EVANGELII GAUDIUM - page 143

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6:33). Jesus’ mission is to inaugurate the king-
dom of his Father; he commands his disciples
to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of
heaven is at hand” (Mt 10:7).
181. The kingdom, already present and grow-
ing in our midst, engages us at every level of our
being and reminds us of the principle of discern-
ment which Pope Paul VI applied to true devel-
opment: it must be directed to “all men and the
whole man”.145 We know that “evangelization
would not be complete if it did not take account
of the unceasing interplay of the Gospel and of
man’s concrete life, both personal and social”.146
This is the principle of universality intrinsic to
the Gospel, for the Father desires the salvation
of every man and woman, and his saving plan
consists in “gathering up all things in Christ,
things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph 1:10).
Our mandate is to “go into all the world and pro-
claim the good news to the whole creation” (Mk
16:15), for “the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom
8:19). Here, “the creation” refers to every as-
pect of human life; consequently, “the mission
of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ
has a universal destination. Its mandate of char-
ity encompasses all dimensions of existence, all
145 Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio (16 March 1967),
14: AAS 59 (1967), 264.
146 Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi
(8 December 1975), 29: AAS 68 (1976), 25.