Thursday 27 October 2011

A Year of...

Over the years the Church has had a number of different "Holy Year" times to focus non an aspect of our Salvation, of God, or a person of importance:

  • 1975 - Holy Year (Typically held every 25 years)
  • 1984 - Holy Year of Redemption (World Youth Day Cross)
  • 1997 - Holy Spirit              Part of the
  • 1998 - Jesus Christ            lead up to the
  • 1999 - God the Father       Jubilee Year
  • 2000 - Jubilee Year
  • 2002 - The Rosary (We celebrated in 2003 in Toronto)
  • 2004 - 2005 - The Eucharist
  • 2008 - 2009 - St. Paul
  • 2009 - 2010 - Year for Priests
Now this past Sunday Pope Benedict has announced another "Year of..."  that will begin next October on the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council - a Year of Faith.
Here is the text of the Holy Father's Announcement:
VATICAN CITY, 16 OCT 2011 (VIS) - During Mass this morning in the Vatican Basilica, celebrated to mark the end of an international meeting on new evangelisation organised by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, Benedict XVI announced that he was calling a forthcoming "Year of Faith".
     The Year will begin on 11 October 2012, fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, and will come to an end on 24 November 2013, Feast of Christ the King. Its aim "is to give renewed energy to the Church's mission to lead men and women out of the desert in which they so often find themselves, and towards the place of life, towards friendship with Christ who gives us life in all its fullness". The Year will likewise be an opportunity "to strengthen our faith in Christ and joyfully to announce Him to the men and women of our time", the Pope said.
     Commenting on this Sunday's readings, the Holy Father explained that the mission of the Church must be considered in the light of "the theological meaning of history. Epoch-making events, the rise and fall of great powers, all lie under the supreme dominion of God. No earthly power can take His place. The theology of history is an essential aspect of the new evangelisation, because the men and women of our time, following the tragic period of the totalitarian empires of the twentieth century, need to rediscover a global vision of the world and history. They need a truly free and peaceful vision, the vision which Vatican Council II transmitted in its documents and which my predecessors, Servant of God Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II, illustrated with their Magisterium".
     "In order to be effective evangelisation needs the strength of the Spirit, which enlivens the message and infuses the person who bears it with the 'full conviction' of which St. Paul speaks. ... New evangelisers are called to be the first to walk along the Path which is Christ, in order to lead others to the beauty of the life-giving Gospel. On this Path we are never alone, but always in company; it is an experience of communion and fraternity which is offered to everyone we meet, bringing them to share in our experience of Christ and His Church. Thus, witness associated with announcement can open the hearts of those who seek the truth, helping them discover the meaning of their own lives".
     Finally the Holy Father turned his attention to the Gospel episode of the tribute to be paid to the emperor. Jesus command to "give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's", he said, "is rich in anthropological significance and cannot be reduced only to the political sphere. The Church, then, does not limit herself to reminding men and women of the just distinction between the authority of Caesar and that of God, between the political and religious spheres. The mission of the Church, like that of Christ, is essentially that of speaking about God, evoking His sovereignty, calling everyone - and especially Christians who have lost their identity - of God's rights over that which belongs to Him:our lives".
As we continue through the first 8 months of 2012 we will learn more and more  what this Year of Faith will look like.  There will be a general Synod of Bishops on the topic of Evangelization, and we will have been praying with the new Translation of the Roman Missal for some time, and will be comfortable with the new phrases and responses.
Peace.

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