A CONTINUOUS CRESCENDO

The  Fullness of God's Love for us.

"The Year of Faith is" the Holy Father tells us, “a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world." He expands on this explanation of its purpose by referring to the great mystery of the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ which reveal so dramatically the fullness of God's Love for us and open the way for our conversion of life through the forgiveness of sins.

He goes on to quote Saint Paul:

"We were buried......with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life."(Rom. 6:4)

Then the Holy Father tells us that “Through Faith, this new life shapes the whole of human existence according to the radical new reality of the Resurrection." We are given a deeper appreciation of this great reality by considering the words of Pope Leo XIII in "Tametsi"(All Saints Day, 1900):

”...He is the origin and source of all good, and just as mankind could not be freed from slavery but by the sacrifice of Christ, so neither can it be preserved but by His power."

 In a wonderful reflection upon a variety of writings of Saint Paul, Pope Benedict explains that "Faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6) becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man's life.

The LateFather John Hardon S.J.
A remarkable example of a life of Faith working through love.

This is a crucial insight. It is something we have always understood implicitly, but here it is so succinctly expressed that we are able to address its implications more effectively. It is a brilliant expression of the appropriate understanding of Jesus as the "Way". It reveals to us with unavoidable clarity how we must follow the "Way".

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's words should leave us unsurprised that we are always able to learn more from the life of Christ: "Every passage in the history of Our Lord and Saviour is of unfathomable depth, and affords inexhaustible matter of contemplation. All that concerns Him is infinite, and what we first discern is but the surface of that which begins and ends in eternity."(Discourses to Mixed Congregations - 19th Cent.)

Moving on the Holy Father explores the implications of this insight, and takes up the ancient formula : " Caritas Christi urget nos" that is " The Love of Christ impels us" (2Cor. 5:14), showing that it is precisely the working of Faith through love, that propels evangelization in every generation and to the ends of the earth. He urges us in effect to re-kindle the fire of apostolic zeal which will fuel the new evangelization. And, he shows that this very act of living out the implications of Faith, itself further develops that Faith and the grace and joy which follow and causes in those evangelized the opening of their hearts and minds to the Divine message.

Two lives exemplifying Faith working through love
in the service of Jesus Christ

The Holy Father quotes the great Saint Augustine to the effect that believers "strengthen themselves by believing". And he shows that in the Saints life we see a continual quest to "…search for the beauty of Faith until such time as his heart would find rest in God". He points out that the mighty writings of Saint Augustine still, after some 1,600 years are leading people to the "door of Faith".

Pope Benedict concludes this section:"Only through believing, then, does Faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one's life apart from self abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God."

AN INVITATION

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God Bless you all!

"".........AND FOLLOW ME."

TRULY FOLLOWING CHRIST

Some three hundred and fifty years before the Motu Proprio "PORTA FIDEI", Father Nicola Avancini S.J. Wrote his " THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST" , which has become known as Avancini's Meditations.

JESUS BIDS THOSE WHO WOULD FOLLOW HIM TO TAKE UP THEIR CROSS                                              

                                                       AND FOLLOW HIM

For Thursday of the Seventeenth Week after Pentecost (EF Calendar of course) at No. 325 he describes beautifully what is necessary to truly follow Christ:

“THE CROSS MUST BE BORNE AFTER CHRIST

I "Then Jesus said to His disciples: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself" (Matt. XVI: 24).The will to do this is left to our free choice. None are compelled, none are excluded. A good and serious will, however, is needed, and not one that is changeable. Let him that has such a will first of all, "deny himself", not by depriving himself only of external things, but of his private judgment, his own will, affections and desires that are base, whatever else that belongs to the Old Man, and by the killing of self love. This is the first beginning of all Christian perfection. Dear God! How true it is that hitherto I have learnt nothing and how much there is to learn! When will be the time to begin? If I remain as changeable as I am at present, the time will never come.

II "And take up His cross".

This is the second rule in this short summary of the way to perfection. By the cross we are to understand all adversities of mind and body. We must "take it up", whatever it includes, however long it lasts, and however wide it's arms, whether our souls are raised to the seventh heaven or cast down in the depths of humiliations, always, constantly, humbly, and in whatever circumstances. If we had been standing beside Christ crucified, and He had asked this of us would we have denied it to Him Who was dying for us? Then let us not deny it to Him now, for He asks it of us always, we owe it to Him always, and He deserves it always.

III. "And follow Me".

And so the summit of perfection is contained in the three words: Self-denial, Endurance, and Action. Perfection is not reached by practicing these virtues for a number of years only. We must follow Christ indefinitely, animated by His example as He goes before us, like a soldier following his general, a servant following his lord, and a son following his father. How long must it be for? We are not told; therefore it must be till death. Along what path? We do not know this either. It may be along one that is smooth, or it may be along one that is rough, anyway, it is not for us to choose one any more than another. How have we faced up to it so far? And what about our life in the future?"

There it is. We all like to think of getting closer to Christ as St.John did at the Last Supper - resting our head at last forever secure and at peace on His breast, or perhaps, collapsing at His feet, sinful and truly sorrowful, in the sure and certain hope of His Mercy and Forgiveness. But He wants us up and doing whatever is necessary to follow Him.

So, we have paused in our consideration of PORTA FIDEI, to consider the fundamental requirements for following Our Divine Lord, received from His own lips. Next time we shall return to the consideration of the text of PORTA FIDEI.

RARE BEAUTY AND GREAT SIGNIFICANCE

Jesus calls "us to conversion through the forgiveness of sins."

Quoting from the Council's Dogmatic Constitution "LUMEN GENTIUM" ("LIGHT OF THE PEOPLES"), the Holy Father presents a passage of rare beauty and great significance- "While "Christ, "holy, innocent and undefiled"(Heb.7:26)knew nothing of sin(Cf. 2Cor.5:21), but came only to expiate the sins of the people(Cf. Heb. 2:17).........the Church........clasping sinners to its bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal". The Church, "like a stranger in a foreign land, presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God "announcing the cross and death of the risen Lord until He comes."

What a brilliant image! Truly lyrical language, deep with significance for the salvation of us all. It called to my mind the statuary once common around insurance companies depicting a hastily clad woman in classical attire clutching her children , and herself shielded and protected by the strong arms of her husband as they both look back anxiously at some dreadful threat.

Here we are given a similar image of Christ the Saviour protecting His Bride the Church and His children her faithful, as she struggles on protecting them against the agents of the Evil One.

The passage concludes: "But by the power of the Risen Lord it is given strength to overcome, in patience and in love, it's sorrow and it's difficulties, both those that are from within, and those that are from without,so that it may reveal in the world, faithfully, although with shadows, the mystery of its Lord until, in the end, it shall be manifested in full light."

From this inspiring consideration, the Holy Father proceeds to unfold the rationale for the Year of Faith - "a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world." The revelation of God's Love for us through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus for our salvation, calls us to conversion through the forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). He shows how Saint Paul demonstrates that this Love " ushers us into new life" (Rom. 6:4) . Through Faith this new life transforms human existence " according to the radical new reality of the Resurrection." The journey of Faith, is never completely finished in this life, he tells us,as "to the extent that he freely cooperates, man's thoughts and affections, mentality and conduct are slowly purified and transformed." Faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6) becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man's life.( Cf. Rom. 12:2, Col. 3- 9:10, Eph. 4: 20-29, 2Cor.