By Luca Marcolivio
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2012 (Zenit.org).- In just over a month since the opening of the Year of Faith, pilgrims who visit the tomb of Peter will have the occasion to share with the universal Church their thoughts on the Christian faith and their prayer intentions.
Inaugurated for this purpose was a «Faith Scroll», a paper scroll similar to those in use in ancient times, mounted on a lectern designed by architect Isabella Mancini. The «Faith Scroll» will be kept at the headquarters of the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP), in Pius XII Square near St. Peter’s Basilica, until November 24, 2013, when the Year of Faith officially closes.
Intervening on the occasion of the inauguration of the «Faith Scroll,» held this morning at the ORP headquarters, were Father Caesar Atuire, administrator delegate of the ORP; Cardinal Raffaele Farina, formerly head of the Vatican Archives and of the Apostolic Vatican Library; and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.
«We called it ‘Faith Scroll,’ because we were inspired by the ancient Hebrew tradition to preserve the Word and Revelation in a biblical scroll,» Father Atuire explained to ZENIT.
The ORP’s administrator delegate added that the thoughts and phrases written on the Scroll will be «shared on social networks,» while «once a month a Holy Mass will be celebrated for the faithful’s prayer intentions which will be left on the ‘Faith Scroll.'»
When asked by ZENIT on the initiative, Cardinal Farina described it as anything but «theoretical» and «exclusively religious.» Addressed essentially to all those who will go to the «Faith Scroll», the cardinal explained are: «What is your faith and what do you think of your personal faith?»
«It is an important instrument because it speaks of our identity. We believe in Jesus Christ and we call ourselves Christians: this is the faith we profess as a community every Sunday at Holy Mass in the Creed. It is our mark of identity and there is too little insistence on this Creed,” continued the cardinal.
Faith, however, goes «beyond the word» and must be «lived concretely in charity,» he added. «So faith, hope, love abide these three; but the greatest of these is love!» (1 Corinthians13:13), affirms in fact Saint Paul.
«In God, who is love, we find others. By living this love of God we witness the faith and, in this way, Christians multiply: responding to God’s call to us to love,» he concluded.
Cardinal Farina officially inaugurated the «Faith Scroll,» writing the following sentence: «Faith is my daily encounter with Jesus, in which I find my identity and, responding to his call of love, witness the proclamation.»
The second thought, written by Archbishop Fisichella, bears the following words:
«In front of the many questions harbored in the heart of every person on the meaning of their life, faith is presented as the ultimate and definitive answer because it makes one find the face of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.»
Archbishop Fisichella explained to ZENIT that the «Faith Scroll» attempts to represent a «participation in everyone’s faith» and a way of «sharing with so many other pilgrims» that which makes tangible for us what it means to be the Church of Jesus Christ spread throughout the whole world.»
Hence, he concluded, the instrument just inaugurated will be able to help the faithful to «live the faith more intensely and in a universal way.»
