I find Pope Benedict’s announcement of a “Year of Faith” to be very timely, and compelling, and especially auspicious given the threat to Faith in our country and so many other places in the world. That it will begin just a few weeks before the US election next year is also cause to hope that it will remind many of what our Faith is about.
From the Zenit translation we learn of the Holy Father’s words:
“I happily … announce that I have decided to convoke a special “Year of Faith,” which will begin Oct. 11, 2012 — the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council — and will conclude Nov. 24, 2013, Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe.
I have explained the motives, goals and guidelines of this year in an apostolic letter that will be published soon. The Servant of God Paul VI convoked a similar “Year of Faith” in 1967, on the occasion of the 19th centenary of the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul, during a period of great cultural changes. I believe that, now that a half century has passed since the opening of the Council, and linked to the happy memory of Blessed John XXIII, it would be opportune to remember the beauty and the centrality of the faith, the need to strengthen and deepen it, both at the personal and the community level, and to do this in a perspective that is not so much celebratory, but rather, missionary — precisely in the perspective of the mission ad gentes and the new evangelization.”
Dear friends …[may] what St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction” be the promise and the program for the missionaries of today — priests, religious and laity — committed to proclaim Christ to those who do not know him, or those who have reduced him to a mere historical figure. May the Virgin Mary help each Christian to be an effective witness of the Gospel.”
I am also pleased that the Holy Father linked this Year of Faith to Vatican II which has been so badly hijacked, and I pray it will be the occasion to validate all that is good from that Council and to squelch what was taken astray by those who would undermine the Faith.
What do you think about this new papal initiative? He is also convening a Synod of Bishops for next October. I pray that our new bishop will be the one who attends!
Tags: Pope Benedict
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Hopefull,
Thank you for reporting on the most important news of the year. This Year of Faith will be a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit, an invitation for all of us to grow in our Faith and to seriously commit ourselves to prayer and conversion, so that, by growing in holiness, we may become ever better evangelists. Happy Feast of the North American Martyrs! Through their prayers may we ever more strongly desire to be martyrs, that is, witnesses to Christ and His Holy Church!
I think “Year of Faith” is needed in view of all the church closings and the priest scandals regarding sexual abuse and grand larceny.
We need to be Rejuvenated by the Holy Spirit and Reconsecrated to the Mission of the Church.