A little girl is sitting on her grandpa's lap, studying his face. She gets up the nerve to rub her fingers over the wrinkles. Then she touches her own face and looks more puzzled. Finally she asks, "Grandpa, did God make you?"
"He sure did honey, a long time ago," replies her grandpa.
"Well, did God make me?" asks the little girl.
"Yes, He did, and that wasn't too long ago," answers her grandpa.
"Boy," says the little girl, "He's sure doing a lot better job these days, isn't He?"
Why did Pope Benedict proclaim a Year of Faith? To make us aware of the role we are invited to take as Christians, and so that the exciting life offered to us may become a reality.
The word of the Lord is irresistible! God is love and love is exciting! Yet too many of us spend our days oblivious to the wonderful relationship Jesus offers us. Who can turn down love?
In Chariots of Fire the character Eric Liddell says, "When I run, I feel his pleasure". What is that pleasure in our lives? Perhaps we can recognize God's gift to us by answering: I feel God's pleasure when I ________.
When God sees us using these marvelous gifts in our lives, God says, "You are my beloved child. With you I am well pleased." These are the words the Father spoke about his Son in Matthew 17:5. God loves us just like a Father.
Imparting our faith to others is the dynamic behind the new evangelization in the Year of Faith vision. Evangelization is the grace that gives hope to the world. But how can we pass on what we do not have?
The Year of Faith invites us to open our hearts to rediscover the person of Jesus. God partners with us in passing on faith to the world. PRAYER is needed to bring the life of Faith to the world. Above all, the Year of Faith is a year of prayer.
James Hillman in The Force of Character and Lasting Life uses this metaphor: The best wines have to be aged in cracked old barrels. The last years of our lives are meant to mellow the soul and most everything inside our biology conspires together to ensure that this happens. The soul must be properly aged before it leaves. There's intelligence inside of life, he asserts, that intends aging just as it intends growth in youth.
The Year of Faith invites us to welcome the new wine of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. In "The Intelligence Inside of the Aging Process" Father Ron Rolheiser says:
"It's a huge mistake to read the signs of aging as indications of dying rather than as initiations into another way of life. Each physical diminishment, from why we have to get up at night to go to the bathroom to why our skin sags and goes dry, is designed to mature the soul. And they do their work without our consent, relentlessly and ruthlessly."
The Year of Faith is the time to embrace the power of Love as it grows in our hearts. God's love is dynamic. As we accept the physical aging in our bodies, we need to recognize the spiritual maturing in our souls.
The life of God inside us is eternal. God's love in our lives is the new wine, the new dynamic making a difference in our everyday lives. Evangelization is the grace that gives the world hope.
