Sede Vacante Day #12 Cardinal Electors Vow to keep Conclave Proceedings Secret!

  Prayer for Election of New Pope            

F.E. Lasance, Prayer-Book for Religious (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1934), p. 1061

With humble hearts, we pray to Thee, O Lord, that, in Thy goodness, Thou wouldst grant to the Holy Roman Church a Sovereign Pontiff who shall be ever pleasing in Thy sight, on account of his tender solicitude for us, and ever reverenced by Thy people, on account of his salutary rule unto the glory of Thy name. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

          

For all those who can watch the Mass on television or  internet, at 10 am March 12th, Rome time, and also for all those who are merely able to spare a thought & prayer for what is going on in Rome, please  pray for the 115 men who during the next few days will have the task of discerning the will of the Holy Spirit for the Church in electing our next Pope, and also for that man – whoever he may be – who will take on this superhuman burden for the sake of God and humankind. More Details....   

In the late afternoon the cardinals will then make their way into the Pauline Chapel and from there in procession to the Sistine Chapel singing the Litany of All the Saints! Click Video Litany of Saints 2005 Conclave


After they process to the Sistine chapel  we will wait, maybe several days, until the Cardinal Protodeacon Jean-Louis Tauran (unless he is elected himself) appears on the balcony to proclaim to the city and the world:"Habemous Papam: We have a pope! 



Daily Schedule for 2013 Conclave

From Rome Reports: The Cadinal's set schedule will officially begin on Tuesday at 7 a.m., when the cardinals are required to move in to Domus Santae Marthae for the duration of the conclave, and will end until a new Pope is chosen.

 Next Full-day schedule for the Conclave:
6:30 a.m.: Breakfast for one hour
7:45 a.m.: Depart from Hotel to Apostolic
Palace
8:15 a.m.: Hour-long Mass at Pauline Chapel
9:30 a.m.: First two rounds of voting inside
Sistine Chapel
12:30 p.m.: Return to Santa Marta
1:00 p.m.: Lunch
4:00 p.m.: Depart from Hotel to Apostolic Palace
4:50 p.m.: Remaining two rounds of voting
inside Sistine Chapel
7:15 p.m.: Vespers (prayer) at Sistine Chapel
7:30 p.m.: Return to Santa Marta
8:00 p.m.: Dinner

Asking St Joseph to Help

Cardinals Elect New Pope

St Joseph the protector and guardian of Our Lord and Our Lady, is also invoked as the Patron of the Universal Church in recognition of his strength and fortitude. God the father gave St. Joseph the most exalted duty of protecting the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who would redeem mankind and endow it with the most perfect and ultimate gift of Eternal Life through His Passion death and resurrection. To fulfill His Divine mission, God the Father entrusted His Son to the paternal care of St. Joseph.  St. Joseph is the epitome of a pure man: pure in thought, pure in heart; pure in body and soul – destined to be the most chaste spouse of Mary Most Holy conceived without sin. 

 The Catholic Church, born from the water that gushed forth from Jesus' side, and nurtured by the maternal love of Our Lady, sought comfort and protection from the snares and malice of Satan and his followers in the hands of St. Joseph, the terror of demons! We can expect that God also endowed him with an equally proportional grace to carry out such a mission in life. And certainly we can picture him as an icon of manliness and a pillar of strength that would sow fear among the powers of darkness.  Given the noble task under his watch.In recognition of this special place, the Church honors him with the highest veneration next to Mary.  More on St Joseph  the 3rd secret and the Fatima Message

In a post from his blog on Wednesday, Cardinal Dolan said that he would be beginning a novena to St. Joseph on Monday, March 11th, nine days before St. Joseph's March 19th feast. He invited the faithful to join him in praying for discernment in for the Cardinals in the election of the new
pope.

      Novena to Saint Joseph

Saint Joseph, you are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. I have special confidence in you. You are powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me, to your intercession. By the love you have for Jesus and Mary, do not abandon me during life, and assist me at the hour of my death.


O Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the immaculate Virgin, Foster-father of Jesus Christ, obtain for me a pure, humble, and charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the Divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.




Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore: (Mention your request Help for Cardinals to elect a Holy Pope). Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I am confident that your prayers on my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.
          Adopt a Cardinal & Pray 

During the Conclave

You now have the opportunity to actively be part of this conclave  by having a Cardinal assigned to you, who you will support through your prayer and intercession during the coming weeks before and during the conclave and for three days following the election.When you participate, you are given "adoption papers" with the picture of a cardinal for whom you will pray! Click the "Adopt" button now! Currently over 517,177 people have adopted a Cardinal! What about you?

