Monday, October 15, 2012

Year of Faith





Any Catholic who has been to church recently (and I'm most certain that is all of you!) has heard about the Year of Faith that was declared by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11.  This year is an opportunity for Catholics to participate in a New Evangelization of our faith and, really, to get to know our very rich faith anew.  It is a time to "rediscover" Christ and to be inspired to share our faith with others.

In this spirit, I thought I'd share a few links that you might find interesting as I encourage you to really try to live, along with me, this year of Faith.  First is the the Official Site of the Year of Faith.  This site has it all...a summary of what the Year of Faith is, answers to frequently asked questions, the official Pontifical Declaration and suggestions for activities you can do as an individual or as a parish to make the most of this year.

One of the things we can do this year is to simply read the Catechism.  It contains everything there is to know about our faith and why we do what we do.  Follow this link to subscribe to an email that will send you a small portion of the Catechism to read each day.  If you are faithful to this you will have read the entire Catechism in a year.  Even if you are not Catholic and are interested in learning more about the Catholic faith in a low-pressure way, this is a great way to do that.

Finally, I highly recommend attending some method of faith formation during this year.  For me, this means continuing my formation and spiritual direction with Opus Dei.  There are Opus Dei centers all over the world and all (most) host monthly Evenings of Recollections that offer this formation.  Visit Opus Dei's Website or email me directly if you need help finding a center near you.

Most parishes will be having extra speakers and multiple evening series on different aspects of the faith.  If you can spare the time, go to them.  Especially go if you CAN'T spare the time!

It is easy for us all, who are so busy, to mostly ignore something so esoteric as a "Year of Faith", but if you take a few minutes to think about it and read about it, it could very well be the best year of your life!

3 comments:

anna lisa said...

Awesome. I just signed up for the catechism. ;) Thank you...Now please convince me about that six hour round trip for the evening of rec, in T.Oaks...I'd do it for sho if you were riding with me. :)
P.S. I always chuckle when I'm asked to prove that I'm not a robot. Lol. I guess I've been accused of worse. :D

anna lisa said...

Oh, and one more thing about the little bodies on the floor in your room. My Mom has a saying for that: *The camel's nose in the tent.*
I too have been guilty of this for decades, but am happy to report that we have our bedroom back to ourselves for the first time in 26 YEARS. Charlotte now snuggles JP every night. This morning he says she Ninja kicked him three times in the face last night. He wasn't complaining so much, he'd rather have the company than not.

Allaire said...

I adore the photo! Let us do this!!!
Yes, let us beat up that cancer! Grace, peace and wellness!