Evangelization, between emotion and reason

In times when the role of emotions in the experience of faith occupies the headlines of the general and religious media, there are experiences that remind us that Christianity continues to be transmitted, above all, from person to person. Friday evening was one of them.

For almost four hours, some forty-five people gathered at the house of Javier Huerta and Marta, his wife. The simple and domestic convocation consisted of sharing their testimony of faith, watching a documentary, listening to live Christian music, dialoguing and having dinner together. Nothing spectacular from the outside. However, the experience had a rare intensity: many of those present were not believers or were far from the Church.

An unintended conversion

The evening began with the story of Javier and Marta's conversion. It was not a planned search or the result of a long process. As Javier explained, it all started unexpectedly when they heard the song Hurricane, of Hakuna. At that moment - according to his own testimony - he had the inner certainty that God existed and that He loved him.

That initial intuition triggered something much deeper than a passing emotion. Javier began to read with a voracity that was unusual for him. He immersed himself in classic texts of spirituality, of the great saints of the Church, and in science books: physics, cosmology, biology. What he found along the way surprised him profoundly: the more he learned about the conclusions of contemporary science on the universe and human life, the more reasonable the idea of a thought-out and ordered cosmos seemed to him.

As a result of this process, he decided to invest time and resources in a singular project: the production of a forty-minute documentary that synthesizes scientific arguments - cosmological and biological - that point to the existence of God. The approach is reminiscent of the apologetic current that in recent years has been popularized in Spain by authors such as José Carlos González-Hurtado or some international essays on the relationship between God and science.

From reason to emotion

The evening alternated the viewing of this documentary with some songs, whose lyrics conveyed the closeness and love of God, appealing directly to the heart and the experience of encountering God.

But the meeting was not limited to the emotional. There was also a doctrinal intervention of about fifteen minutes, aimed at giving intellectual content to the faith and the experience of God that was proposed. This was followed by questions from the audience, a snack supper with what the attendees brought with them and, at the end, three songs of praise in a more charismatic style.

The atmosphere was surprisingly welcoming for very different profiles: convinced believers, people far from the Church, Catholics unaccustomed to musical expressions of faith or, on the contrary, enthusiastic about them. Many participants had been to Emmaus and brought their friends to an experience that could open them to an encounter with Christ. The result, in human terms, was pleasant and intellectually stimulating. Spiritually, for many, it was very meaningful.

Javier and Marta organize these meetings approximately every month. In a little more than a year, more than eight hundred people have visited their house. The couple speaks naturally of the fruits they have seen: friends who are rethinking their faith, unexpected conversations, spiritual paths that are beginning to open up.

His motivation is simple: to offer a space where someone who does not believe can at least seriously consider the possibility that God exists.

The question of emotivism

Experiences such as this take on a special resonance in the current context. Two weeks ago, the Spanish bishops published a document in which they warned about the risks of emotivism in religious experience: the possibility that faith could be reduced to intense feelings without sufficient doctrinal or sacramental foundation.

The text provoked a wide debate in the religious press. Some media interpreted that the warning was indirectly addressed to recent movements and experiences such as Hakuna, Emmaus or Effetá, very focused on personal testimony and the experiential dimension of faith.

The Bishops' Conference explicitly denied this interpretation at the press conference to present the document. Subsequently, a message on social networks from its press office - which was later deleted - reignited the debate.

The result has been a certain ambiguity. When one warns against a phenomenon without specifying to which concrete practices it refers, many may feel alluded to..., or be singled out by others.

The experience at Javier Huerta's house helps to nuance the debate. There was emotion, certainly: songs, silence, personal testimonies. But there was also reason: an apologetic documentary based on scientific arguments, a doctrinal explanation, open dialogue.

In other words, it was an experience that appealed to the heart without renouncing intelligence. It did not pretend to be a complete Christian experience, but it could not be done more in less time. It did not include sacraments or charitable experiences, although they were spoken of very positively. 

The merit of opening the door

Beyond any theoretical discussion, there is one aspect that deserves to be emphasized: the gesture of evangelizing hospitality.

An ordinary married couple who periodically open their home to receive dozens of people -many of them far from the faith- is taking on a considerable effort. Preparation, organization, time, energy. All with a single objective: to share what for them has been a decisive discovery.

This type of initiative recalls something essential to Christianity: for centuries, faith was transmitted in homes, at shared tables and in simple conversations.

A pastoral challenge

The debate on emotivism is not trivial. The Church has a responsibility to take care that faith is not reduced to a passing emotional experience. But it also needs to recognize and accompany the places where faith is reawakening.

Movements and meetings that attract young people and adults far from the Church are bearing evident fruits: conversions, reconciliations, vocations, living communities.

As in any ecclesial reality, there will always be aspects that can be improved. But for this improvement to be possible, pastoral orientations must be clear, concrete and delicately expressed. Otherwise, there is a risk of generating unnecessary suspicion or of weakening the confidence of those who, with great generosity, are trying to proclaim the Gospel in contexts where faith seems to have been extinguished.

Between emotion and truth

Perhaps the simplest lesson of that afternoon is this: the Christian faith is not just an idea or just a feeling. It is, at the same time, an experience that touches the heart and a truth that seeks the intelligence.

And sometimes -as it happens in the living room of any house- both things meet in the simplest place of all: a sincere conversation between friends who wonder, together, if God can exist.