Dr Garikai Madavo SJ reflects on Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention –
Intention: Let us pray that in large cities, often marked by anonymity and loneliness, we find new ways to proclaim the Gospel, discovering creative paths to build community.
“The City Perplexes All Of Us.” St Augustine, an African bishop from 1600 years ago, reminded his people that two cities run through us: one built on fear, one built on faith. Today, we are in a similar predicament. Ethicists, moral theologians, clergy, and ordinary evangelists like you and me all wonder what will become of this world.
We are restless and perplexed. No one knows the future of artificial intelligence (AI); political tensions seem irresolvable; moral decay is everywhere.
Nor do we fully know the minds of Gen Z, but we do know this: they hunger for authenticity, for belonging, for something real. Just like every generation before them.
It is right here, in the noise, vitality, and rush of our city that today’s Christian is called to find new ways to proclaim the Gospel, to discover creative paths to build community — not with proselytising arguments or bigger programmes, but simply with hope.
Just a little yeast…
Let us be encouraged in this task of evangelising the city with hope. Recall that the kingdom of God “is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 60 pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33). Only a little yeast is required to work the miracle of evangelisation in our city.
It is the little things, those small sacrifices and commitments, that evangelise the city: showing up for Small Christian Community prayer, even when you’re tired, receiving Communion regularly, visiting a sick neighbour rather than just texting “get well soon”, forgiving the colleague who gossiped about you, offering a glass of water to the street vendor, carrying the basket for your grandma who sells tomatoes at the street corner, listening to others without a phone in your hand…
Such ordinary acts of kindness are the yeast which the city yearns for. We all crave people who know us by our name; people who go with us one step further than the ordinary “how are you?” When these things are done with joyful hearts and passion filled with hope, the soul of the city is nourished. The city starts to feel evangelised, smell evangelised, and taste evangelised.
And remember: in doing these things, we are not alone. The same Jesus who walked the road to Emmaus with two perplexed, confused and hopeless disciples walks our streets today (Luke 24:13-35). He joins us when we are perplexed, “when the city feels too big and our faith feels too small”. He listens to our doubts on the street corners. He breaks open the Scriptures for us, even on social media platforms. He sits with us in hospital corridors.
Often we don’t recognise him, but if we pay more attention, we should wonder how we could not identify him when our hearts were burning inside. He promised: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He hasn’t left the city. He’s in it, with us and with the people we are trying to reach.
So we must be witnesses of Christ in the city. Be the yeast. Be the light. And do it with hope. As we pray for new ways of evangelisation, remember that the city is not yearning for a perfect plan, nor waiting for someone else to come and make a difference. The city is waiting for you and me. Christ is already present in our midst, walking right there beside us.
- Pray with the Pope: Evangelising the city with hope - August 3, 2026
- Dominican Vice Province Study Days Conference 2026 - July 31, 2026
- Mass Readings: 2 August – 9 August, 2026 - July 28, 2026
