and
his personal gaze. The Church will have to ini-
tiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into
this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to
remove our sandals before the sacred ground of
1...,123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132 134,135,136,137,138,139,140,141,142,143,...224
Powered by FlippingBook