Encyclical Letter Lumen fidei of the Supreme Pontiff Francis. 1. The light of Faith: this is how the Church’s tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus. In John’s Gospel, Christ says of himself: "I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (Jn 12:46). Saint Paul uses the same image: "God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts" (2 Cor 4:6). The pagan world, which hungered for light, had seen the growth of the cult of the sun god, Sol Invictus, invoked each day at sunrise. Yet though the sun was born anew each morning, it was clearly incapable of casting its light on all of human existence.
The sun does not illumine all reality; its rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of death, the place where men’s eyes are closed to its light. An illusory light? 2. 3. A light to be recovered 4. 5. 6. 7. WE HAVE BELIEVED IN LOVE (cf. 1 Jn 4:16) Abraham, our father in faith 8. 9. 10. 11. The faith of Israel 12. 13. 14. The fullness of Christian faith 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae. 1. The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness.
It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” (duc in altum!) In order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), “the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilization turn”.(1) The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. The Popes and the Rosary 2. 3. Objections to the Rosary 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Deus Caritas Est - Encyclical Letter, Benedict XVI. 1. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16).
These words from theFirst Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us”. We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should ... have eternal life” (3:16). A problem of language 2. “Eros” and “Agape” – difference and unity 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Veritatis splendor, Encyclical Letter, John Paul II. CHAPTER III - "LEST THE CROSS OF CHRIST BE EMPTIED OF ITS POWER (1 Cor 1:17) - Moral good for the life of the Church and of the world "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1). 84. The fundamental question which the moral theories mentioned above pose in a particularly forceful way is that of the relationship of man's freedom to God's law; it is ultimately the question of the relationship between freedom and truth. According to Christian faith and the Church's teaching, "only the freedom which submits to the Truth leads the human person to his true good. The good of the person is to be in the Truth and to do the Truth".136 A comparison between the Church's teaching and today's social and cultural situation immediately makes clear the urgent need for the Church herself to develop an intense pastoral effort precisely with regard to this fundamental question.
"This essential bond between Truth, the Good and Freedom has been largely lost sight of by present-day culture. 85. 86. 87. 88. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word-Gaudium et Spes. 46. This council has set forth the dignity of the human person, and the work which men have been destined to undertake throughout the world both as individuals and as members of society. There are a number of particularly urgent needs characterizing the present age, needs which go to the roots of the human race. To a consideration of these in the light of the Gospel and of human experience, the council would now direct the attention of all. Of the many subjects arousing universal concern today, it may be helpful to concentrate on these: marriage and the family, human progress, life in its economic, social and political dimensions, the bonds between the family of nations, and peace.
On each of these may there shine the radiant ideals proclaimed by Christ. By these ideals may Christians be led, and all mankind enlightened, as they search for answers to questions of such complexity. 47. All these situations have produced anxiety of consciences. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. "Caritas in veritate" - Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium. 1. Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature,(1) to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. Since the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race, it desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission.
This it intends to do following faithfully the teaching of previous councils. The present-day conditions of the world add greater urgency to this work of the Church so that all men, joined more closely today by various social, technical and cultural ties, might also attain fuller unity in Christ. 2. The eternal Father, by a free and hidden plan of His own wisdom and goodness, created the whole world. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.