Year of Faith
Reflection and rediscovery in the Year of Faith
Father Adolfo Nicolas, the superior general of the Jesuits, has, in response to Pope Benedict's invitation to a Year of Faith, asked Jesuits worldwide this question: "What do I experience as challenges or obstacles to faith, and what sustains and deepens my faith?" That is worthy of consideration by all Catholics and I'd like to provide some impetus for that reflection.
Video features Bishop Thomas encouraging vocations
Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Thomas spoke about vocations to the priesthood in a video produced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. As part of the Year of Faith series, former Philadelphia auxiliary bishop and now Raleigh (N.C.) Bishop Michael Burbidge also addressed the theme of vocations in his video segment.
People around world pledge to say rosary daily during Year of Faith
EASTON, Mass. (CNS) -- The Family Rosary division of Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton has gathered more than 80,000 pledges from people around the globe who said they would pray the rosary daily during the 2012-13 Year of Faith. The pledges, which came in response to a program offering free rosaries, were gathered in a book and presented recently to Pope Benedict XVI by Holy Cross Father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries.
Lecture series for Year of Faith begins Dec. 13
A year-long lecture series sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Family, Life and Laity will launch Thursday, Dec. 13 with a talk by nationally renowned speaker Dr. Timothy Gray on the topic of “Advent, a Season of Hope.”
Catholic Life Congress ready to help deepen Philadelphia Catholics’ faith
Catholic Life Congress is the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s annual convention for the faith formation of lay people, religious and clergy. Held this year on Saturday, Nov. 17, it comes during the Year of Faith in the Catholic Church, a time for Catholics to “grow deeper into their faith and to be renewed in their faith,” said Connie Scharff, the archdiocesan point person for organizing the congress. “As a result of that, by virtue of our baptism, once we have gone into our own faith we’re able to evangelize others simply by the way we live our daily lives.” In a sense, she believes, Catholics are answering the question, how would Jesus have lived in this day and age?
Humility helps us call God ‘Abba:’ ‘Father!’
Oct. 27 Before we make our own this first exclamation of the Lord’s Prayer, we must humbly cleanse our hearts of certain false images drawn “from this world.” Humility makes us recognize that “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the […]
The theological virtue of hope
Oct. 26 “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Prayer, formed by the liturgical life, draws everything into the love by which we are loved in Christ and which enables us to respond to him by loving as he […]
Passions and the moral life
Oct. 25 Strong feelings are not decisive for the morality or the holiness of persons; they are simply the inexhaustible reservoir of images and affections in which the moral life is expressed. Passions are morally good when they contribute to a good action, evil in the opposite case. the upright will orders the movements of […]
The celebrants of the sacramental liturgy
Oct. 24 It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. “Liturgical services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is ‘the sacrament of unity,’ namely, the holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole […]
The mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit
Oct. 18 The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God. Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, […]