Lumen Fidei

On 7 July, Pope Francis issued his first encyclical letter, Lumen fidei, the Light of Faith.  This completes a trilogy of letters as issued by his predecessors  on love and hope.  To be sure this encyclical like the others challenges us to live a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  More over this text calls to mind for us that the Church continues to be the instrument of holiness and evangelization in the world today.

Beginning with the texts of the Hebrew Scripture, Pope Francis shows how easily Sin and sinfulness enters human history when a peoples accepts easy answers, rather than seeking that which is true and good.  The light of faith illumines the hearts and minds of men and women so that they might be disposed to accept the truth of faith.  Using the theology of St. Augustine, and classical philosophy, to be truly human is to recognize that there is a moral component to ourselves.  We belong to a higher way of being and of living. 

Quoting from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians Pope Francis reminds we the readers that Jesus Christ is the revelation of God the Father.  What this means for us is that when we follow Jesus Christ, and seek to imitate his mission and ministry, we can begin to see and recognize God.  Of coarse this process reminds us that there needs to be some sort of transformation that is taking place here.  Again as St Paul puts it we are putting on Christ.

The Paschal Mystery stands in the crux of the revelation of the Father's love for us.  The prophets and holy men and women prepared us for this.  The Church by its celebration of the sacraments (in particular the Eucharist) and its teachings continues to unfold the mystery of faith.  "It was only in this way, by taking flesh, by sharing our humanity, that the knowledge proper to love could come to full fruition." (31)  For the early Church the kerygma of the early Christian communities drew people into the light of faith, and the Body of Christ.

Pope Francis again alludes to Paul's reflection that we are a seeking people who walk be faith and not by sight.  To be sure we need to have an understanding of what we believe, so reason does come to play, but we also recognize that faith centers us on what we profess.  Pope Francis concludes with the example of Mary as  that perfect person of faith.  In the midst of oppression and brokenness Mary's faith allows her to trust in God's word, to respond fully, and to share the light of the world with the entire world around us.