The Year of Faith Begins!

I cannot help but be moved by the beginning of the Year of Faith. I feel like we could rename it the "Year of Being Catholic," or the "Year of Actually Living the Catholic Faith," or the "Year of Sacraments and Prayer and Good Works and Missions..."

The list goes on.

To say that a year is dedicated to "Faith" - that is rather all-encompassing! This is intended, I believe. We have had some more particular "years" of late, such as the Year for Priests and the Year of the Rosary, and these were certainly very good things. However, sometimes it is really important and necessary to step back and look at the whole tapestry.

One could begin with the Creed, I believe, to truly explain the Faith, and what is being celebrated, but then, we all know that it is simultaneously so much more! Faith is lived, it is alive, it is embodied in those who profess it. It cannot be possessed and yet possesses people; it cannot be owned and yet we own to it. When one truly believes and professes a Creed, a Faith, one states that he or she identifies with this truth, and submits to it, and serves it, with all that he or she is. A "Year of Faith" is a "Year of BEING According to the Creed."

This can present a lot of challenges, or be rather overlooked. What if I already go to Mass each Sunday? What if I already pray? What if I volunteer my time for the Church, and tithe each week? Aren't I "living my faith"?

In Pope Benedict XVI's opening homily, he said the Year of Faith is an opportunity which invites us "to enter more deeply into the spiritual movement which characterized Vatican II, to make it ours and to develop it according to its true meaning. And its true meaning was and remains faith in Christ, the apostolic faith, animated by the inner desire to communicate Christ to individuals and all people, in the Church’s pilgrimage along the pathways of history" (emphasis added).

The hinge, crux, pinnacle of the Year of Faith is Christ. It is meeting him. Knowing him. Acknowledging him as Lord. Being obedient to him. Loving him. Serving him. Submitting the will to him. Imitating him. Sacrificing for him and with him. Remaining with him. Belonging to him.

The Year of Faith is for anyone and everyone, the weekday Mass-goer and the only-Easter-Mass-goer and the non-denominational Christian and the agnostic and anyone else. This is because it is a time to strive for the encounter with Christ; for the knowing of him. It is a time when we live as those who are loved, and those who love in return. Much like a "honeymoon phase" of a married couple, this Year is a time of rekindling the fire of love that is meant to burn in our beings when we are near the King.

The ways we accomplish this may vary, and for some it may be much more outward than others. Yet, whether we join a mission or volunteer at a soup kitchen or simply take more time every night in meditative prayer over Scripture, we are challenged here and now to discover what it is to be Christian.

In a special way the Holy Father calls us to return to the documents of the Second Vatican Council, to read them to strive to digest their wisdom. This is important, as we must understand that the Holy Spirit has dwelt with and guided the Church, the Bride of Christ, since her birth, and he remains still with those Apostolic successors, the Pope and the bishops with him, who lead and guide the Church today. Therefore, the documents of Vatican II are to be understood as part of the great and rich deposit of faith which has been handed on to us throughout Sacred Tradition. These words have a special emphasis and place within our modern culture. Therefore, they call for our attention and understanding, that we might be reignited in our love for Christ and his Church.