ARTURO ZUÑIGA
ENCOUNTERS: February 07, 2026
FAITH is an encounter with Jesus, and we must try to do what Jesus does: encounter others even in our everyday life settings… we must go out to meet them, and with our faith we must create this culture of encounter, a culture of friendship, a culture in which we find brothers and sisters… those alien to us, pray for and with them, empathize in their fears, tragedies and sorrows. And this brings us to another important point: encountering the poor. If we step outside ourselves, we find poverty all around us. Within the culture of encounter, then, if I may use a common expression, it’s essential to be quiet and listen. Let the marginalized speak, let them show you, let them teach you. With their help, you will begin to see, but differently from using one’s habitual tools of perception and analysis. Thence we find ways to help not to feel good but with genuine love and charity that overwhelms.
Lord, grant us the inner joy that translates all our encounters and gives it a new meaning. We then encounter Jesus in a personal and intimate way and establish a deeper relationship with Him as our friend and savior. The encounter with Jesus can become the game changer in our lives. Once we encounter and accept Him this way, we will never be the same person again. This is what “a new horizon and a decisive direction” (2) can happen in our spiritual lives. We have become a new man or woman that transforms us in a most wonderful and amazing way. We can then have the grace to welcome the Holy Father’s apostolic exhortation – Evangelii Gaudium (1)– the joy of the gospel. New Evangelization is not a new program of evangelization or a new mission that we as disciples of Jesus have to fulfill. “New Evangelization is rekindling the joy and the fire of God’s love in our hearts. It is to go back to our first love that we seem to have lost along the way, among the many concerns we have to face every day. St. John Paul II coined the term new evangelization, the call for a enhanced evangelization that is new in fervor, new in methods, and new in expression” (1a) …even in this unusual, shared circumstance. “That being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea”, but a renewing “encounter with Jesus in our everyday lives, in an event, a person” (2) and even now in a shared crisis with the rest of humanity. This gives life a humbling experience, deeper understanding, new aspirations for self and others and a decisive direction to be better in faith and love for others. GOD BLESS US ALL.
- EVANGELII GAUDIUM 2013 Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis to the bishops, clergy, consecrated persons and the lay faithful on the proclamation of the gospel in today’s world
(1a) Fr. Jason H. Laguerta, Ph.D. from the Office for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Archdiocese of Manila. Excerpts from his talk on Agents of the New Evangelization
2. Benedict XVI said in Deus Caritas Est, an encyclical letter encyclical letter to the bishops priests and deacons men and women religious and all the lay faithful
on Christian love