‘Rejoice and Be Glad’: Bishop O’Connell issues reflection on Pope’s exhortation

“Pope Francis has issued an apostolic exhortation on this topic today, April 9, 2018, “Rejoice and Be Glad ( Gaudete et Exsultate).”  An apostolic exhortation does not carry the doctrinal weight of an encyclical but, rather, expresses an encouragement of the Pope to the Church community.  The Pope cautions the reader that this document “is not meant to be a treatise” or an academic, doctrinal text.  It is proposed and intended to be a personal, pastoral and practical invitation to each and every one of us in the Church to draw closer to the Lord Jesus Christ in our everyday lives.  Many Catholics might not be inclined to read papal documents in detail, whether clergy, religious or lay faithful.  This exhortation, however, speaks in simple, accessible language in an attempt to redirect our attention to the everyday “holiness” that we are called to live: “in parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile,” people he calls the “saints next door (n. 7).”  Holiness is the goal of clergy and religious to be sure but it is, at the same time and no less authentically, not merely a requirement for them.  “We are all called to be holy by living our lives and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves (n. 14),” “each in his or her own way (n. 11).”