DEAR READERS, a special year begins on the 11th of this month, a year dedicated to faith: to the perseverance of those who nourish it every day or to the struggles of those who strive to keep it alive in spite of the doubts which torment them.
The Year of Faith starts in conjunction with an important anniversary for the Church: the opening of the Second Vatican Council, which took place exactly 50 years ago on 11 October 1962. The Holy Father has recently referred to the Council as being an event that “was and remains a true sign of God in our time”.
On pages 38 to 41 of our magazine you will find an in-depth analysis of that groundbreaking event for the Church. The article in question is Renzo Allegri’s interview with Fr. Bartolomeo Sorge, SJ, a leading Italian sociologist and theologian who collaborated with Pope Paul VI in writing Octogesima Adveniens (1971), an apostolic letter addressed directly to Catholics throughout the world. The document called Christians to action, emphasising local church work for social justice.
The Year of Faith will be a graced opportunity for all Catholics to deepen and celebrate the richness of their faith in Christ, but it will also be a time in which each of us should feel called to share the precious gift of faith with those who long for God and desire to meet Him anew, and also with those who have never known Him.
This is particularly highlighted by the conclusion of the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (a Vatican II document) where the faithful are called to cooperate with God in His saving mission: “Through this holy synod, the Lord renews His invitation to all the laity to come closer to Him every day, recognising that what is His is also their own, to associate themselves with Him in His saving mission. Once again He sends them into every town and place where He will come so that they may show that they are co-workers in the various forms and modes of the one apostolate of the Church”.
In truth, there is a great need for evangelisation today, and all of us should take upon ourselves the mission of proclaiming the Gospel because, as Pope John Paul II used to say, “No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church, can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples”.
When two people fall in love with each other, they want to talk about their beloved with everyone. If, therefore, we have fallen in love with God, we should proclaim this love to the four winds. We need not be afraid. God Himself will show us how we should present His saving message to the world. It may be by inviting a friend to Mass on Sunday, or through the offer of a prayer when someone close to us (a colleague or a neighbour) is having a hard time, or through a conversation where we underscore our Christian values, or simply by bearing witness to our faith through our lifestyle, because after all, “a good example is the best sermon”.
Last July, at a Vatican press conference, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, unveiled the official logo of the Year of Faith. Archbishop Fisichella explained, “The significance of the logo is very simple. The boat is the traditional symbol of the Church, and you can see this in a moment of movement; its mast is the cross, and the cross is the sign of love, it’s the sign of our faith. And together with the sails the cross forms the initials HIS, the Christogram standing for Jesus. The sun, behind the HIS, makes a Eucharistic host, and the Eucharist is, for us, the centre of our lives and faith”.
Dear readers, the Year of Faith is a precious opportunity that God is giving us, as members of the Universal Church, to live, deepen, celebrate and share the powerful truth of the Gospel. In order to help us all throughout this year, we have asked our theologian, Fr. Neil Xavier O’Donoghue, to prepare a series of articles especially for this extraordinary event. The first article is on pages 28 of this issue.
I wish you all a fruitful Year of Faith.
Updated on October 06 2016