Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Lent, which leads us to the celebration of the Blessed Easter, the Church is a liturgical season really valuable and important. So it is with pleasure that I send you this message so that Lent can be lived with all the warmth needed. Pending the definitive encounter with her Bridegroom in the eternal Passover, the Church community is intensifying its way of purifying the mind, by constant prayer and charity working to draw more abundantly in the Mystery of Redemption new life in Christ is Lord (cf. Preface of Lent I ).
1. This life has already been sent on the day of our baptism when, " become sharers in the death and resurrection of Christ , we started" joyful and exciting adventure of the discipleship "(Homily in the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord , January 10, 2010). In his epistles, St. Paul insists repeatedly on the very special communion with the Son of God, which is realized at the time of immersion in the baptismal waters . The fact that Baptism is received most often in infancy, clearly indicates that it is a gift of God: No one deserves eternal life by his own forces. The mercy of God, which erases the sins and gives us to live our lives with " the same feelings that are in Christ Jesus ( Ph 2.5), is transmitted to humans free.
In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle to the Gentiles sheds light on the meaning of the transformation that occurs through participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, giving us the goal: "to know him with the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, possibly leading to the resurrection from the dead ( Ph 3, 10-11). Baptism is not a rite of the past, it is the encounter with Christ who gives shape to the whole existence of the baptized, it transmits the divine life and calls for a sincere conversion, driven and supported by the Thanks, allowing it to reach adult stature of Christ. A specific link
Baptism unites to Lent as a period favorable to experiment saving grace. The Fathers of Vatican II has appealed to all the Pastors of the Church to be "used more extensively the elements of the baptismal liturgy of Lent" (Dogmatic Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium , 109). Indeed, from its origins, the Church has joined the Easter Vigil Mass and the celebration of Baptism: the sacrament is performed in the great mystery in which man dies to sin, becomes part of the new life in Christ risen and receives the same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead (cf. Rom 8:11). This gift must be constantly renewed in us, and Lent offers us a path similar to the catechumenate, which for the Christians of the early Church like those of today, is a place of learning essential to faith and Christian life: they really live their baptism as a decisive act for their entire existence.
2. To take seriously the way to Easter and we prepare to celebrate Christ's resurrection - which is the most joyous celebration and solemn liturgical year - what could be more appropriate if it is being guided by the Word of God? Therefore the Church, through the Gospel texts proclaimed during Sundays of Lent, she leads us to a special meeting with the Lord, making us run through the stages of Christian initiation: for the catechumens in to receive the Sacrament of new birth and for those already baptized in order to make further decisive steps to follow Christ in a gift fullest.
The first Sunday of the Lenten journey enlightens our earthly condition. The victorious battle Jesus inaugurates the temptations that time his mission is a call to recognize our frailty to receive the grace that frees us from sin and strengthens us in a new way in Christ, way, truth and life (cf. . Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum , n. 25). It is a pressing invitation to remind ourselves, following the example of Christ and in union with him that Christian faith implies a struggle against the "Powers of this dark world" (Eph 6.12) where the devil is at work and continues even today, to try every man who wants to approach the Lord Christ was the winner of this fight, also to open our heart to hope and lead us to victory over the temptations of evil.
The Gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord makes us contemplate the glory of Christ, anticipating the resurrection and announces the deification of man. The Christian community finds that following the apostles Peter and Jean Jacques, it is conducted "in a place apart, a high mountain" (Mt 17.1) to accommodate a new way, in Christ as a son in the Son, the gift of the Grace of God: "This is my beloved Son, in whom my favor, listen to him" (v.5). These words invite us to leave the rumor of the day to immerse ourselves in God's presence: He wants to send us a daily word that gets us to the depths of the mind, where it discerns good and evil (cf. He 4.12) and strengthens our resolve to follow the Lord.
"Give me to drink" (Jn 4.7). This request of Jesus to the Samaritan woman, who is reported in the third Sunday liturgy expresses the passion of God for every man and wants to awaken in our heart's desire donation "water welling up to eternal life" (v.14): The gift of the Holy Spirit makes Christians "true worshipers", able to pray to the Father "in spirit and in truth" (v .23). Only that water can quench our thirst for good, truth and beauty! Only that water which is given to us by a Son, can irrigate deserts of the soul concerned and dissatisfied "until it rests in God," according to the famous expression of Saint Augustine.
Sunday the blind presents Christ as the light of the world. The Gospel speaks to everyone: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Yes, I believe the Lord "(Jn 9, 35-38), answered cheerfully born blind, who spoke on behalf of every believer. The miracle of healing is the sign that Christ, by making the view, also wants to open our inner eye so that our faith is becoming deeper and we can recognize him as our only Saviour. Christ illumines all darkness and gives life to man to live as "children of light."
