ENCYCLICAL LETTER

LUMEN FIDEI
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
FRANCIS

This encyclical letter is called Lumen Fidei, which means The Light of
Faith. The letter starts off by saying those who believe in Christ will never be in
darkness; in fact they will always have a light to lead them along their journey of
life. But there were some objections where some believed that the light was an
illusion, and Nietzsche developed a critique that stated the light does not allow
one to seek new paths. However, it is important to understand that our faith is a
light and the light comes from God. Our faith is what will lead down us many
paths, including through darkest moments. God will shine the light for us and
open up new opportunities and guide us through our future. As once said by a
martyr, “Our true father is Christ, and our mother is faith in him” (Pope Francis,
2013). This statement will bring us to divine life and new experiences.

Faith is something that can be heard not seen. It is also the way we
response to a word or message that God sends to us. This is the way that
Abraham experienced faith and became the father in faith. God asked Abraham
to trust in him for He will shed the light that will lead to goodness in all things.
Israel’s journey towards faith began by trusting in God to free his people. God’s
light comes to us by illuminating our path and showing us how He fulfills His
promises. Israel’s journey also talks about unbelief or also known as idolatry.
This is the opposite of faith and it entails worshipping an idol that has a face that
can be looked and leads ones journey towards many paths to end up nowhere.
This is why we must continue to have faith in God and trust in him as he enables
us to see the light leading towards the right path. The history of Jesus is the
complete manifestation of God’s reliability. God’s words spoken through Jesus
are eternal words. Jesus offered his own life for us all, and through his crucifixion
is when all gazed in faith and it is when God’s love shone forth. God’s love was
seen in the light of Jesus’ resurrection, which showed us that He, Christ Jesus, is
deserving of our faith since he has concurred death. The way we trust others
around us, such as an architect to build our home or a pharmacist to give us
medicine, we must believe in Jesus and his truthful words. People who are
centred on themselves fail to realize that goodness comes from God because
they are closed off and isolated from the Lord. We must acknowledge and open
the gift from God in order to experience salvation and bear good fruit. This
reveals that we are recognizing the primacy of God’s gift. One who is aware of
the believer understands that God lives in us and within others. This is the Holy
Spirit at work. Christ is the mirror in which they find their own image fully realized.
Faith comes from hearing and is meant to find expressions and words.

Unless you believe, you will not understand. God is trustworthy, so it is

reasonable to have faith in Faith and trust in his word. Without knowledge and
truth we cannot move forward. Saint Paul said, “One believes with the heart”
(Pope Francis, 2013). If we have our heart open then we can become open to
the truth and love. With the power of these two, faith and love, we can see that
faith entails the power to convince and its ability to light the steps along our path.
Truth and love are inseparable and it opens our eyes to see reality in a new way
in union with the beloved. Truth and fidelity also go together and the God of
fidelity keeps his promises and makes it possible to understand his plan. Saint
Paul also stated “faith comes from hearing” (Pope Francis, 2013). The
knowledge of one’s word opens up the freedom and follows his or hers’
obedience to faith. Faith is also tied to sight; we see the work Jesus has done,
which means we are seeing the glory of God. Saint John speaks of faith as
tough. By taking the flesh of Jesus, He has touched us, and through the
sacraments he continues to touch us even today. Through faith as touch, we are
transforming our hearts and acclaiming Jesus as the Son of God and we are
receiving his power of grace. God will reward those who seek him, but we must
be ready to be led down the path He light for us. Anyone who sets off the path of
doing good to others is already drawing near to God.

Opening up our hearts to God’s love and hearing his voice, along with
receiving his light is all part of having faith. However, as we believe in God we
must also speak and spread the word to others and invite them to believe. The
light shines off of the face of us Christians like the reflection of a mirror; we can
also share the light onto others. This is how the power of faith passes down from
one generation to the next. We as humans come from one another and we
share, pass down and attain knowledge from generations before us. The church
is like a Mother who teaches us to speak the language of faith. Those who
believe are never alone and this is how faith spreads and invites others to share
its joy. The transmission of faith occurs for the first time through baptism. In
baptism we become a new creation and one of God’s adopted children. Children
are not capable of accepting faith on their own which is why their parents and
godparents profess the faith of the child. The Eucharist we see two dimensions
where the first entails the history of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The
second dimension the heights and depths of reality are seen through the body
and blood of Christ (bread and wine). Through the celebration of sacraments, the
Church is handing down the memory through the profession of faith. The Our
Father prayer is another essential element in the transmission of faith. The last
element is the path of the Ten Commandments, which are concrete directions to
be embraced by the mercy of God that we must bring to others. This faith that we
believe in is one that is pure and believed by all who unite in the Church, and the
Church as a whole, which is one body and one Spirit. By professing the same
faith we are radiating the same light and same Spirit of love.

An essential aspect of faith is the process of building and faith reveals how
firm the bonds between people can be when God is present. The light of faith
enhances the richness of human relations so that each can be worth and enrich
their lives together. Faith is a common good and it helps to build our society in a
way that they can journey towards a future of hope. The first way faith enlightens
the human city is through family – where the union of man and woman create a
union of their love. Then the journey of faith grows in richness by having children,
which is a sign of the Creator who delivers the mystery of a new person. As
children grow they learn to trust in the love of their parents and it is the parents’
role to share expressions of faith for their children to mature in their own faith.
Faith also becomes a light with those relationships we create among society.
God wants to make everyone share as brothers and sisters that one blessing so
that all may be one. If faith is weakened then the foundations of life might also be
weakened. This is why faith provides lights to life and society. Although suffering
is something we cannot eliminate but it can have meaning and become an act of
love and entrustment into the hands of God who does not abandon us. As we
trust in God hands share the path for us to see the same light that he sees for us.
We must remember the following: “Christ is the one who, having endured
suffering, is ‘the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Heb 12:2)” (Pope Francis,
2013).

As I reflect upon this encyclical letter from Pope Francis I can officially say
I have a better understanding of what the term “The Light of Faith” means or
Lumen Fidei. The development of our faith is something that is passed down
from generation to generation. Looking at it from an educator’s perspective, I am
aware that it will be my role to pass on my knowledge of faith to my students.
This is how they will gain a better understanding of the path that we must follow,
which is the light that God is guiding for us all. I have gained the understanding,
in which I can pass down to my students, that faith is something that we can
hear, see, and touch. We hear the stories passed down from generations which
make us believe that we are all part of this society united by God. We can see
that God is around us through those people that he puts in our lives, and through
the promises that he fulfills for us. We get in touch with our faith through the
celebration of sacraments, which begins with baptism and then through receiving
the Eucharist, also known as the body of Christ. Overall, this encyclical letter has
taught me a lot about finding the light and staying on that path because God is
there right with us. Even through tough times, where we may suffer, we must
remember that he will not leave our side.