Turning our Minds to Heavenly Things

                On this second day of the Year of Faith, I’m feeling a like a have a double hangover.  Yesterday, I spent much of the day reading about the year of faith, attended mass and a Holy Hour and have many thoughts buzzing through my brain.  I also spent time, into the wee hours of the morning, watching play-off baseball.  Various members of my family are Nationals, Orioles and Tigers fans.  Each team was facing elimination from the play offs if they didn’t win.  All three teams won, in dramatic fashion.

               

               So in this prayful-baseball haze, I try to make some sense of the potential for the Year of Faith and of the experiences of yesterday.  I have been personally excited about this Year of Faith since Pope Benedict declared it a year ago. I wonder, what can this year mean for me?  For my family?  For those around me? Pope John XIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council, said that the Council was to “turn our minds to heavenly things”.

                In his homily on Oct 11th, Our Holy Father Pope Benedict said that “the Church proposed a new Year of Faith and a new evangelization, . . . because there is more need of it, even more than there was fifty years ago”.  He defined the Year of Faith as a “summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei 6). In other words, the Year of Faith is an opportunity for Catholics to experience a conversion – to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with him. The “door of faith” is opened at one’s baptism, but during this year Catholics are called to open it again, walk through it and rediscover and renew their relationship with Christ and his Church.

                The priest who preached at the holy hour spoke of life as a pilgrim on a journey. And, that like pilgrims, we can’t go alone.  He remarked that by reaching out to others during this year of faith, we can have a profound effect on our culture.  As we try more clearly to “see the light”, we can help others also find it.

                At mass, the priest described the Year of Faith as a time to fall in love with God all over again, or for the first time. It is a time to return, renew, discover, learn and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ.

                With so many ideas and thoughts surging through my mind, I do think that Blessed Pope John XXIII said it simply.  This year is a time for us to turn our thoughts to heavenly things, as we let go and stop grasping for the material wealth of this world.