Gospel Lives in Me Introduction

The Gospel Lives in Me will be the name of the new monthly Gospel to life application shared by the Pauline Cooperators in the US and Canada. This simple leaflet will be mailed monthly and have space on the Internet as well. Receiving it will be the moment the Gospel is proclaimed among the Association of Pauline Cooperators for meditation, deepening and inflaming us to live the passage as a testimony to the hope that is in us. The seed of the Word will take root in our life, grow and overflow as "the Word/Bread of Life prepared and broken" for our family, friends, neighbors and whomever we meet. As Paul we will "see Christ with our own eyes" and desire to proclaim him to everyone. This leaflet will be written in the Pauline method: truth, way and life, as a reflection of the recent Synod on the Word. The objective of this practice is "to know the heart of God through the word of God." St. Gregory the Great on Lectio (reading) Divina (divine).

Here is a suggested outline: 1. Preparing the environment (or context) where your encounter with the Word will take place. For example you may open a Bible in your home, bring the leaflet to Mass or Eucharistic adoration.2. Next, the Holy Spirit is invoked so that "as the Word was made a book," as in the experience of the first Christian community, so now "the book becomes Word."3. The third step is the reading, or rather, the proclamation (especially in a group or family setting) of the Biblical text followed by a moment of silence for personal reflection. The participant(s) are then encouraged to annotate the passage, using, for example, question marks beside passages that seem more difficult to understand and underlining verses they consider particularly important. In this way you discover the key points of the passage. The passage is read again, marking it this time with exclamation points beside those verses that invite them to actions or changes of attitudes. With an asterisk mark those passages that help you to pray.4. Move on to meditation, following the exclamation points. A group may be invited to ask questions that apply to their lives.5. Next you (or the group) begins to pray, using the asterisks -- to pray from and with the word of God and what has been lived in the encounter with the Word, that is, with Christ.6. Time is left for contemplation in silence or with music. What is important is that "Jesus takes hold of me, looks at me and I at him, an exchange of gazes."7. You then move to the last stage, "action," writing a word (for example, dialogue or help) that indicates to them the path to follow and share. If may be shared on the Internet or in the Pauline Cooperator magazine.

Cf: Auxiliary Bishop Santiago Silva Retamales of Valparaiso, Chile