 |
| ALL THE BISHOPS OF THE WORLD were assembled for the Second Vatican Council |
Now the Holy
Father invites all of the Bishops of the world to join with him during the Year
of Faith in recalling God's generous and precious gift of Faith. He calls for
the year to be celebrated in "a worthy and fruitful manner". He
desires all the faithful to intensify their reflection on the Faith, so that
all believers may more consciously and vigorously adhere to the Gospel. He
emphasizes the importance of this especially in these times of radical change
we are all experiencing. The Holy Father sees the public profession of our
Faith, in our families and homes, our schools, churches and Cathedrals right
around the world, as giving us strength through God's grace, so that we may
know our Faith better, and better transmit it to future generations. He requires
all religious communities new and old, to find ways to make a public profession
of the Credo.
The Holy
Father goes on to emphasize that he desires every believer to profess their
Faith in its fullness with renewed conviction and with confidence and hope.
Inevitably of course, this leads him to the subject of the celebration of the
Faith through the Sacred Liturgy. (One is reminded of Father John Zuhlsdorf's
theme on WDTPRS? Blog - Save the Liturgy - Save the World.)The Holy Father
quotes the Council's document" Sacrosanctum Consilium ": that the
Eucharist is "the summit toward which the activity of the Church is
directed......and the source from which all its power flows." At the same
time, he prays that the witness of Faith affecting the lives of believers may
grow in credibility - especially in the Year of Faith.
 |
| THE SOURCE ..AND SUMMIT PUBLIC PROFESSION OF OUR FAITH Chaplain Mike Dalton celebrates Holy Mass in the field during WWII . |
These times as
a whole, are therefore seen to be as demanding as the separate occasions Saint
Thomas Aquinas envisaged, when he wrote :" It is not necessary for
salvation to confess one's Faith at all times and in all places, but in certain
places and at certain times, when, namely, by omitting to do so, we would
deprive God of due honor, or our neighbor of a service that we ought to render
to him : for instance, if a man on being asked about his Faith, were to remain
silent, so as to make people believe either that he is without Faith, or that
the Faith is false, or so as to turn others away from the Faith; for in such
cases as these, confession of Faith is necessary for Salvation." ( Summa Theologica
, 2-2,3,2. 13th Cent.)
The
exceptional witness of early Catholics in those very first centuries after the
Resurrection, the Holy Father recalls especially their reverence for and
familiarity with the Creed. So great was that reverence and familiarity, that
they could and did, recite the Creed from memory. It had been learned by heart.
Upon being received into the Church they recited it as a group and then
individually, one by one, before the copy of it was formally presented to them.
So we see that
the object of the Year of Faith is that every believer should make his own, the
task of re-discovering the content of the Faith, professing it, celebrating it
, living it and praying it - in sum, being totally renewed as a true follower
of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
 |
| WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008 OPENING MASS' "We Proclaim your Death O Lord, and profess Your Resurrection" |
