About Jared Dees
Jared Dees is the creator of The Religion Teacher, a website with resources for Catholic educators, and the author of 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator and a study guide with commentary and reflection questions to help adults read, understand, and live the encyclical, Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith).
Lumen Fidei Commentary: Journey, Profess, Build
Beginning with Pope Francis’s very first homily to the Cardinals the day after his election, we have seen a recurring format to his homilies in speeches: three words.
He presents just three words for his audience to focus on, treating each one in a few sentences or paragraphs.
In fact, this same approach can be found in the Holy Father’s first encyclical, Lumen Fidei. He gives us three words, the same three words found in his very first homily, and connects them to the light of faith.
These three words are: journey, profess, and build.
Journey
Of all the reoccurring themes in Pope Francis’s writings and speeches, the idea of a journey may be the most popular. In his speech to the Brazilian bishops during World Youth Day, for example, he highlighted the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and challenged the leaders of the Church to walk with others on their journey:
In Lumen Fidei, he uses the metaphor of a journey to explain why we need the light of faith. The light of faith enables us to see the road ahead. Without faith, we walk in darkness.
According to Francis, faith is no longer seen as light for the journey. It is seen as the absence of light, leaps of faith led by blind emotion and subjective opinions. His goal in Lumen Fidei is to restore the light of faith to it’s proper understanding in our common journey, otherwise for those who do not turn to the light of faith, the journey can be difficult.
Instead, faith provides us with vision. It allows us to see:
Profess
In chapter 3 of Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis gives an overview of the Creed, our profession of faith, and other important aspects of our faith. He uses the four parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to present a basic understanding of creed, sacraments, prayer, and morality. In this chapter he also touches on the four marks of the Church, which conclude the Nicene Creed.
It is in this section that he concentrates on the second word, profess. He makes a very interesting statement about professing our faith. He makes two essential points: 1) when we profess our faith, we do more than give assent to doctrines and 2) professing our faith changes us because it helps us enter into the mystery which we profess.
Particularly when writing about the creed, he says:
We are changed because we are joining a long history of unity with God. We are offering a fitting response, handed down by the Church, to God’s gift of love.
Faith is heard. It is passed on and shared with us by others, and as a result, we proclaim our faith verbally as well, for others to hear.
Build
Most Catholics are familiar with the popular hymnal song, “Let Us Build the City of God.” This is exactly the theme that Pope Francis focuses on in the final chapter of Lumen Fidei.
His key point? Faith is a common good for all of humanity, not just a good for Christian believers as though they were closed off from the world. Faith as a gift received, is professed and shared with others, it gives us light for our journey, but maybe most importantly it realigns our life to be a gift to others. The Holy Father writes,
Faith allows us to see the dignity of others, to see others as a blessing:
Three Words: Journey, Profess, Build
Three words: journey, profess, build.
The light of faith shines bright on our journey and shows us the way through life to unity with God and others. It is not darkness, it is not blindness. With faith, we have sight.
Faith is received and heard from others. As a response to this Word, we respond in a profession of faith. The faith that we profess is a witness to others and unites us with others who profess that same faith in unity with a whole history of brothers and sisters who have shared that profession.
Faith leads us out of ourselves and inspires us to help others, to build a better society, because faith helps us to see the dignity in others; it helps us to see everyone we encounter as a blessing from God.