When the gospel of the fifth Sunday proclaims the resurrection of Lazarus, we face the ultimate mystery of our existence: "I am the resurrection and the life ... do you believe it? "(Jn 11, 25-26). Following Martha's time for the Christian community to place, and again in consciousness, all his hope in Jesus of Nazareth: "Yes Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes in the world "(v.27). Communion with Christ in this life we prepare to cross the barrier of death to live eternally in Him. Faith in the resurrection and hope in eternal life open our minds to the ultimate meaning of our existence: God created man for the resurrection and life, this truth gives authentic and final dimension to human history, the personal existence, in society, culture, politics, economics. Deprived of the light of faith, the whole world perished, trapped in a tomb with no future or hope.
The course of Lent finds its completion in the Easter Triduum, especially in the Great Vigil of Holy Night: renewing the baptismal promises, we again proclaim that Christ is Lord of our life, this life God gave us when we are reborn "Water and the Spirit," and we reaffirm our resolve to match the action of Grace to be his disciples.
3. Our immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ in the sacrament of Baptism, we shoot every day to free our heart weight of material things, the relationship with selfish "earth", which impoverishes us and prevents us from being available and hospitable to God and neighbor. In Christ, God has revealed Love (cf. 1 Jn 4.7 to 10). The Cross of Christ, the "language of the Cross expresses the saving power of God (cf. 1 Cor 1.18) which is given to meet the man and bring him to salvation: he is the most radical form of love (cf. Enc. Deus Caritas Est , 12). The traditional practice of fasting, almsgiving and prayer, signs of our commitment to conversion, Lent teaches us to live in ever more radical love of Christ. The fasting, which may have different motivations, is the Christian meaning deeply religious impoverishing our table, we learn to overcome our selfishness to live the logic of giving and love; accepting the loss of something - which is not only unnecessary - we learn to divert our attention from our "me" to find someone next to us and acknowledge God in the face of so many of our brothers. For the Christian, fasting is nothing intimate , but opens up so God and the plight of men, she made sure that love for God becomes as to love one's neighbor (cf. Mc 12,31).
On our way, we encounter also the temptation of possession, love of money, which opposes the rule of God in our lives. The greed of possession begets violence, malfeasance and death, that is why the Church, especially in time of Lent, called the practice of almsgiving , ie sharing . Idolatry property, on the contrary, not only separates us from other human beings but empty by leaving unhappy with him lying and deceiving her without realizing what it promises, because the substitute material goods to God the only source of life. So how can we understand the goodness of God if our father's heart is full of himself and our projects that give the illusion of secure our future? The temptation is to think like the rich man in the parable: "My soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ...». We know that the Lord responds: "You fool, this night is gonna reapply your soul ..." (Lk 19.19 to 20). The practice of almsgiving us back to God's primacy and attention to each other, it shows us again the goodness of the Father and receive his mercy.
Throughout the period of Lent, the Church provides us with great abundance of God's Word. By meditating on the internalizing and to embody every day, we discover a form of prayer which is precious and irreplaceable. Indeed, listening attentively to God who speaks incessantly to the heart, nourishes the faith journey that we started the day of our Baptism. Prayer also helps us to enter a new perception of time: Without the prospect of eternity and transcendence, in fact, time is a rate that pace our steps towards a horizon with no future. In requesting the contrary, we take time for God to discover that his "words will not pass away" (Mk 13.31), to enter into this intimate communion with Him "that nobody can take away" (cf. Jn 16.22), which opens us to hope that does not disappoint, and life everlasting.
In summary, the journey of Lent, which we are invited to contemplate the mystery of the Cross, is to make us "conformed to Christ in his death" (Philippians 3.10), to operate a deep conversion of our lives: let us be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul on the road Damascus, firmly carry our existence by the will of God, free us from our selfishness in excess of the instinct to dominate others and looking forward to the charity of Christ. The period of Lent is a favorable time to recognize our frailty, to receive, through a sincere review of life, renewing grace of the Sacrament of Penance and press forward toward Christ.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, the personal encounter with our Redeemer and the practice of fasting, almsgiving and prayer, the path of conversion to Easter leads us to discover a new way our Baptism. Welcome back, this time of Lent, the Grace that God has given us at our Baptism, so that it illuminates and guides all our actions. What this sacrament signifies and actually, we are called to live day after day, following Christ with ever greater generosity and authenticity. In this process, we entrust to the Virgin Mary gave birth to the Word of God in faith and in the flesh, to immerse ourselves in it as the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus and have eternal life.
the Vatican, November 4, 2010
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