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"And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not." Et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt. --John 1: 5 |
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Welcome to my Faith page! I have been a Roman Catholic all my life. The Catholic faith is the essence of my being, it is what I firmly believe to be Truth. I began this Faith website in the early spring of 2001; I already had made a webpage with my poetry and interests, and it dawned on me that a website devoted to sharing my faith was much more important. In writing these pages I have grown in my own knowledge of the Catholic faith, and the efforts towards its construction have deepened my love for the Church, and for Christ. I have striven to be orthodox in my beliefs, and I have striven to be loyal to the Holy Father and the Magisterium in the making of this site.
So, with the great joy that has come from working on these pages, I offer them to you. I hope that they will enlighten and educate faithfully, and aid in the spreading of the Truth. The purpose herein is to share what I know, what I have learned, in a simple and straightforward manner. I am neither theologian nor apologist, but I hope these pages will be effective in that purpose. To this end, I have used quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Holy Scripture, and the writings of Church councils and Church leaders. I have also included pages of my favorite prayers and Bible verses.
First, I will expound a bit on what it means, to me, to be Catholic, and what the Church is to me. My faith and my religion are more than merely aspects of my life. They are my life. I believe and know that my Church is eminently glorious, enduringly beautiful, so fruitfully good and majestic. The whole experience of being a Latin Rite Catholic gives meaning and joy to my life, in our rites and sacraments, our art and architecture, the legacy of our scholars and leaders, and more than anything the unquenchable fire of our enlightened Truth.
Our Church is divine, for she is the unstained Bride of Christ, created to be the perfect and indissoluble vessel of Truth in this New Testament age. She is also human, made up of imperfect, mortal creatures striving towards the ultimate Kingdom of God, who nevertheless stumble and fall along the way. She is sacramental, celebrating divinely-instituted means of achieving real grace in visible signs and symbols. She is liturgical, deeming it meet and right to conduct formal worship of the Lord in a proper, ritualistic manner. She is modern, seeking in every age to minister to her faithful and renew the spreading of the Gospel, and she is also ancient, possessing a whole, unbroken continuity from the time of Christ Himself and the first of the Apostles, Peter.
The Catholic Church possesses the full measure of Christian truth. The Second Vatican Council stated that:
This is the sole Church of Christ which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, which our Savior, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it, and which he raised up for all ages as "the pillar and mainstay of the truth." This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him.
--Second Vatican Council,
Lumen Gentium,
Article 8, Paragraph 2
November 21, 1964
and His Holiness Pope Paul VI wrote:
We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church built by Jesus Christ on that rock which is Peter. She is the Mystical Body of Christ; at the same time a visible society instituted with hierarchical organs, and a spiritual community; the Church on earth, the pilgrim People of God here below, and the Church filled with heavenly blessings; the germ and the first fruits of the Kingdom of God, through which the work and the sufferings of Redemption are continued throughout human history, and which looks for its perfect accomplishment beyond time in glory.
--Pope Paul VI
Credo of the People of God
June 30, 1968
[ Contents of this Faith Page ]
- Liturgy, our formal method of worship.
- Sacraments, a brief description of the Seven Sacraments of the Church
- Mary, concerning the Mother of God
- Saints, concerning what we term the Communion of Saints
- Popes, the role and duties of the Roman Pontiffs, and a listing of recent popes.
- Churches, an explanation of how different Rites and Churches make up the one, catholic, whole.
- Pro-Life, the Catholic Church's position on abortion.
- Prayers, my favorite traditional Catholic prayers.
- Scripture, my favorite verses from Sacred Scripture.
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This webpage is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who by her intercessions has helped make my life what it is, and to my mother, Suzanne Marie Hayes, who brought me into this world, nursed me through my sicknesses, and taught me the path of Truth.
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This redesign and update of my faith website are dedicated in this the fifth week of Lent, in the Year of Our Lord MMIV
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In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti,
Amen.
Quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church are taken from the English translation, © 1994 The United States Catholic Conference, Inc. - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Quotations from the documents of the Second Vatican Council are taken from Vatican II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, © 1975 Harry J. Costello and Rev. Austin Flannery, OP. Introductory verses of Sacred Scripture are taken from The Catholic Study Bible, © 1990 Oxford University Press. All other texts are cited individually on their respective pages. The cross on this page is © 2004 Patrick Michael Hayes; all other images in the Faith section are public domain.