Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Year of Faith

Today begins the Year of Faith as proclaimed by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.  During this year His Holiness has called the entire Church to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  For this Year of Faith, I thought it might be a nice practice to take a closer look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as choosing a Doctor of the Church as a bit of spiritual reading for my free time (if such a thing exists for a seminarian).  And so it begins:

For the past few days  I have been pondering the endless possibilities for the year, I realized that my perception of faith was a bit convoluted.  Faith is not supposed to be complicated! Though I have told myself this a thousand times and have been reminded of this by the many great witnesses of faith in my life, it finally sunk in.  Looking at the statue of the Child Jesus that sits on my desk, I said to myself, "Faith is simple. Faith is for children.  Our Lord, the Child Jesus joyfully gives us His heart.  Though we have the best intentions, we will give Him our hearts and in return wound His by our little, or sometimes blatant turning away from Him.  Yet, He will still give us His own heart to draw us closer to Himself."  Then I realized that if I am to gain this child-like trust, freedom, and faith I should turn to someone who would be able to help me.  Who would be better than the Little Flower, St. Therese of the Child Jesus? So, I turn to this humble Doctor of the Church (of which there are now 35!) asking for her intercession and aid with this endeavor.   I would encourage you all to do this as well.  Choose a Doctor of the Church and read their writings or biography along with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

O Jesus meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like your heart.
Holy Ghost, set our hearts on fire.
St. Therese, pray for us.

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