Today’s excerpt
from Pope Benedict XVI’s letter proclaiming the Year of Faith beautifully
details the many fine examples of faith-filled lives we have as examples for us
to follow. It is a bit long, so I have left out my comments. No need for any
additions or explanations on this one!!!
13. One thing that will be of decisive importance in this
Year is retracing the history of our faith, marked as it is by the unfathomable
mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin. While the former highlights
the great contribution that men and women have made to the growth and
development of the community through the witness of their lives, the latter
must provoke in each person a sincere and continuing work of conversion in
order to experience the mercy of the Father which is held out to everyone.
During this time we will need to keep our gaze fixed upon
Jesus Christ, the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb12:2): in
him, all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfillment.
The joy of love, the answer to the drama of suffering and pain, the power of
forgiveness in the face of an offence received and the victory of life over the
emptiness of death: all this finds fulfillment in the mystery of his
Incarnation, in his becoming man, in his sharing our human weakness so as to
transform it by the power of his resurrection. In him who died and rose again
for our salvation, the examples of faith that have marked these two thousand
years of our salvation history are brought into the fullness of light.
By faith, Mary accepted the Angel’s word and believed the
message that she was to become the Mother of God in the obedience of her
devotion (cf. Lk 1:38). Visiting Elizabeth, she raised her
hymn of praise to the Most High for the marvels he worked in those who trust
him (cf. Lk 1:46-55). With joy and trepidation she gave birth
to her only son, keeping her virginity intact (cf. Lk 2:6-7).
Trusting in Joseph, her husband, she took Jesus to Egypt to save him from
Herod’s persecution (cf. Mt 2:13-15). With the same faith, she
followed the Lord in his preaching and remained with him all the way to
Golgotha (cf. Jn 19:25-27). By faith, Mary tasted the fruits
of Jesus’ resurrection, and treasuring every memory in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,
51), she passed them on to the Twelve assembled with her in the Upper Room to
receive the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:1-4).
By faith, the Apostles left everything to follow their
Master (cf. Mk 10:28). They believed the words with which he
proclaimed the Kingdom of God present and fulfilled in his person (cf. Lk 11:20).
They lived in communion of life with Jesus who instructed them with his
teaching, leaving them a new rule of life, by which they would be recognized as
his disciples after his death (cf. Jn 13:34-35). By faith,
they went out to the whole world, following the command to bring the Gospel to
all creation (cf. Mk 16:15) and they fearlessly proclaimed to
all the joy of the resurrection, of which they were faithful witnesses.
By faith, the disciples formed the first community,
gathered around the teaching of the Apostles, in prayer, in celebration of the
Eucharist, holding their possessions in common so as to meet the needs of the
brethren (cf. Acts2:42-47).
By faith, the martyrs gave their lives, bearing witness
to the truth of the Gospel that had transformed them and made them capable of
attaining to the greatest gift of love: the forgiveness of their persecutors.
By faith, men and women have consecrated their lives to
Christ, leaving all things behind so as to live obedience, poverty and chastity
with Gospel simplicity, concrete signs of waiting for the Lord who comes
without delay. By faith, countless Christians have promoted action for justice
so as to put into practice the word of the Lord, who came to proclaim
deliverance from oppression and a year of favour for all (cf. Lk 4:18-19).
By faith, across the centuries, men and women of all
ages, whose names are written in the Book of Life (cf. Rev 7:9,
13:8), have confessed the beauty of following the Lord Jesus wherever they were
called to bear witness to the fact that they were Christian: in the family, in
the workplace, in public life, in the exercise of the charisms and ministries
to which they were called.
Prayer: Act of
Faith
Acts of Faith are
common in morning prayers, and they should be said at any time in which we feel
our faith is being tested or we are enduring temptation. An Act of Faith can be
as simple as "My God, I believe in you," but the following is a
traditional version which generations of Catholics memorized. (http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/qt/Act_Faith.htm)
O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in
three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; I believe that your Divine
Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the
living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths the Holy Catholic
Church teaches because You have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be
deceived.
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