Our Cathedral Parish is a prime place to be, to live the Year of Faith which the Holy Father has invited us all to embark on. His Apostolic Letter Porta Fide introduced this and directed us especially to study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (this year is its 20th anniversary) and the documents of the Second Vatican Council (50th anniversary of its start) and we are being offered excellent opportunities for that.
“Faith” has two meanings, first of all the doctrinal and moral content of the Faith which calls for our intellectual assent and living out its requirements, and this is why we need to know the Catechism and Vatican II and apply ourselves to knowledge of the Truth. Faith in the second sense is given by Christ as a special grace. This is supernatural faith, the theological virtue of Faith, which is “the proximate means to union with God”, is the means by which we can see and contemplate God. This Faith seems to be a tiny thing like a mustard seed, but is marvelously powerful in its effect, able to move mountains. Pray for Faith and its increase, and for Hope and Charity!
Monsignor Kevin Holmes’ homilies on the Council have been so wonderful as to bring tears to my eyes, the Faith is so beautiful and he is so good. He has promised a yearlong series of Sunday homilies, two per month, four homilies per each of the 4 most important documents of the Second Vatican Council. Monsignor Holmes is acknowledged as a scholar, but he makes the knowledge of the Faith very accessible and attractive to those of us who aren’t. It is so worthwhile to go our of your way to hear these Sunday homilies in person, but they are also posted online, usually by Monday, together with his notes.
The Cathedral Parish’s Year of Faith page is exceptionally usefully designed to connect us to all we need to know on the Year of Faith, plus the downloads of each of Monsignor’s homilies, his great notes for each, and how to join a “Year of Faith” small group in your own neighborhood (throughout Madison) to discuss these homilies. I am part of the central downtown group which has met once and we would warmly welcome new members. A main purpose is to get to know Catholics in our area and encourage each other in the Faith. Many other parishes also have Year of Faith activities or Catechism based adult learning opportunities and most every Catholic should pare away some less important things from their schedule and get involved if they can.
I’m a month late in posting about the Year of Faith on my blog,but that lets me tell you about it from the perspective of already being engaged with it, excited and seeing its worth. Here are the key points I’ve gathered on how we are to live it:
1. Study the Catechism. 2. Study the documents of Vatican II. 3. Go to Confession. 4. Evangelization, especially through beauty–that’s Bishop Morlino’s chosen theme for our diocesan celebration of the Year of Faith.
Here’s the lovely video the Diocese produced: