Was it an act of providence or is something else at work? Just yesterday, I spoke with the community gathered here about the importance of faith in the life of our students and our children, in fact in all our lives. This morning, there is an announcement from Rome about a special Year of Faith which will be observed beginning next year.
His Holiness, Benedict XVI says: I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. Apostolic Letter Motu proprio data entitled Porta fidei, published this moring in Rome.
This is not the first time that a Year of Faith has been proclaimed.The Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967, to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their supreme act of witness. He thought of it as a solemn moment for the whole Church to make "an authentic and sincere profession of the same faith"; moreover, he wanted this to be confirmed in a way that was "individual and collective, free and conscious, inward and outward, humble and frank". He thought that in this way the whole Church could reappropriate "exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it". The great upheavals of that year made even more evident the need for a celebration of this kind. It concluded with the Credo of the People of God, intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past.
There are gifts being prepared for us during this upcoming year of grace. As the preparations for its observance are put into place over the next months, we ourselves must do our part, preparing our hearts like soil in a garden, to receive the gift of faith, to grow in our appreciation for it, to marvel at it and to learn even more how to share it.
His Holiness, Benedict XVI says: I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. Apostolic Letter Motu proprio data entitled Porta fidei, published this moring in Rome.
This is not the first time that a Year of Faith has been proclaimed.The Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967, to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their supreme act of witness. He thought of it as a solemn moment for the whole Church to make "an authentic and sincere profession of the same faith"; moreover, he wanted this to be confirmed in a way that was "individual and collective, free and conscious, inward and outward, humble and frank". He thought that in this way the whole Church could reappropriate "exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it". The great upheavals of that year made even more evident the need for a celebration of this kind. It concluded with the Credo of the People of God, intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past.
There are gifts being prepared for us during this upcoming year of grace. As the preparations for its observance are put into place over the next months, we ourselves must do our part, preparing our hearts like soil in a garden, to receive the gift of faith, to grow in our appreciation for it, to marvel at it and to learn even more how to share it.
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