MESSAGE OF
HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2012
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2012
“Let us be concerned for each other,
to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24)
to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24)
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
The Lenten
season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of
Christian life: charity. This is a favourable time to renew our journey of
faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God
and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence
and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter.
This year I
would like to propose a few thoughts in the light of a brief biblical passage
drawn from the Letter to the Hebrews:“ Let us be concerned for each
other, to stir a response in love and good works”. These words are part of a
passage in which the sacred author exhorts us to trust in Jesus Christ as the
High Priest who has won us forgiveness and opened up a pathway to God.
Embracing Christ bears fruit in a life structured by the three theological
virtues: it means approaching the Lord “sincere in heart and filled with faith”
(v. 22), keeping firm “in the hopewe profess” (v. 23) and ever
mindful of living a life of “love and good works” (v. 24) together
with our brothers and sisters. The author states that to sustain this life
shaped by the Gospel it is important to participate in the liturgy and
community prayer, mindful of the eschatological goal of full communion in God
(v. 25). Here I would like to reflect on verse 24, which offers a succinct,
valuable and ever timely teaching on the three aspects of Christian life:
concern for others, reciprocity and personal holiness.
1. “Let us
be concerned for each other”: responsibility towards our brothers and sisters.
This first
aspect is an invitation to be “concerned”: the Greek verb used here is
katanoein, which means to scrutinize, to be attentive, to observe carefully and
take stock of something. We come across this word in the Gospel when Jesus
invites the disciples to “think of” the ravens that, without striving, are at
the centre of the solicitous and caring Divine Providence (cf. Lk 12:24), and
to “observe” the plank in our own eye before looking at the splinter in that of
our brother (cf. Lk 6:41). In another verse of the Letter to the
Hebrews, we find the encouragement to “turn your minds to Jesus” (3:1), the
Apostle and High Priest of our faith. So the verb which introduces our
exhortation tells us to look at others, first of all at Jesus, to be concerned
for one another, and not to remain isolated and indifferent to the fate of our
brothers and sisters. All too often, however, our attitude is just the
opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a
respect for “privacy”. Today too, the Lord’s voice summons all of us to be
concerned for one another. Even today God asks us to be “guardians” of our
brothers and sisters (Gen 4:9), to establish relationships based on
mutual consideration and attentiveness to the well-being, the integral well-being
of others. The great commandment of love for one another demands that we
acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures
and children of God. Being brothers and sisters in humanity and, in many cases,
also in the faith, should help us to recognize in others a true alter
ego, infinitely loved by the Lord. If we cultivate this way of seeing
others as our brothers and sisters, solidarity, justice, mercy and compassion
will naturally well up in our hearts. The Servant of God Pope Paul VI stated that the world
today is suffering above all from a lack of brotherhood: “Human society is
sorely ill. The cause is not so much the depletion of natural resources, nor
their monopolistic control by a privileged few; it is rather the weakening of
brotherly ties between individuals and nations” (Populorum Progressio, 66).
Concern for
others entails desiring what is good for them from every point of view:
physical, moral and spiritual. Contemporary culture seems to have lost the
sense of good and evil, yet there is a real need to reaffirm that good does
exist and will prevail, because God is “generous and acts generously” (Ps
119:68). The good is whatever gives, protects and promotes life, brotherhood
and communion. Responsibility towards others thus means desiring and working for
the good of others, in the hope that they too will become receptive to goodness
and its demands. Concern for others means being aware of their needs. Sacred
Scripture warns us of the danger that our hearts can become hardened by a sort
of “spiritual anesthesia” which numbs us to the suffering of others. The
Evangelist Luke relates two of Jesus’ parables by way of example. In the
parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite “pass by”, indifferent
to the presence of the man stripped and beaten by the robbers (cf. Lk
10:30-32). In that of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man is heedless of the
poverty of Lazarus, who is starving to death at his very door (cf. Lk 16:19).