Pope: Farewell discourse to College of Cardinals
          From Adopt a Cardinal

  

Dear Spera Rose,Ocds-- Congratulations!

You have adopted this Cardinal:

Jean-Claude Turcotte,

from Canada, born 1936-6-26.
He's been a Cardinal since 1994-11-26  
he is: Archbishop emeritus of Montreal, Canada

Let us Keep Vigil in prayer together until we hear "Habemus Papam!"

Habemous Papam: We have a pope! The announcement given in Latin by the Cardinal Protodeacon, the senior Cardinal Deacon, upon the election of a new pope. The announcement is given from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Catholic Bloggers Link Up Blitz for March 2013

The Fatima Message Embraces Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, with Prayer and Sacrifice!

Benedict XVI announced with simple solemnity before a group of cardinals, from February 28 at 8pm the episcopal See of Rome will be vacant, and immediately after a conclave will be convoked to elect a Successor of the Apostle Peter. The Pope specified this in the brief text he composed directly in Latin and read in the consistory. Full text of popes declaration

Benedict XVI's renunciation of the papacy is an event without precedent that, went around the world. Pope Benedict has not decided to "resign" his office, but to renounce it. The distinction is important. He will not be a "retired Pope," but he will be, simply "Cardinal Ratzinger" once again. There will be no danger of "two Popes" -- this present Pope will no longer be a Pope, not even a retired one. 

 

According to Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi, the pope's Fishermans ring, the symbol of the papacy will likely be broken after he officially steps down February 28, but he stressed that experts were working to determine proper etiquette.

"The Celestine Sign"

According to Dr Robert Moynihan in his Reflections on Pope Benedict's Decision to Resign at the End of February, He stated in his reflections in  The Moynihan Report Letter #7  he stated that "We already knew three years ago that the Pope might do what he announced, On February 11. We knew that he might do it, but no one knew he would do it now!" Also see article by Robert Moynihan tiltled the Celestine Sign published June 30, 2010

"....on April 29, 2009, Benedict did something unusual. He left his own "pallium," the sign of his episcopal authority and his connection to Christ, on a tomb in Aquila, Italy. The tomb held the remains of a medieval Pope, Celestine V (1209-1296).  Celestine V  who was the first pope to formalize the resignation process and is said to have been the first to resign. "

"In fact several popes had previously resigned under pressure to do so, including Pontian (235) and Benedict IX (1045). As noted above, Celestine's own decision was brought about by mild pressure from the Church establishment. His re institution of Gregory X's conclave system has been respected ever since.

IN 1966  Pope Paul VI  visited Celestine's place of death in Ferentino. His speech in homage of Celestine prompted speculation back then that the pontiff was also considering retirement.  Celestine's remains survived the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake and  one Italian spokesman said it was "another great miracle by the pope". While inspecting the earthquake damage during a 28 April 2009 visit to the Aquila, Pope Benedict XVI visited Celestine's remains in the badly damaged Santa Maria di Collemaggio and left the woolen pallium he wore during his papal inauguration in April 2005 on the glass casket as a gift. To mark the 800th anniversary of Celestine's birth, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the Celestine year from 28 August 2009 through 29 August 2010."  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A SIGN FROM GOD?

"What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful." - Pope Benedict XVI  Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio data" 

Just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his surprise resignation as pontiff, photos taken from Monday evening showed the top of St Peter's Basilica being struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm over the Vatican. Is it a sign from God if so what or is it just a coincidental  impressive display of the force of nature? Time will tell!

After his papal installation April 19, 2005 Benedict XVI Requested our Prayers

                                                    

“Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.”

On his first Apostolic Visit to the United States in 2008, Pope Benedict at the end of his homily in the Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on April 19th, referred to himself as “the poor successor of Saint Peter.” He then continued, “I will try to do all that is possible to be a worthy successor of the great Apostle [Peter], who also was a man with faults and sins, but remained in the end the rock for the Church.”

The pope movingly acknowledged his need for our  assistance in fulfilling his divine duties as head of the Catholic Church by concluding “It is also your prayers and your love which give me the certainty that the Lord will help me in this my ministry. I am therefore deeply grateful for your love and for your prayers.”

