With
the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the Year of Faith reaches its culmination. We have lived an entire year and more looking
at the gift of our Catholic Faith and hearing the invitation to respond to the
Lord’s Call. What will remain after this
year? It is up to each individual and
each family to ensure that the efforts of the past year bear fruit in action.
As a parish,
we have had many initiatives that assist us to grow in Faith. Not the least of these has been the reading
of a portion of the Catechism of the Catholic Church at each weekend Mass
throughout the year. The commentators
have led us in a journey through 184 points on our Faith, 55 pages of 299 on
the Creed. The small Catechism we have
in our pews has 756 total pages including 2865 points, covering the Creed, the
Sacraments, the Moral Life and the Life of Prayer. So all of us have a long way to go before we
can say we have covered all the most important points of our Faith. We have made a good beginning. The final points offered this weekend are a
summary “in brief” of what it means to respond to God in Faith.
Now is the
time for every member of our parish and each family to consider how to continue
to grow in Faith. Men, will you commit
to be leaders in your family and in the wider community, showing us how to be
brave and bold in our proclamation of Faith?
Women, will you commit to share your heart with the Lord and and teach
us how to Love as God loves? Children,
will you continue to share with us your zeal and enthusiasm for Life and to
lead us to a confident Hope in God’s Mercy?
Can we all agree to keep growing together in our commitment to Jesus
Christ as the King of the Universe, as our Universal Lord and Savior?
Have a look at one parishioner’s journey with the New Evangelization Club from the Josephinum who are visiting the neighborhoods of our parish included as “A Word from the Flock” in this week’s bulletin. Consider who is waiting to hear your personal invitation to Faith.
This
weekend, we have our Ministry Fair, where the various groups active in our
Parish and School invite us all to participate.
Please take the opportunity to respond to the call of your brothers and
sisters as they work to build up the Kingdom.
Let each
soul stand before the Lord and renew the commitment to live as a disciple. Choose to stand with the Church, in union
with Pope Francis and all who lead us along the path of Truth. Respond to the call to share Faith with those
who have wandered away and those who have never come to know Jesus as He truly
Is, the King of the Universe and Savior Who offers all the Kingdom God has
prepared for us since the foundation of the world.
Year of Faith
We conclude our journey through the Year
of Faith of Faith with the Masses of this weekend. We will not be reading through the Catechism
as we have, but from time to time will continue to offer some matters for
reflection that will allow us to deepen our understanding of the Faith.
CHAPTER
THREE: MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD
ARTICLE
2 WE BELIEVE IN BRIEF
176 Faith is a personal adherence
of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves an assent of the
intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and
words.
177 “To believe” has thus a
twofold reference: to the person and to the truth: to the truth, by trust in
the person who bears witness to it.
178 We must believe in no one but
God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
179 Faith is a supernatural gift
from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of the Holy Spirit.
180 “Believing” is a human act,
conscious and free, corresponding to the dignity of the human person.
181 “Believing” is an ecclesial
act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports, and nourishes our faith.
The Church is the mother of all believers. “No one can have God as Father who
does not have the Church as Mother” (St. Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL 4,
519).
182 We believe all “that which is
contained in the word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church
proposes for belief as divinely revealed” (Paul VI, CPG, § 20).
183 Faith is necessary for
salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:16).
184 “Faith is a foretaste of the
knowledge that will make us blessed in the life to come” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Comp.
theol. 1, 2).
Comment: As we close the Year of Faith, we invite you
to continue to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church for yourself. As a souvenir of the year, each family is
welcome to take a copy of the Catechism and a Bible from the church pews after Mass.
Focolare
Word of Life for November 2013: “Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Eph
4:32)
Our Seminarian interns,
Stephen Vaccaro and Alex Pacelli, are making the rounds of parish groups to
share their mission for the year at St. Timothy Church. They have visited with the Knights of Columbus,
the Parish Pastoral Council, the Youth Group and with the Home and School
association. They have now had two Door-to-door
missions with Seminarians of the PCJ New Evangelization Club and members of our
Parish this year. Two more will be
planned in the Spring semester.
Upcoming events including the Seminarian interns
for the first semester are as follows:
Nov. 24th - Youth Group
Dec. 5th - Planning day at the parish
Anyone who wants to tag along or participate in
some way can contact Stephen Vaccaro at smv4h@virginia.edu. The hope/plan is to
create our own Evangelization Club to learn about the process of evangelization
and to create opportunities for members of our parish to respond to the
Church’s call for a New Evangelization – new in its ardor and new in its
methods.
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