Discover Hope News NOtes

The summer months wind down for us as we sisters go on our week-long annual retreat, attend days of Encounter where we learn, pray, and reflect together, and also, like others, go on vacation. So we are proposing for July and August a simpler format for My Discover Hope News Notes. Each week there will be a short reflection based on the new document of Pope Francis The Light of Faith. As we near the August launch of Transformed in Love: a new Catholic Marriage Preparation Program, we'll be sharing with you our excitement over this program which responds to the pastoral challenges of current cultural attitudes toward marriage and family life. And in August, we'll be answering questions on prayer that have been sent in by readers and our friends on Facebook (email any questions you have about any aspect of prayer to srkathrynjames@gmail.com). May you have a graced and restful summer vacation!

The Light of the world
Yesterday, Pope Francis published his first encyclical Light of Faith. In a matter of a few weeks it will be available in English from Pauline Books and Media (for now you can check it out on the Vatican's website). As I began reading the document I was struck by the Pope's opening reflection on light and thought it was perfect for this first of our summer newsletters. He states at the outset that the pagan world hungered for light and developed the cult of the sun god, Sol Invictus, whom they invoked each day at sunrise. As much as the sun shed light on the world, however, "it was clearly incapable of casting its light on all of human existence."

As you spend some days on vacation, at the beach or in your backyard, let the sun be a springboard for reflection. On a simple level we can feel its warmth, notice the way the sunshine lights up the area around us or shifts as the sun moves across the sky. Even shadows are beautiful. As wondrous as sunlight is, however, it cannot illuminate all of reality. Most importantly, Pope Francis says, "its rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of death, the place where men's eyes are closed to the light" (no. 1).

The early Christians were aware that Jesus, the Lord  in whom they believed, did indeed have power over death. He raised the daughter of Jairus, brought his friend Lazarus back from the dead, and he himself was raised from the dead. In Jesus' name, Peter, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, raised Tabitha from the dead. So from the very beginning of Christian devotion, Jesus was invoked as the true Light, the Light shining on every person, the Light who bestows life. Those who have faith walk in the light. If we are in the light, we can see, because it is no longer dark. We see because we believe in the revelation of God who gives light through his Word.

There are those, instead, who boldly set out on a their own search for knowledge. They don't want anything to stand in their way. They need to create what they will believe in. It needs to make sense to them, to their sensibilities, correspond to what they feel is fair and good. Such people set out to find their own way on the path of a liberated humanity. They don't want to be restricted in their search or critiqued in their conclusions.

In the process, the encyclical continues, humanity renounced the search for Truth itself, the great Light that dispels the darkness, and contented itself with "smaller lights" along the way. Faith itself, relying as it does on the revelation of God, began to be considered to be darkness. The Church was accused of being against progress. "There is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim" (no. 1). How important and privileged our baptismal responsibility to keep the flame of faith burning.

I have felt lately that there are increasingly more challenges to living as a person of faith in the world today. The Pope's words help to put structure around that vague suspicion. Where do you struggle as a person of faith? It is helpful to name these edges of growth, to write them down, to consider where God is at work in your life, where you may need, perhaps, to sidestep a temptation or plead for the help of God's grace. For faith is a gift. Later in the encyclical, Pope Francis offers these reassuring words:

"Faith in Christ brings salvation because in him our lives 

become radically open to a love that precedes us,

 a love that transforms us from within, acting in us and through us." (no. 20)