 On Ash Wednesday  

Benedict XVI, Looked calm and serene, and led his first public appearance, after announcing his resignation. Before a full crowd, he once again said he made the decision with complete liberty.  He echoed Monday's statement by saying that he  does not have the strength to carry out the office of the papacy.

February 13, 2013. (Romereports) “I thank you all for the love and prayers that have accompanied me. Thank you," said the Pope. "In these difficult days, I've felt almost physically, the power of prayer that comes through the love for the Church and your personal prayers. Continue to pray for me, for the Church and the future Pope. The Lord will guide.”

February 14, 2013 Benedict XVI, speaking to priests from the diocese of Rome 3 days after announcing his resignation,The pope stated that the Media disfigured Vatican II and centered his talk with the priests on his experience at the council, and ended his comments with a simple promise:

"We hope that the Lord will help us. I, retired in prayer, will always be with you, and together we will move ahead with the Lord in certainty. The Lord is victorious. Thank you " Click for more details and video

A Prayer for the Pope

  Written by Pope Leo XIII

Pope Benedict XVI  visits Fatima May 2010

O Lord, we are the millions of believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve, defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto Thee with holy fervor the sacred Victim of love and peace.

Wherefore, O Lord, turn thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father. All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in unison with him.

Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made one with his.

Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son. At the moment when our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always," grant, O Lord, that Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations with new and manifest power. Amen.

Jacinta’s Vision of the

Pope He was Weeping,

Insulted and Persecuted 

Is Pope Benedict XVI the Pope BL. Jacinta saw in vision who was weeping while people threw stones and insulted him?

One day, Lucy said, we spent our siesta down by my parents' well. Jacinta sat on the stone slabs on top of the well. Francisco and I climbed up a steep bank in search of wild honey among the brambles in a nearby thicket. After a little while, Jacinta called out to Lucia: "Didn't you see the Holy Father?"  "No I did not see him." Lucia said  
"I saw the Holy Father!" Jacinta continued. "He was in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language. Poor Holy Father, we must pray very much for him."

                                                                                                                                                                                              

Some experts believed that this mysterious vision applied to Pope Pius XII. But it is more probable that this prophetic vision also concerned the future popes. I believe Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as well.  No pope in the history of the Fatima Revelation has suffered such revilement by the press to the point of publishing articles that libel him and asking for his resignation!

The Unprecedented Media Attacks
On the Pope since 2010

 Fueled  by  the  Devil?

"Strike the shepherd the Sheep will Scatter" Zechariah 13:7

April 12, 2010:  'Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope'. Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a journalist specializing in religion. There are times when another blogger says something so much better than I could that I reproduce a whole post. Here is Phil Lawler, distinguished American Catholic commentator and director of CatholicCulture.org.  "We're off and running once again, with another completely phony story that purports to implicate Pope Benedict XVI in the protection of abusive priests. The 'exclusive' story released by AP yesterday, which has been dutifully passed along now by scores of major media outlets, would never have seen the light of day if normal journalistic standards had been in place. Careful editors should have asked a series of probing questions, and in every case the answer to those questions would have shown that the story had no 'legs' "

April 12, 2010:  What Next! Unbelievable but it is a true story! Pope Benedict XVI faces a legal ambush by two leading atheist campaigners who are planning to have him arrested during his state visit to England  for 'crimes against humanity'. Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens - have both written books promoting atheism - and have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

April 12, 2010: The Catholic Herald Britain's Leading Catholic Newspaper publishes a narrative account of the furor that engulfed Pope Benedict XVI after claims that he covered up clerical abuse 

March 30, 2010,  National Catholic Register Blog  Cardinal Ratzinger an Evil Monster? The level of vitriol being directed at Pope Benedict by the mainstream media right now is truly extraordinary. It’s primarily drive by desire for cash (scandal sells), followed closely by hatred, along with a hefty dose of ignorance.


  It is very trying to see the atheists, agnostics, homosexuals and devil worshipers on their social media Blogs and Twitter  railing our faith and the Holy Father what can we do? Listen and observe the requests of Our Lady!

"He who is not with the Pope is not with God, he that wants to be with God, must be with Pope."  Sr.Lucia of Fatima

                      

By April 16th  Benedict the VXI will turn 87.  Benedict moves forward as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI . However we can take hope in the knowledge that he is still a spiritual father to us and his prayers and sufferings will be for the good of the Church for the rest of the time God has allotted him to be with us in this vale of tears. We remember fondly his visit to Fatima in May of 2010 and our prayers of Love and gratitude will always be with him and the new pope that God will raise to follow him. Viva la Papa!--Long live the Pope!

