Pope Francis Encyclical "the Light Of Faith"

[BarbTherese]

I like this bit, it is from the end of verse 47. 

 

Faith is also one because it is directed to the one Lord, to the life of Jesus, to the concrete history which he shares with us. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons made this clear in his struggle against Gnosticism. The Gnostics held that there are two kinds of faith: a crude, imperfect faith suited to the masses, which remained at the level of Jesus’ flesh and the contemplation of his mysteries; and a deeper, perfect faith reserved to a small circle of initiates who were intellectually capable of rising above the flesh of Jesus towards the mysteries of the unknown divinity. In opposition to this claim, which even today exerts a certain attraction and has its followers, Saint Irenaeus insisted that there is but one faith, for it is grounded in the concrete event of the incarnation and can never transcend the flesh and history of Christ, inasmuch as God willed to reveal himself fully in that flesh. For this reason, he says, there is no difference in the faith of "those able to discourse of it at length" and "those who speak but little", between the greater and the less: the first cannot increase the faith, nor the second diminish it.

 

 

 

I guess it reminds us to be humble however great and to be grateful however small. Because there is no greater or lesser faith, it is all the same faith.

 

 

I guess it reminds us to be humble however great and to be grateful however small. Because there is no greater or lesser faith, it is all the same faith.

 

 

Very well said indeed I thought!  Faith to me is that power or 'engine', Grace, that causes one to believe and  at once to put into daily action what one believes with trustful confidence.  "Lord, please increase our Faith".

 

I have just started to read again and its 7.52pm on Tues 9th July here in Sth Aust - and from what I have read in "The Light of Faith" to this point before switching off the computer would have to be one of the most powerful and descriptive explanations of The Church and Baptism I have read in a long time.......or perhaps even better, that I have ever read.  And worded simply to boot.  It is also a very simple and quite profound to my mind explanation of just how connected we are to others.

 

I am only quoting in part as it is a fairly lengthy section but oh so worth the read and internalizing.......and I'm still in the process..........I hope!

 

 

 

 

 

I DELIVERED TO YOU
WHAT I ALSO RECEIVED
(cf. 1 Cor 15:3)

The Church, mother of our faith

37. Those who have opened their hearts to God’s love, heard his voice and received his light, cannot keep this gift to themselves. Since faith is hearing and seeing, it is also handed on as word and light. Addressing the Corinthians, Saint Paul used these two very images. On the one hand he says: "But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture — ‘I believed, and so I spoke’ — we also believe, and so we speak" (2 Cor 4:13). The word, once accepted, becomes a response, a confession of faith, which spreads to others and invites them to believe. Paul also ..............read on HERE

 

 

 

 

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Perhaps it should be "It speaks to me that God is not ashamed of our efforts to bring the good news to others, and nor should we be." I won't add even though we all fail miserably at times coz that is a bit personal. And perhaps some of you fail joyfully, lol. And say " Thankyou Lord for this lesson in humility," :)

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Very well said indeed I thought!  Faith to me is that power or 'engine', Grace, that causes one to believe and  at once to put into daily action what one believes with trustful confidence.  "Lord, please increase our Faith".

 

I have just started to read again and its 7.52pm on Tues 9th July here in Sth Aust - and from what I have read in "The Light of Faith" to this point before switching off the computer would have to be one of the most powerful and descriptive explanations of The Church and Baptism I have read in a long time.......or perhaps even better, that I have ever read.  And worded simply to boot.  It is also a very simple and quite profound to my mind explanation of just how connected we are to others.

 

I am only quoting in part as it is a fairly lengthy section but oh so worth the read and internalizing.......and I'm still in the process..........I hope!

 

 

I like that section, reminds me of something i once learnt, that faith is the only gift that has to be given away to be retained. Something like that anyhow.

[BarbTherese]

Perhaps it should be "It speaks to me that God is not ashamed of our efforts to bring the good news to others, and nor should we be." I won't add even though we all fail miserably at times coz that is a bit personal. And perhaps some of you fail joyfully, lol. And say " Thankyou Lord for this lesson in humility," :)

 

Thank you muchly, Tab.  The above has answered a question I was going to put to my spiritual director - not about giving the good news to others, but about being ashamed of my efforts.  Rather as you point out above, I should not be ashamed of my efforts even though they are poor.  What else can a poor person rustle up.

Amazing how when a very simple answer comes to a very simple question, one just cannot understand why one just could not see the answer in the first place.

 

Barb

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Thank you muchly, Tab.  The above has answered a question I was going to put to my spiritual director - not about giving the good news to others, but about being ashamed of my efforts.  Rather as you point out above, I should not be ashamed of my efforts even though they are poor.  What else can a poor person rustle up.

Amazing how when a very simple answer comes to a very simple question, one just cannot understand why one just could not see the answer in the first place.

