‘The Sacred Ground of the Other’: Reverence and Evangelization according to Pope Francis

To walk with others in accompaniment and evangelization, we must have a profound respect for them, rooted in love.

Burning Bush by Sébastien Bourdon, c. 17th century, in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

By Meg Stout

When we consider the important task of evangelization, we are often caught up in the many ways we can share the Gospel — by providing a testimony, sharing Scripture, praying together or explaining a teaching of the faith or the four points of the kerygma. Those things certainly deserve attention and practice, but we also do well to cultivate an interior disposition of reverence.

Reverence in Accompaniment

In his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis speaks of what he terms the art of accompaniment. Accompaniment makes present Christ’s nearness and his personal gaze, thus leading the other closer to God (cf. EG 169). Pope Francis boldly claims that everyone will need to be formed in the art of accompaniment:

The Church will have to initiate everyone — priests, religious and laity — into this ‘art of accompaniment’ which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other. The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life. (EG 169)

At the heart of accompaniment is reverence. The imagery of removing our sandals before the sacred ground of the other comes from the well-known encounter between Moses and the burning bush. Moses notices the bush and approaches it, wondering how it is not consumed by the flames. God then calls out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses… Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for you are standing on holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)  Pope Francis is drawing a parallel here. Moses is before the presence of the Lord; removing his sandals is a sign of reverence. When we are in the presence of another person, we should respond in the same way. But what does that mean?

Reverence can be described as a profound respect marked by a loving awe and humility for someone or something. It is recognizing someone as worthy of being honored, as someone to behold. In accompaniment, reverence is made present in how we receive a person. This is done through the quality of our attention, which is the means through which another’s interior is received and loved. 

Receiving in Love

Looking to Jesus as an example, we see in his encounters that he does not simply read minds and reveal everything about a person. He actually models a quality of listening and attending; he holds space for people to speak. 

Consider Jesus and the woman at the well in John 4. They have a relatively brief exchange, and only a fraction of it was actually about the Samaritan woman’s own life — her having had many husbands. Yet, when she runs back to town, she exclaims, “He told me all that I ever did” (John 4:39). In fact, he said very little about what she did, but her response reveals that she felt known by him; that he saw her and listened to her. 

Through a person’s self-disclosure and with the help of the Spirit, we, too, can receive another person deeply. This can be an experience of healing and love that not only meets a human need but points the other to the tenderness of Jesus Christ. 

Pope Francis continues: We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur (EG 171).

To receive someone with an open heart is to position yourself in a place of vulnerability. You draw close to the other, sharing in his or her condition, even in suffering. It is an offering of communion; an intimacy for which every human heart is made. Intimacy with another person can be thought of as “being fully at home with someone. It is a place where I am fully known and loved and received as I am.” (Friendship in the Lord, p.23) It is in this context that God’s own love can be experienced through the other’s gift of presence. 

Cultivating Reverence

How do we really attend to another in such a way that God’s love is experienced? 

This can be a challenge because we are often inundated, interiorly, with our own thoughts, opinions and noise. These things preoccupy us and make it difficult to give our full presence. We are often already thinking of what we will say next, or the laundry we forgot to turn over, or how that dog won’t stop barking next door. With so much going through our minds, it is no wonder we can hardly see, listen and come to know someone. 

A good habit that can cultivate reverence is silence. By taking just a few minutes of silent prayer each day (and thereby attending to God), we begin to train our hearts in openness and our bodies in stillness. The fruit is increased reverence. Our presence then becomes a form of evangelization, opening a space in which others may come to experience, through us, the love of Christ — his nearness and his gaze.