Denver Catholic

PASTORAL LETTER I 3 DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER I NOVEMBER 20, 2013 A Pastoral Letter on the Year of Faith and its Impact a Christian named Hierax: 'Where are your parents?' the judge asked the martyr. He replied: 'Our true father is Christ, and our mother is faith in him.'" For the first Christians, faith was "an When: 10:30 a.m. Nov. 24 encounter with the living God revealed Where: Cathedral Basilica of the Imin Christ, (which) was indeed a "mothmaculate Conception er," for it had brought them to the light and given birth within them to divine Address: 1530 Logan St., Denver life, a new experience and a luminous Questions: 303-831-7010 vision of existence for which they were prepared to bear public witness to the When Pope Francis speaks to the end." catechumens, he will focus on the As I have already mentioned, the passage in St. John's Gospel where world we live in today is different. The John the Baptist sees Jesus and says, loss of community, advances in tech"Behold, the Lamb of God." Then, two nology and the accompanying belief of John's disciples follow Jesus to see in salvation by it, and the perception where he is staying. of Christianity as being passé indicates That encounter with Jesus was so that the environment we live out our convincing that Andrew went to his faith in is unlike any other time in brother Peter and said, "We have history. found the Messiah!" I pray that your In this context, arguments from auexperience of the Year of Faith involved thority carry less weight. But what can an encounter with Jesus that impacted never be erased from the human heart you like Andrew was. is the longing for love—the desire to In the story of Andrew and Peter, love and to be loved, the desire to be we find the blueprint for what we are united with God, who is love itself. called to do after the Year of Faith. "The men and women of our time," The Year of Faith was not a marketing Pope Francis said in his message for campaign for Catholics to get excited the 2013 World Mission Sunday, "need about; it was a time to meet Jesus and the secure light that illuminates their his Church, to come to know and love path and that only the encounter with Jesus and his Church more deeply. It Christ can give." was a time to grow in intimacy with The consequence of that encounter Jesus, to encounter the Lord in your is faith, which the Holy Father called "a heart. gift, not reserved for a few but offered The consequence of our growth in with generosity. … It is a gift that one love should be a reaction like Ancannot keep to oneself, but it is to be drew's, who ran and told his brother shared. If we want to keep it only to about Jesus. His brother Simon went to ourselves, we will become isolated, see Jesus and received a new identisterile and sick Christians." ty—the name Peter. St. Matthew also recalls for us that when Jesus asked Intimacy, formation, witness Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" the I believe the answer to the quesFather gave Peter the gift of faith and tion "What do we do after the Year of revealed to him that Jesus was "the Faith?" is clear. Christ, the Son of the living God."9 First, through the gift of faith, we From St. Peter's life, we can see that are invited to continue to grow in the experience of faith should lead us intimacy with Jesus, the Father and to witness to the truth, to Jesus himthe Holy Spirit. In our daily encounter 10 self, who is the truth. with Jesus, he will fill us with the Holy In "Porta Fidei," Pope Benedict Spirit and lead us to the Father. We beautifully describes how faith natuare led through prayer and the regular rally leads to sharing the love, joy and celebration of the sacraments—the truth experienced in Christ. "Only Eucharist and reconciliation—into the through believing," Benedict says, communion of love and life that exists "does faith grow and become stronger; within the Trinity. Our lives are forever there is no other possibility for poschanged the more we fall in love with sessing certitude with regard to one's Jesus! Let us continue to cry out with life apart from self-abandonment." the apostles each day, praying the When one surrenders their life in love words, "Increase our faith."12 Only in and trust to Jesus, he adds, it becomes that intimacy with Jesus can we go out "a continuous crescendo, into the hands into the world to be a light for it and of a love that seems to grow constantly invite others to come to know Jesus, no because it has its origin in God."11 matter what the cost. Pope Francis also spoke about faith Second, we can continue to grow in leading to witness in his first encyclical, the understanding of our faith. We are "Lumen Fidei," where he reflected on blessed in our archdiocese with the Catthe early Christians experience of faith. echetical and Biblical schools, as well He wrote, "In the acts of the martyrs, as the Augustine Institute, Endow, and we read the following dialogue beFOCUS to name a few places of formatween the Roman prefect Rusticus and tion. We can also continue to read on YEAR OF FAITH CLOSING MASS 1 Pope Benedict XVI, apostolic letter "Porta Fidei," 6, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City, Oct. 11, 2011. 2 Ibid, 2. 3 Ibid. 4 Apostolic constitution "Gaudium et Spes," 22, Second Vatican Council, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1965. 