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Religion’s presence on America’s hallowed ground - Page 15
Popes JOHN XXIII and JOHN PAUL II will soon be official saints of the Church - Page 8
Shrine’s picturesque setting offers young women time out to seek life’s purpose By Peter Rosengren UPCOMING retreats to be held on July 20 and August 25 in the idyllic surrounds of the Schoenstatt shrine just outside Armadale will offer women aged 17-30 a unique opportunity to seek life’s purpose. The most recent Grace and Silence retreat day was held at the Shrine for single young women on Sunday June 30. So far, 19 women have participated in the event since it began in May. The days offer single young women the relatively rare opportunity to immerse themselves in prayerful silence to contemplate their life’s vocation; the retreats are proving to be a positive experience for those who attend. Grace and Silence organisers are delighted with the echoes which the participants have shared with them. “I didn’t realise how much I needed it until I was there. It really helped me clarify a few things in my mind and to make a few decisions regarding my vocation and what I need to do to fulfil it,” wrote one participant. Two final retreat days are scheduled for 9.30am-4.30pm on July 20 and August 25. The retreats cost $20 including lunch and refreshments. Registration is essential and places are limited. For more information, contact Hanna on 0415 306 090 or visit www.schoenstattwa.org.au to download a registration form.
A young woman reads in the grounds of the Schoenstatt Shrine located in the foothills just outside Armadale. Two forthcoming one-day retreats on July 20 and August 25 will offer women aged 17-30 a chance to escape the business of everyday life to focus on hearing God’s call to them. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Francis’ first encyclical outlines faith as the beacon in our lives
Follow ‘the light of life’ By Francis Rocca POPE FRANCIS’ first encyclical, Lumen Fidei (“The Light of Faith”), is a celebration of Christian faith as the guiding light of a “successful and fruitful life”, inspiring social action as well as devotion to God, and illuminating “every aspect of human existence”, including philosophy and the natural sciences. The document, released on July 5, completes a papal trilogy on the three “theological virtues” following Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclicals Deus Caritas Est (2005) on charity and Spe Salvi (2007) on hope. Publication of the encyclical was one of the most awaited events of the Year of Faith which began in October 2012. Pope Benedict “had almost completed a first draft of an encyclical on faith” before his retirement in
February 2013, Pope Francis writes, adding that “I have taken up his fine work and added a few contributions of my own”. Commentators will likely differ in attributing specific passages, but the document clearly recalls the writings of Pope Benedict in its extensive treatment of the dialogue between faith and reason and its
many citations of St Augustine, not to mention references to Friedrich Nietzsche and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. On the other hand, warnings of the dangers of idolatry, Gnosticism and Pharisaism, a closing prayer to Mary as the “perfect icon of faith”, and an entire section on the relevance of faith to earthly justice and peace echo themes that Pope
Francis has already made signatures of his young pontificate. Lumen Fidei begins with a brief survey of the biblical history of faith, starting with God’s call to Abraham to leave his land – “the beginning of an exodus which points him to an uncertain future” – and God’s promise that Abraham will be “father of a great nation”. The Bible also illustrates how men and women break faith with God by worshipping substitutes for him. “Idols exist, we begin to see, as a pretext for setting ourselves at the centre of reality and worshipping the work of our own hands,” the Pope writes. “Once man has lost the fundamental orientation which unifies his existence, he breaks down into the multiplicity of his desires ... Idolatry, then, is Continued - Pages 10-11
QUOTABLE “Our culture has lost its sense of God’s tangible presence and activity in our world. We think that God is to be found in the beyond, on another level of reality, far removed from our everyday relationships. But if this were the case, if God could not act in the world, his love would not be truly powerful, truly real, and thus not even true, a love capable of delivering the bliss that it promises. ... Christians, on the contrary, profess their faith in God’s tangible and powerful love, which really does act in history and determines its final destiny: a love that can be encountered, a love fully revealed in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.” - from Lumen Fidei, Ch 2 We have believed in Love