CCOOUURRIIEERR Volume 16, Issue 3 November 2013 A Prayer of Thanksgiving God, source and giver of all things, we give you thanks on this Thanksgiving Day for the beauty of the whole of creation. We give you thanks for the blessings of family and friends: both those gathered around this table and those who are present only in our hearts. We give you thanks for this food, prepared by loving hands and for the graces you provide to nourish our bodies, minds and hearts so that we might better serve you. Help us to be faithful stewards of all that has been given us. May we reflect that which we have received to all we meet, R CW C especially the less fortunate in our midst. C K IA Used with permission from Glenmary Home Missioners C Inside this issue of Christ the King Courier: Father Pawel on Faith ......................... page 2&4 To Capture the Light of God ............... page 10 & 11 Pope Francis - A Man of Balance........ page 5 St. Katharine Drexel ............................ page 14 Maryknoll Affiliates ........................... page 8 Remembering Father Thanh ................ page 15 - 19 Page 2 Christ the King Courier November 2013 Father Pawel’s Message Virtue of faith according to the Catechism of Catholic was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Lk 1:45) Throughout Church her life and until her last Introduction ordeal, when Jesus, her son, died on the cross, Mary’s faith The whole structure of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is built never wavered. She never on the relationship between God and men. From God’s side this initial ceased to believe in the relationship is expressed in Revelation and the Incarnation, and from fulfillment of God’s word, man’s side this relationship is expressed in faith to the revealed word and and so the Church venerates especially incarnated Word – Jesus, son of God. Faith opens this in Mary the purest realization relationship with God and leads man to the fullness of life with God. The of faith. (CCC 148-149). Catechism explains very clearly, that the fundamental goal of man’s life is to know and love God: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, Truth of faith in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his The fundamental focus of own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God faith is belief in the Triune draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him God: with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the To God the father: “Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.” Jesus’ mission is to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. continued by His Apostles through proclamation of the Gospel and It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe providing the sacraments according to Jesus’ words: “Go therefore and absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and in a creature.” CCC 150 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” To believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God: believing in God cannot be (Mt 28:19-20) (CCC 1) separated from believing in the One he sent, his “beloved Son,” in whom the Father is “well pleased.” The Lord himself said to his Personal free response to God’s word and the welcoming of Christ’s disciples: “Believe in God, believe also in me.” (Jn 14:1) CCC 151 call obliges men to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world: “All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to To believe in the Holy Spirit: One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who celebrating it in liturgy and prayer (Acts 2:42).” Jesus is. For “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit,” (I Cor 12:3) who “searches everything, even the depths of Obedience of faith God. No one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God.” (I Cor 2:10-11.) Only God knows God completely: we believe The very nature of the human being seeks truth. Faith opens the door in the Holy Spirit because he is God. CCC 152 of truth before man and then involves obedience to God’s word because His words contain truth eternal. The Catechism expresses this principle in The Characteristics of Faith the following way: “To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to “hear or listen to”) in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because Finally, the Catechism presents the characteristics of faith which helps its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself . Then Catechism gives us to understand the nature of faith. us two great examples of obedience of faith—-Abraham and the Blessed Faith is a grace : “Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused Virgin Mary: “Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by by him. Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of Sacred Scripture. The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.” (CCC God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy 144) Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel’s the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.”(DV 5; ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham ’s faith: “By faith, Abraham cf. DS 377; 3010) CCC 153 obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive Faith is a human act : “Believing is an authentically human act. as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.”(Heb Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary 11:8) By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the Promised Land neither to human freedom nor to human reason. In faith, the human (Gen 23:4). By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise, intellect and will co-operate with divine grace.” “Believing is an act of the and by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice (Heb 11:17) (CCC intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by 145). In this way “Abraham fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews” God through grace.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 2, 9) CCC 154-155 11:1: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things Faith is certain : Faith is more certain than all human knowledge not seen”; “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, righteousness.”(Rom 4:3) Because he was “strong in his faith,” Abraham revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but became the “father of all who believe.” (Rom 4:11). “the certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that which the light The Virgin Mary - most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. of natural reason gives.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II 171, 5, obj. 3) By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Faith seeks understanding : “It is intrinsic to faith that a believer Gabriel, believing that “with God nothing will be impossible” and so desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to giving her assent: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] understand better what He has revealed; a more penetrating knowledge to me according to your word” (Lk 1:37-38). Elizabeth greeted her: will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love...” “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what Continued on page 4 The mission of Christ the King Courier is to provide our Christ The King Family with information and news regarding our faith and Christ the parish ministries. The goal is to share information, happenings, and stories that abound within the ministries of our parish in the hope that people can use this information to bring them closer to God and our parish church family. Wisdom and enlightenment are two King Courier of God's many gifts, and through Christ the King Courier parishioners can share in the joy, love, and fellowship of Christ the King 742 N. Arlington Road Parish. Our desire is to serve our God, share his message of love and hope with all, and to encourage others to spread the message Jacksonville, FL 32211 of the Gospel of Christ.