    

Pray for me and for the future pope!

The Catholic Bloggers Link-Up Blitz for FEBRUARY 2013!

Click on above link to locate this post and vote us up!

                                                 

   

             

Memorial of Blessed John Paul II added to U.S.A Calendar! & JPII "The Spark from Poland"

Memorial of Blessed John Paul II Added To U.S. Liturgical Calendar 

US Bishops Receives Approval from Congregation for Divine Worship

WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 22, 2012 

(Zenit.org).- The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship has approved insertion of the optional memorial of Blessed John Paul II in the proper calendar of the dioceses of the United States. It also has provided the proper liturgical texts for observance of the Memorial in the Mass and Divine Office.

The U.S. bishops last November voted overwhelmingly to request the addition of the popular pope, who reigned for 27 years, into the U.S. liturgical calendar.

The Office of Readings includes an excerpt from Pope John Paul's homily at his inauguration as pope in 1978, when he stressed "Do not be afraid, Open, I say open wide the doors for Christ." The message became one of the signature statements of his papacy.

The biographical piece in the Divine Office highlights the pope's pastoral visits around the world, his participation in the Second Vatican Council, and his zeal for families, young people and the sick. It also noted his promotion of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the new Code of Canon Law. ....Entire Zenit Article....

For the Liturgical prayers and readings for the Feast of Blessed John Paul II, go to http://www.usccb.org/about/leadership/holy-see/pope-john-paul-ii/memorial-of-blessed-john-paul-ii.cfm

Beatification  of Bl. John Paul II

 A Joyful Event for the Church 

and All Who Loved Him!

Bl.  John Paul II  the Fatima Pope was Beatified on May 1, 2011 which also was the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.  Benedict XVI explained that the date was chosen for the beatification because it was on the eve of Mercy Sunday that his earthly life ended. "Those who knew him, those who esteemed and loved him, cannot but rejoice with the Church for this event."  In St. Peter's basilica,the tomb for Bl. John Paul II is set in one of the altars, in the chapel of St. Sebastian where his mortal remains are reposed today. 


Pope John Paul II alluded at the consecration of the Shrine of Merciful Love in 1981  making note of  the "special task" assigned to him by God" in the present situation of man, the Church and the world."  He urged us "to implore God's mercy for humanity in this hour of history ... to beg for it at this difficult, critical phase of the history of the Church and of the world as we approach the end of the second millennium." (Rich in Mercy 15)

The "Spark from Poland" 

that will prepare the World 

for my Final Coming!

We are all worried about our country especially now when we face such a critical election with concerns for our economy and for the erosion of our  religious freedoms. St. Faustina  also worried and prayed for Poland: "Jesus, I beg You for my homeland; protect it against the assaults of its enemies" (Diary of St. Faustina, 119).  

Jesus responds to 
St. Faustina prayer:

"I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming" (Diary, 1732).   

At the time it seemed as though this prayer of hers had failed.  Poland was conquered, fractured by the Nazi regime and later she was swallowed up by Communism.  It seemed her prayer to Our Lord was not answered.  However, the beginning of  the answer to her prayer and Poland’s  deliverance from Communism began on October 16, 1978. Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Kraków was elected Pope, taking the name John Paul II.  

This event had an electrifying  unifying effect  for Poland.  Even under Communist rule, Poland  was one of the most devoutly Catholic nations in Europe. The election of a Polish pope the spark from Poland? (Diary, 1732).  

It was the beginning of her political  freedom. God has honored Poland by lighting on her soil “the spark" giving us Bl. John Paul II  who  traversed the entire globe building up the kingdom of God so that it was preached in every land and nation!

Divine Mercy and the End Time

 

The exact timing is the Lord's But of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone  Mat. 24:36   It seems that we have reached a certain critical phase of the end times that  had its beginnings with the Church.

It's  ironic that many of the most religious people of Christ's time  who were actively practicing their religion and  even though they awaited the promised Messiah  they were not able to recognize Him when He came. They even condemned him to death on the cross.  The Pharisees, devoted to their rules, and rituals that over the years, had become so important that their real meaning had been lost. They talked a lot of about God, but none of it had touched their hearts.  They were not living the way He wanted them to live.  “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Is 29:13).  

