EVANGELII GAUDIUM - page 214

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Star of the new evangelization
287. We ask the Mother of the living Gospel
to intercede that this invitation to a new phase
of evangelization will be accepted by the en-
tire ecclesial community. Mary is the woman
of faith, who lives and advances in faith,214 and
“her exceptional pilgrimage of faith represents
a constant point of reference for the Church”.215
Mary let herself be guided by the Holy Spirit on a
journey of faith towards a destiny of service and
fruitfulness. Today we look to her and ask her
to help us proclaim the message of salvation to
all and to enable new disciples to become evan-
gelizers in turn.216 Along this journey of evan-
gelization we will have our moments of aridity,
darkness and even fatigue. Mary herself expe-
rienced these things during the years of Jesus’
childhood in Nazareth: “This is the beginning of
the Gospel, the joyful good news. However, it is
not difficult to see in that beginning a particular
heaviness of heart, linked with a sort of night
of faith – to use the words of Saint John of the
Cross – a kind of ‘veil’ through which one has
to draw near to the Invisible One and to live in
intimacy with the mystery. And this is the way
that Mary, for many years, lived in intimacy with
214 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 52-69.
215 John P aul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater (25
March 1987), 6: AAS 79 (1987), 366-367.
216 Cf. Propositio 58.