“Social change begins in the human heart… there will be no social justice if you do not touch and help the conversion of hearts… the first task of evangelization of the Church is the conversion of the heart. We need to help the Christian life to be part of everyday life.” Bishop Martin Kay Schmalhausen SCV, Bishop of the Prelature of Ayaviri, Peru. He was interviewed recently for a TV programme: Where God Weeps.
As I read these words, I thought of the various challenges we face in converting hearts in our country/world today. However, if we are to be living witnesses to our Faith, then we have no option but to meet these challenges.
Bishop Martin’s words above call to mind a statement in the Vatican II document: Gaudium et Spes (The Church in the Modern World): “This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.”
Respect For Life Week (RFLW) runs from Saturday, October 6 to Saturday 13 with an event in Bourg Mulatresse parish on Sunday 14 at 4.00 p.m. (see Calendar of Events). The theme, as you know, is: Respect Life: Be living witnesses to our Faith. This is the third year that the Archdiocese is observing RFLW. The Faithful at the third sitting of Synod in 2009 had asked that a week be devoted each year for such an observance. CCSJ has responsibility for coordinating activities for this Archdiocesan event.
CCSJ urges each of you to observe RFLW in a meaningful way. Please use the Prayer Supplement in this week’s Catholic News. Let us renew our efforts to integrate our Faith in our daily lives; to deepen our relationship with God; to be Christ’s witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
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Our Catechism tells us: “The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it…Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation (1816).” Our Faith is a gift from God. But we must not hide this precious gift: “…your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16).
And on Thursday, October 11, remember to pray for the Holy Father as he launches The Year of Faith (TYF). One of the resources available for TYF is an Official Hymn entitled: Credo, Domine, Adauge Nobis Fidem (I Believe, Lord, increase our Faith). Pope Benedict XVI tells us in his Apostolic Letter, Porta Fidei, announcing TYF that, “The Year of Faith is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world.” This “renewed conversion” will assist us as we strive to read/discern the signs of the times and use the social justice process: SEE, JUDGE, ACT to build God’s Kingdom.
I was honoured to have been asked to deliver the opening address at the 22nd Regional Meeting of the Catholic Students’ Movement (CSM) on the theme: Reflections on Faith in the context of the Year of Faith. I pay tribute to Sr Carla Thomas, other regional CSM Chaplains and the wonderful group of Catholic students who, from the discussions after my presentation, are clearly credible witnesses to our Catholic Faith. Too many of our youths, and indeed, adults, are blowing like reeds in the wind without any mooring. Jesus Christ is our mooring. Hold fast to Him in our troubled world and He will lift you high.
Try as I may, I could not find the final page of my presentation for the CSM Meeting. I ended with the words we say when we renew our Baptismal vows at Confirmation (and on other special occasions): “This is our Faith, this is the Faith of the Church, we are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus Our Lord.” Through our baptism we are called to be the Body of Christ in the world. Therefore, let us go forth as heralds of our faith as we recall the words of Blessed John Paul II when he stepped out on the balcony at St Peter’s Square on Oct 22, 1978:
“Be not afraid! Open up, no; swing wide the gates to Christ. Open up to his saving power the confines of the State, open up economic and political systems, the vast empires of culture, civilisation and development…Be not afraid!”
