Lumen fidei ch 3
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Transcript of Lumen fidei ch 3
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LUMEN FIDEI
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS, DEACONS,
CONSECRATED PERSONS ,AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON FAITH
The Church, mother of our faith
The sacraments and the transmission of
faith
Faith, prayer and the Decalogue
The unity and integrity of faith
CHAPTER
THREE
I DELIVERED
TO YOU
WHAT I
ALSO
RECEIVED
(cf. 1 Cor 15:3)
The church, mother of our faith. (2 Cor 4:13). LF37
"But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance
with scripture — ‘I believed, and so I spoke’ — we also believe, and
so we speak"
The word,
once
accepted,
becomes
a response,
a
confession
of faith,
which
spreads to
others and
invites them
to believe.LF37
"All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though
reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image" (2 Cor 3:18).
It is a light reflected from one face to another, even as Moses himself bore a
reflection of God’s glory after having spoken with him: "God… has shone in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). LF37
Faith’s past, that act of Jesus’
love which brought new life to
the world, comes down to us
through the memory of others —
witnesses — and is kept alive in
that one remembering subject
which is the Church. LF38
Faith is not simply an individual decision
which takes place in the depths of the
believer’s heart, nor a completely private
relationship between the "I" of the believer
and the divine "Thou",
between an autonomous subject and God.
By its very nature, faith is open to the "We"
of the Church; it always takes place within
her communion. LF39
The sacraments and the transmission of
faith.
It is through the apostolic Tradition preserved in
the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit
that we enjoy a living contact with the foundational
But what is communicated in the Church, what is handed down in
her living Tradition, is the new light born of an encounter with the
true God, a light which touches us at the core of our being and
engages our minds, wills
and emotions, opening us to relationships lived in communion.
The
sacraments
communicat
e an
incarnate
memory,
linked to the
times and
places of
our lives,
linked
to all our
senses.
LF40
In baptism we receive both
a teaching to be professed
and a specific way of life
which demands the
engagement of the whole
person and sets us on the
path to goodness. Those
who are baptized are set in
a new context, entrusted to
a new environment, a new
and shared way of acting,
in the Church. Baptism
makes us see, then, that
faith is not the
achievement of isolated
individuals; it is not an act
which someone can
perform on his own, but
rather something which
must be received by
entering into the ecclesial
communion which
transmits God’s gift.LF41
Baptism"we were buried with him by
baptism into death, so that, just
as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father,
we too might walk in newness of
life" (Rom 6:4).
The Trinity.Water is at once a symbol
of death, inviting us to
pass through self-
conversion to a new and
greater identity, and a
symbol of life, of a womb
in which we are reborn by
following Christ in his
new life - - - - Christ’s
work penetrates the
depths of our being and
transforms us radically,
making us adopted
children of God and
sharers in the divine
nature.
It thus modifies all our
relationships, our place
in this world and in the
universe, and opens
them
to God’s own life of
"Their refuge will be
the fortresses of
rocks… their water
assured" (Is 33:16).
The baptized,
rescued from the
waters of death,
were now set on a
"fortress of rock"
because they had
found a firm and
reliable foundation.
LF42
Infant baptism.
Since faith is a reality lived within the community of the Church, part of a
common "We", children can be supported by others, their parents and
godparents, and welcomed into their faith, which is the faith of the Church - - -
- Parents are called, as Saint Augustine once said, not only to bring children
into the world but also to bring them to God, so that through baptism they can
be reborn as children of God and receive the gift of faith. LF43
the Eucharist is an act of remembrance, a making present of the
mystery in which the past, as an event of death and resurrection,
demonstrates its ability to open up a future, to foreshadow ultimate
fulfilment. - - - The bread and wine are changed into the body and
blood of Christ, who becomes present in his passover to the Father:
this movement draws us, body and soul, into the movement of all
creation towards its fulfilment in God. LF44
The creed does
not only involve
giving one’s
assent to a body
of abstract
truths; rather,
when it is
recited the
whole of life is
drawn into a
journey towards
full communion
with the living
God. LF45
Faith, prayer and the DecalogueChristians learn to share in Christ’s own
spiritual experience and to see all things
through his eyes. From him who is light from
light, the only-begotten
Son of the Father, we come to know God and
can thus kindle in others the desire to draw near
to him LF46
"I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of
the land of Egypt" (Ex
20:2).
The Decalogue is not a
set
of negative commands,
but concrete directions
for emerging from the
desert of the selfish and
self-enclosed ego in
order to enter into
dialogue with God, to be
embraced by his mercy
and then to bring that
mercy to others. Faith
thus professes the love
of God, origin and
upholder of all things,
and lets itself be guided
by this love in order to
the storehouse of memory which
the Church hands down:
1-the profession of faith,
2-the celebration of the
sacraments,
3-the path of the ten
commandments,
4-and prayer.
The unity and
integrity of faith
Faith is "one", in the
first place, because
of the oneness of
the God who is
known
and confessed.
All the articles of
faith speak of God;
they are ways to
know him
and his works.
Consequently, their
unity is far superior
to any possible
construct of human
reason.
They possess a
unity which
enriches us
because it is given
to us and makes us
Faith is also one because it is directed to the one Lord -
- -
By professing the same faith, we stand firm on the same
rock, we are transformed by the same Spirit of love, we
radiate one light and we have a single insight into
Since faith is one, it must be
professed
in all its purity and integrity. LF48
the magisterium always speaks in obedience to the
prior word on which faith is based; it is reliable
because of its trust in the word which it hears,
preserves and expounds. LF49