On October 11, 2011, in an apostolic letter entitled Porta Fidei (The Door of Faith), Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of Faith from October 2012 to November 2013 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. This Holy Year, according to Benedict, “is a call to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the only Savior of the world.”
“A deep crisis of faith”
Why did Benedict XVI declare this Year of Faith? In his message to the young people gathered for World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, in August 2011, he observed: “Today we are witnessing a certain ‘eclipse of God’, a kind of amnesia that, although it is not a rejection Christianity’s absoluteness, however, is a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity. “
Benedict XVI was aware that under the growing influence of a radically secularist ideology, Europe and the West today are gradually losing touch with their Christian identity and heritage, allowing God to fade into the background and become increasingly irrelevant. for social and political life. This insidious “amnesia” not only threatens to eventually cut modern Western civilization completely from its Christian roots, with disastrous consequences for the entire civilized world, it has also begun to subtly infect the minds and hearts of individual Christian believers, weakening their faith and leading them away from Christ.
What better way to respond to this “‘eclipse of God'” and to combat this “amnesia”, this “denial of the treasure of our faith”, than to summon the whole Church “to an authentic and renewed conversion” to her Lord Jesus. Christ, “the pioneer and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12: 2) and “the only Savior of the world”? In other words, the Year of Faith is intended to revitalize and reform the Church so that it can more effectively carry out its mission of proclaiming Christ to the entire world.
Obviously, the Holy Spirit inspired our former Vicar of Christ to proclaim this Year of Faith to respond to the needs of the Church and the world at this particular time in human history. Benedict observed in Porta Fidei whereas in the past the vital importance of faith in shaping human society and culture was taken for granted, today this is no longer the case. Radical secularism increasingly confronts religious believers with the strange idea that faith is an exclusively private and individual matter that should not be allowed to shape or influence public life in any way. This notion contradicts the intrinsic nature of the authentic Christian faith, which must be publicly professed and shared with others. “A Christian can never think of faith as a private act,” the Holy Father maintained, echoing similar words from Pope John Paul II. “Faith is choosing to be with the Lord to live with him … Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also requires social responsibility for what is believed.” In the light of “a profound crisis of faith” that has gripped contemporary human society and culture, Benedict XVI pointed out “the need to rediscover the path of faith in order to shed an ever clearer light on joy and renewed enthusiasm for the encounter with Christ. “
The journey of faith: an encounter with Christ
For Christian believers, faith is an encounter and a relationship with a Person who loves us: Christ, the Son of God, who became man, suffered, died and rose from the dead to take away our sins. This meeting and loving relationship gives meaning and direction to our life. The “path of faith” begins with Baptism, which gives us a participation in the Trinitarian life of God and incorporates us into the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church; continue with the help of the other sacraments; and “ends with the passage from death to eternal life” (Porta Fidei). The resurrection of Christ from the dead, a real historical and physical event, is the basis of our Christian faith: “If Christ is not risen, your faith is vain” (1 Cor. 15:17).
Unfortunately, due to poor catechesis, some Catholics today view faith as the grudging acceptance of a boring and archaic set of dogmas imposed by an authoritarian hierarchy that unnecessarily burdens and constrains their lives. This minimalist and distorted version of the faith is completely powerless in the lives of its followers and completely unappealing to potential believers. These people have never experienced faith for the exciting journey and positive liberating force that it should be. There is nothing boring about an authentic personal encounter with Christ. Such an encounter is a life-changing, life-changing experience that fills a person with joy and motivates them to bear witness of Christ to others.
