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INTENTION : |
That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
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The Lord Jesus commissioned Simon Peter to "strengthen" his brothers and sisters (Luke 22.32). Our Holy Father, the Successor of St. Peter, is doing just that by calling upon the Church Universal to observe The Year of Faith, which began on October 11, 2012, and which concludes on November 24, 2013.
There is ample reason for us to focus our attention and our energies on the renewal and the profession of our faith in Christ Jesus and his life-giving Gospel. While the Church is growing in some parts of our world, in many others it seems that men and women have forgotten all that our Faith has to bring to their lives and to our communities. It seems as if, for increasing numbers of people in societies which were once traditionally Christian, the following of Christ is no longer the path we follow, the promise of God's fidelity manifest in the Resurrection of Jesus no longer our hope and consolation. The closing of churches, the decline in the number of those attending Mass regularly, the scarcity of vocations to the priesthood and religious life are only symptoms of a deeper erosion of faith. No wonder "Peter" looks to "strengthen" his sisters and brothers!
During this Year of Faith the Holy Father invites each one of us to take the time and to make the effort to enter more deeply into the mystery of Christ. Only by conscientious effort to rediscover the richness of Christ, His presence to us in the sacraments, His word given to us in the Scriptures, in the example of the saints and in the teachings of the Church, can we fully live out the vocation to which the Lord had called each one of us, and discover the joy, the meaning, the fullness of life for which we long.
The Year of Faith, then, is first and foremost an invitation to meet the Living Lord Jesus, and to allow ourselves once again to be transformed by His action in our lives. This will require of us a readiness for conversion. And as our own lives are made over in the image of Christ, our families, our parishes, our communities, our schools and our work places will be changed. By the witness of our lives more than by our words, our faith will enlighten and inspire those around us. The Holy Father wisely reminds us that it is above all in an active and generous love that our adherence to Jesus will be known.
Keeping our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfection of our faith, coming to know him and love him more and more in this year, let us beg God our loving Father to bring to completion in us the work of our salvation, that through the witness of courageous and committed followers of Jesus, the world may come to believe in the One true God, and Jesus Christ his Son!
Fr. Gerald Blaszczak, sj
Secretary of the Society of Jesus for the Promotion of Faith
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