"Today,
fifty years from the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, we begin
with great joy the Year of Faith", said His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
during the course of a Mass celebrated this morning in St. Peter's Square.
Extracts
from Pope Benedict XVI's homily are given below.
"The
Year of Faith which we launch today is linked harmoniously with the Church’s
whole path over the last fifty years: from the Council, through the Magisterium
of the Servant of God Paul VI, who proclaimed a Year of Faith in 1967, up to
the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, with which Blessed John Paul II re-proposed
to all humanity Jesus Christ as the one Saviour, yesterday, today and forever….
Jesus is the centre of the Christian faith. The Christian believes in God Whose
face was revealed by Jesus Christ. He is the fulfilment of the Scriptures and
their definitive interpreter".
"Vatican
Council II did not wish to deal with the theme of faith in one specific
document. It was, however, animated by a desire, as it were, to immerse itself
anew in the Christian mystery so as to re-propose it fruitfully to contemporary
man. ... In his opening speech Blessed John XXIII presented the principal
purpose of the Council in this way: “What above all concerns the Ecumenical
Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be safeguarded
and taught more effectively. … Therefore, the principal purpose of this Council
is not the discussion of this or that doctrinal theme, a Council is not
required for that, ... [but] this certain and immutable doctrine, which is to
be faithfully respected, needs to be explored and presented in a way which
responds to the needs of our time”.
"In
the light of these words, we can understand what I myself felt at the time:
during the Council there was an emotional tension as we faced the common task
of making the truth and beauty of the faith shine out in our time, without
sacrificing it to the demands of the present or leaving it tied to the past:
the eternal presence of God resounds in the faith, transcending time, yet it
can only be welcomed by us in our own unrepeatable today. Therefore I believe
that the most important thing ... is to revive in the whole Church that
positive tension, that yearning to announce Christ again to contemporary man.
But, so that this interior thrust towards the new evangelisation neither remain
just an idea nor be lost in confusion, ... I have often insisted on the need to
return, as it were, to the “letter” of the Council - that is to its texts -
also to draw from them its authentic spirit, and why I have repeated that the
true legacy of Vatican II is to be found in them".
"The
Council did not formulate anything new in matters of faith, nor did it wish to
replace what was ancient. Rather, it concerned itself with seeing that the same
faith might continue to be lived in the present day, that it might remain a
living faith in a world of change. ... The Council Fathers wished to present
the faith in a meaningful way; and if they opened themselves trustingly to
dialogue with the modern world it is because they were certain of their faith,
of the solid rock on which they stood….”
"Recent
decades have seen the advance of a spiritual “desertification”.... But it is in
starting from the experience of this desert ... that we can again discover the
joy of believing, its vital importance for us".
"In
the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in
today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or
negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the
desert people of faith are needed who, with their own lives, point out the way
to the Promised Land and keep hope alive. Living faith opens the heart to the
grace of God which frees us from pessimism. Today, more than ever, evangelising
means witnessing to the new life, transformed by God, and thus showing the
path".
"The
journey is a metaphor for life, and the wise wayfarer is one who has learned
the art of living, and can share it with his brethren…. This, then, is how we
can picture the Year of Faith: a pilgrimage in the deserts of today’s world,
taking with us only what is necessary: ... the Gospel and the faith of the
Church, of which the Council documents are a luminous expression, as is the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, published twenty years ago.
"May
the Virgin Mary always shine out as a star along the way of the new
evangelisation".
For
more information, please visit:
http://www.news.va/en/news/the-holy-father-inaugurates-the-year-of-faith
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