 

Barb

 

 

:) That's why we all need each other sometimes, for when we can't figure something out ourselves. :) Unsure if this is strictly an aussie saying but "two heads are sometimes better than 1."  Thanks for the prop, hopefully what i have said is from Grace and not my own wisdom, therefore the prop is really Our Lord getting a prop. :)

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Any effort we make in faith with love and hope is worthy,no matter that it isn't great every time. It is made worthy by the holy sacrifice of our LORD.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Tab'le Du'Bah-Rye

[ithinkjesusiscool]

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/07/reading-benedict-through-francis-exploring-lumen-fidei-13/

[BarbTherese]

Any effort we make in faith with love and hope is worthy,no matter that it isn't great every time. It is made worthy by the holy sacrifice of our LORD.

 

 

I should know this shouldn't I!  And I do, until I come a cropper socially and then I start to lament with a secularized mentality, rather than the spiritual.  This is intriguing me at this time - that secularization of mind and heart can creep in without one really being aware..........or rather it can happen with me.

[BarbTherese]

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/07/reading-benedict-through-francis-exploring-lumen-fidei-13/

 

Some good points in Fr Z's blog text re "The Light of Faith".  I only scanned the text at this point and will have a proper read tonight.

 

 I have finished the first read of the Encyclical and will begin my second read tonight.  I really liked the prayer at the end of the Encyclical. A good prayer to pray reflectively before Morning Prayer and I'm printing it for that purpose.

 

" Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our faith.
Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise.
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!"
 

[BarbTherese]

:) That's why we all need each other sometimes, for when we can't figure something out ourselves. :) Unsure if this is strictly an aussie saying but "two heads are sometimes better than 1."  Thanks for the prop, hopefully what i have said is from Grace and not my own wisdom, therefore the prop is really Our Lord getting a prop. :)

 

 

It is amazing the many ways The Holy Spirit can speak to us...........especially perhaps reading a Catholic discussion site.  We do indeed need each other and it came out very strongly and beautifully in Pope Francis encyclical on Faith.  Your words struck home with me, Tab, in that way when the heart and mind says 'THAT'S IT' AND ONE KNOWS ONE HAS AN ANSWER BEFORE THE QUESTION IS EVEN POSED REALLY...........

It used to really worry me when I was a child that God was not only absolutely everywhere at every single moment with every single person - but that He knew our thoughts................even before I thought them..................man oh man, what a worry :dead:..................

 

Pope Francis on just how connected to each other we really are:

 

 

38. The transmission of the faith not only brings light to men and women in every place; it travels through time, passing from one generation to another. Because faith is born of an encounter which takes place in history and lights up our journey through time, it must be passed on in every age. It is through an unbroken chain of witnesses that we come to see the face of Jesus. But how is this possible? How can we be certain, after all these centuries, that we have encountered the "real Jesus"? Were we merely isolated individuals, were our starting point simply our own individual ego seeking in itself the basis of absolutely sure knowledge, a certainty of this sort would be impossible. I cannot possibly verify for myself something which happened so long ago. But this is not the only way we attain knowledge. Persons always live in relationship. We come from others, we belong to others, and our lives are enlarged by our encounter with others. Even our own knowledge and self-awareness are relational; they are linked to others who have gone before us: in the first place, our parents, who gave us our life and our name. Language itself, the words by which we make sense of our lives and the world around us, comes to us from others, preserved in the living memory of others. Self-knowledge is only possible when we share in a greater memory. The same thing holds true for faith, which brings human understanding to its fullness. Faith’s past, that act of Jesus’ love which brought new life to the world, comes down to us through the memory of others — witnesses — and is kept alive in that one remembering subject which is the Church. The Church is a Mother who teaches us to speak the language of faith. Saint John brings this out in his Gospel by closely uniting faith and memory and associating both with the working of the Holy Spirit, who, as Jesus says, "will remind you of all that I have said to you" (Jn 14:26). The love which is the Holy Spirit and which dwells in the Church unites every age and makes us contemporaries of Jesus, thus guiding us along our pilgrimage of faith.

READ ON HERE..............it contintues the above..........

 

[BarbTherese]

^{Back to the ironing................. :notworthy:.................cause if I don't do it, it just aint gonna get dun.....}

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Heaven will be great. I dare say they have growth there also but not growth in the form of sin, Unsure what one will learn or continue to learn there, just that it will be the best.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Tab'le Du'Bah-Rye

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

:)

Edited July 11, 2013 by Tab'le Du'Bah-Rye

[BarbTherese]

Heaven will be great. I dare say they have growth there also but not growth in the form of sin, Unsure what one will learn or continue to learn there, just that it will be the best.

 

 

Heaven is one of those reflections that I need to leave alone.  To actually meet Jesus, His mother and St Joseph boggles my mind and my imagination just wont go there since I have idea what they really looked like on earth.  And "see the Face of God" is in the same category.  For me, the greatest adventure on earth is the spiritual life at that moment one realizes that Relationship is REAL.

 

I can settle very happily in life's journey to date re Heaven with............. "it will be the best", in which you reflect what St Paul said quoting Scripture " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him"............or "the best".......best o' the best!  Whatever that is! :cheers: