To my current reading
I’ve added the Papal Encyclical, Lumen Fidei,
that was just published earlier this month and have been slowly going through
it. If
you don’t know what an Encyclical is, the Wikipedia entry is informative. This is the first encyclical (you
can read it here) I have ever read, and it’s remarkably easy
reading and clear to the layman. There
is certainly theology in there, but it’s presented with such clarity and
absence of specialized jargon that so baffles people who don’t have advanced degrees
in Christian theology. So far I have
found it a fascinating read. Lumen Fidei, or in English, Light of
Faith, is intended to teach why faith is critical to lives, how it gives
meaning to our lives, especially in our modern disconnected and secular
world. Jimmy Aiken, in his usual precise and efficient manner, gives a fine short
summary of the encyclical in his blog, “14 things you need to know about PopeFrancis’s new encyclical”.
As I read it, I
want to provide certain passages that catch my attention here for my Faith
Filled Fridays. Just to orient one who
has not read the encyclical, it is divided into an introduction and four
chapters. The structure is the following,
numbers in parentheses signify the encyclical’s paragraph numbers:
Introduction (1-7)
Chpt 1: We Have
Believed In Love (8-22)
Chpt 2: Unless You
Believe, You Will Not Understand (23-36)
Chpt 3: I Delivered
To You What I Also Received (37-49)
Chpt 4: God
Delivers A City For Them (50-60)
So far I have read
through Chapter 1. Today I’m going to
give what I found to be the most interesting passage in the Introduction,
paragraph number 4. It provides the
central rationale for the encyclical.
4. There is an urgent need, then, to
see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all
other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of
illuminating every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful
cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it
must come from God. Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls
us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean
for security and for building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain
fresh vision, new eyes to see; we realize that it contains a great promise of
fulfilment, and that a vision of the future opens up before us. Faith, received
from God as a supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our
journey through time. On the one hand, it is a light coming from the past, the
light of the foundational memory of the life of Jesus which revealed his
perfectly trustworthy love, a love capable of triumphing over death. Yet since
Christ has risen and draws us beyond death, faith is also a light coming from
the future and opening before us vast horizons which guide us beyond our
isolated selves towards the breadth of communion. We come to see that faith
does not dwell in shadow and gloom; it is a light for our darkness. Dante, in
the Divine Comedy, after professing his faith to Saint Peter, describes that
light as a "spark, which then becomes a burning flame and like a heavenly
star within me glimmers".[4] It is this light of faith that I would
now like to consider, so that it can grow and enlighten the present, becoming a
star to brighten the horizon of our journey at a time when mankind is
particularly in need of light.
“A light this
powerful cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source…from God.”
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