5 John 18:38. 6 Pope Francis, encyclical "Lumen Fidei," 25, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013. 7 Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Vol. 4, p. 61. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1987. 8 Homily of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, Mass for the Election of the Supreme Pontiff, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, April 18, 2005. our own the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and most especially to engage in daily prayer with the sacred Scripture, most importantly the four Gospels. Taking 10 minutes a day and prayerfully reading a passage from one of the Gospels will nourish our faith and help us to encounter Jesus in new ways. Third, we are blessed in our archdiocese to have many outreach services to the poor and needy that need faithful volunteers. I am always humbled by how so many of our faithful quietly volunteer year after year at Catholic Charities and its Samaritan House, Lighthouse Women's Center, and Gabriel Houses as well as other ministries such as Centro San Juan Diego, Friends of St. Andrew's, and Christ in the City, just to name a few. We give witness to our faith and nourish our faith by serving and encountering the poor who live on the outskirts of society. One poor person in his encounter with a Christ in the City volunteer told her, "You are the first person who ever told me 'God loves me.'" It changed his life! Finally, and most challenging, this time of grace must lead us to courageously and joyfully share our faith in Christ with the world. In 1975, Pope Paul VI already sensed that Western society needed this kind of approach. As he wrote in "Evangelii Nuntiandi," "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses."13 To carry this out we must pray daily for the gifts of the Holy Spirit—knowledge, understanding, wisdom, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. Today, most of all we must pray for the gift of fortitude, because our culture will challenge, reject and even hate us because of our faith in Jesus and his Church. This will not be easy, and in some cases it will be painful and involve the cross. In the Gospel reading for the closing Mass of the Year of Faith, we will read about Jesus hanging on the cross between the two thieves who were crucified with him. One reviled and mocked him, but the other said, "Have you no fear of God?" Even though he had sinned, the good thief wanted to reach heaven and was willing to acknowledge his sin. In our increasingly secular culture, it is becoming acceptable to revile God, to mock people of faith. But like the good thief there are also people of good will who, for all of their imperfections, are just waiting to meet Christ. We are called to respond like the good thief, who encountered Christ and confessed his sins. Then we will be able to give witness to his love and mercy for us. This will require us to move out of our comfort zones, to move beyond maintenance mode and to be more apostolic, more evangelistic. We must bring the truths of our Catholic faith into the public square to bring light to the darkness and to enhance respect for the dignity of the human person at all stages of life. The Second Vatican Council reminded Catholics 50 years ago that, "This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age (emphasis added)…." "Therefore, let there be no false opposition between professional and social activities on the one part, and religious life on the other. The Christian who neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation. Christians should rather rejoice that, following the example of Christ who worked as an artisan, they are free to give proper exercise to all their earthly activities and to their humane, domestic, professional, social and technical enterprises by gathering them into one vital synthesis with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are harmonized unto God's glory."14 Today, may this clarion call of the council penetrate the heart of every Catholic in the archdiocese so that they give witness to their faith without fear or compromise! Everyone in the Archdiocese of Denver has an opportunity to encounter Jesus and grow in faith, even once the Year of Faith is over. Jesus, the one who is love, mercy and truth, stands ready to meet you, in prayer, in the sacraments and in the spiritually and materially poor. He desires to call you "friend."15 And once you have met him, the Holy Spirit will fill you with a joy that cannot be contained, that impels you to "go and make disciples of all nations."16 Then we can say with the good thief, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And we can hope to hear in reply, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."17 9 10 11 12 13 14 Apostolic Constitution "Gaudium et Spes," 43, Second Vatican Council, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1965. 15 John 15:15 16 Cf. Matthew 28:19. 17 Luke 23:43 Matthew 16:16. John 14:6. Pope Benedict XVI, apostolic letter "Porta Fidei," 7. Luke 17:5 Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation, "Evangelii Nuntiandi," 41, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1975. In the Heart of the Father, Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, S.T.L. Archbishop of Denver

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