Mary Mother of Mercy 

Mary Mother of all graces and Mother of Divine Mercy, Defend us from our enemies and receive us at the hour of our death. O Mary Mother of Mercy, Implore for us the Mercy of your Son! 

 

Our Lady also spoke to St. Faustina: “You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge.  Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy. (Diary 635).

The Words of the Our Lady to St Faustina are similar to the Fatima Message.  There is a sense urgency in them.  Like the message of Fatima, it is the same urgency of the Gospel, "The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.” Mark1:15

"If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

Our Enemy is not the Evil Around us,
Our Real enemy is  the Sin Within us!

Are we not faced with a similar circumstances as we await the final coming of the Lord?  Paul writes in second Thessalonians: “The coming of the lawless one whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness" 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

      The Church's Final Trial                

 675 “Before  Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.” Read more: Catechism of the Catholic Church and the last days                                
                                                                           

Unceasingly the Church Implores
 God's  Mercy for Everyone!

April 30, 2000 View of  St. Peter's Square Institution of Feast of  Divine Mercy

Speak to the world about My mercy ... It is a sign for the end times. After it will come the Day of Justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fountain of My mercy. (Diary 848)  Read more
 

Words of Blessed John Paul II: “At no time and in no historical period -- especially at a moment as critical as our own -- can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. "The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God, and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries!”  June 7, 1977  Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland .(Dives in Misericordia, n. 15).

John Paul II--You Live On! You Live On!

The Year of Faith--Togethor Let us seek the Face of Christ!

Pope inaugurates Year of Faith 

and invites all to rediscover 

the Second Vatican Council!

The Opening Mass of Year of Faith

Click for The Pope's Homily

If today the Church proposes a new Year of Faith and a new evangelization, it is not to honour an anniversary, but because there is more need of it, even more than there was fifty years ago! And the reply to be given to this need is the one desired by the Popes, by the Council Fathers and contained in its documents. Even the initiative to create a Pontifical Council for the promotion of the new evangelization, which I thank for its special effort for the Year of Faith, is to be understood in this context. Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual "desertification". In the Council’s time it was already possible from a few tragic pages of history to know what a life or a world without God looked like, but now we see it every day around us. This void has spread. But it is in starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. 

"The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return."  Porta Fidei,1

The Year of Faith and Vatican II Benedict XVI, in Porta Fide also commented on the Year of Faith and the Second Vatican Council. "In some respects, my venerable predecessor saw this Year as a “consequence and a necessity of the post -conciliar period”  fully conscious of the grave difficulties of the time, especially with regard to the profession of the true faith and correct interpretation. It seemed to me that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council would provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition ... I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning. I would also like to emphasize strongly what I had occasion to say concerning the Council a few months after my election as Successor of Peter:'if we interpret and implement it guided by a right hermeneutic, it can be and can become increasingly powerful for the ever necessary renewal of the Church.' " Porta Fidei,5 The Year of Faith  Seeking the Face of Christ Hear my voice when I call, Lord;     be merciful to me and answer me.  My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”     Your face, Lord, I will seek. Psalm 27:7-8

Today is the first day of the Year of Faith, and also is the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. . . (Vatican II) and the twentieth anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. During the Year of Faith, Catholics are asked to study and reflect on the documents of Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church so that they may deepen their knowledge of the faith.

The Year of Faith is a year of Grace concept which is inspired and based upon the Apostolic Letter ‘Novo Millenio Ineunte’ by the late Blessed Pope John Paul II—recalling the events in Rome during the Jubilee Year of 2000 and his challenge to the whole Church to “contemplate the face of Christ” and to “start afresh” from Christ.

Benedict XVI in his Apostolic letter, Porta Fidei elaborates on this theme: "During this time we will need to keep our gaze fixed upon Jesus Christ, the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2): in him, all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfillment. The joy of love, the answer to the drama of suffering and pain, the power of forgiveness in the face of an offense received and the victory of life over the emptiness of death: all this finds fulfillment in the mystery of his Incarnation, in his becoming man, in his sharing our human weakness so as to transform it by the power of his resurrection. In him who died and rose again for our salvation, the examples of faith that have marked these two thousand years of our salvation history are brought into the fullness of light." Porta Fidei,13

Also See: Plenary Indulgence Offered for Year of Faith Make use of this gift of mercy from the church!