Here are
eight significant quotes from the first Encyclical of Pope Francis: Lumen Fidei
(The Light of Faith)
1. From
Paragraph 4: “The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating
every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful cannot come from
ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it must come from God.
Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his
love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for
building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain fresh vision, new eyes to
see; we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfilment, and that a
vision of the future opens up before us.”
2. From
Paragraph 16: “If laying down one’s life for one’s friends is the greatest
proof of love (cf. Jn 15:13), Jesus offered his own life for all, even for his
enemies, to transform their hearts. This explains why the evangelists could see
the hour of Christ’s crucifixion as the culmination of the gaze of faith; in
that hour the depth and breadth of God’s love shone forth.”
3. From
Paragraph 18: “In many areas in our lives we trust others who know more than we
do. We trust the architect who builds our home, the pharmacist who gives us
medicine for healing, the lawyer who defends us in court. We also need someone
trustworthy and knowledgeable where God is concerned. Jesus, the Son of God, is
the one who makes God known to us (cf. Jn 1:18). Christ’s life, his way of
knowing the Father and living in complete and constant relationship with him,
opens up new and inviting vistas for human experience.”
4. From
Paragraph 25: “In contemporary culture, we often tend to consider the only real
truth to be that of technology: truth is what we succeed in building and
measuring by our scientific know-how, truth is what works and what makes life
easier and more comfortable. Nowadays this appears as the only truth that is
certain, the only truth that can be shared, the only truth that can serve as a
basis for discussion or for common undertakings. Yet at the other end of the
scale we are willing to allow for subjective truths of the individual, which
consist in fidelity to his or her deepest convictions, yet these are truths
valid only for that individual and not capable of being proposed to others in
an effort to serve the common good. But Truth itself, the truth which would
comprehensively explain our life as individuals and in society, is regarded
with suspicion.”
5. From
Paragraph 26: “Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that
he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending of faith and love we come
to see the kind of knowledge which faith entails, its power to convince and its
ability to illumine our steps. Faith knows because it is tied to love, because
love itself brings enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive
the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see
reality with new eyes.”
6. From Paragraph
46: “The Decalogue is not a set of negative commands, but concrete directions
for emerging from the desert of the selfish and self-enclosed ego in order to
enter into dialogue with God, to be embraced by his mercy and then to bring
that mercy to others. Faith thus professes the love of God, origin and upholder
of all things, and lets itself be guided by this love in order to journey
towards the fullness of communion with God. The Decalogue appears as the path
of gratitude, the response of love, made possible because in faith we are
receptive to the experience of God’s transforming love for us.”
7. From
Paragraph 52: “The first setting in which faith enlightens the human city is
the family. I think first and foremost of the stable union of man and woman in
marriage. This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own
love, and of the acknowledgment and acceptance of the goodness of sexual
differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flesh (cf. Gen 2:24) and are
enabled to give birth to a new life, a manifestation of the Creator’s goodness,
wisdom and loving plan.”
8. From
Paragraph 57: “Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp
which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who
suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his
response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which
touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light. In Christ, God
himself wishes to share this path with us and to offer us his gaze so that we
might see the light within it. Christ is the one who, having endured suffering,
is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2).”
Thanks: Vatican Radio website
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