Both parables show examples of the opposite of “being concerned”, of looking
upon others with love and compassion. What hinders this humane and loving gaze
towards our brothers and sisters? Often it is the possession of material riches
and a sense of sufficiency, but it can also be the tendency to put our own
interests and problems above all else. We should never be incapable of “showing
mercy” towards those who suffer. Our hearts should never be so wrapped up in
our affairs and problems that they fail to hear the cry of the poor. Humbleness
of heart and the personal experience of suffering can awaken within us a sense
of compassion and empathy. “The upright understands the cause of the weak, the
wicked has not the wit to understand it” (Prov 29:7). We can then understand
the beatitude of “those who mourn” (Mt 5:5), those who in effect are capable of
looking beyond themselves and feeling compassion for the suffering of others.
Reaching out to others and opening our hearts to their needs can become an
opportunity for salvation and blessedness.
“Being
concerned for each other” also entails being concerned for their spiritual
well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of the Christian life, which
I believe has been quite forgotten:fraternal correction in view of eternal
salvation. Today, in general, we are very sensitive to the idea of charity
and caring about the physical and material well-being of others, but almost
completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and
sisters. This was not the case in the early Church or in those communities that
are truly mature in faith, those which are concerned not only for the physical
health of their brothers and sisters, but also for their spiritual health and
ultimate destiny. The Scriptures tell us: “Rebuke the wise and he will love you
for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser still, teach the upright, he will
gain yet more” (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother
who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15). The verb used to express fraternal
correction - elenchein – is the same used to indicate the prophetic mission of
Christians to speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11).
The Church’s tradition has included “admonishing sinners” among the spiritual
works of mercy. It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity.
We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians
who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the
prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against
ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not
follow the path of goodness. Christian admonishment, for its part, is never
motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by
love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other. As
the Apostle Paul says: “If one of you is caught doing something wrong, those of
you who are spiritual should set that person right in a spirit of gentleness;
and watch yourselves that you are not put to the test in the same way” (Gal
6:1). In a world pervaded by individualism, it is essential to rediscover the
importance of fraternal correction, so that together we may journey towards
holiness. Scripture tells us that even “the upright falls seven times” (Prov
24:16); all of us are weak and imperfect (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). It is a great service,
then, to help others and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the
whole truth about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the
Lord’s ways. There will always be a need for a gaze which loves and admonishes,
which knows and understands, which discerns and forgives (cf. Lk 22:61), as God
has done and continues to do with each of us.
2. “Being
concerned for each other”: the gift of reciprocity.
This
“custody” of others is in contrast to a mentality that, by reducing life
exclusively to its earthly dimension, fails to see it in an eschatological
perspective and accepts any moral choice in the name of personal freedom. A
society like ours can become blind to physical sufferings and to the spiritual
and moral demands of life. This must not be the case in the Christian
community! The Apostle Paul encourages us to seek “the ways which lead to peace
and the ways in which we can support one another” (Rom 14:19) for our
neighbour’s good, “so that we support one another” (15:2), seeking not personal
gain but rather “the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved” (1
Cor 10:33). This mutual correction and encouragement in a spirit of humility
and charity must be part of the life of the Christian community.
The Lord’s
disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a fellowship that
binds them one to another as members of a single body. This means that the
other is part of me, and that his or her life, his or her salvation, concern my
own life and salvation. Here we touch upon a profound aspect of communion: our
existence is related to that of others, for better or for worse. Both our sins
and our acts of love have a social dimension. This reciprocity is seen in the
Church, the mystical body of Christ: the community constantly does penance and
asks for the forgiveness of the sins of its members, but also unfailingly
rejoices in the examples of virtue and charity present in her midst. As Saint
Paul says: “Each part should be equally concerned for all the others” (1 Cor
12:25), for we all form one body. Acts of charity towards our brothers and
sisters – as expressed by almsgiving, a practice which, together with prayer
and fasting, is typical of Lent – is rooted in this common belonging.
Christians can also express their membership in the one body which is the
Church through concrete concern for the poorest of the poor. Concern for one
another likewise means acknowledging the good that the Lord is doing in others
and giving thanks for the wonders of grace that Almighty God in his goodness
continuously accomplishes in his children. When Christians perceive the Holy
Spirit at work in others, they cannot but rejoice and give glory to the
heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:16).
3. “To stir
a response in love and good works”: walking together in holiness.
These words
of the Letter to the Hebrews (10:24) urge us to reflect on the
universal call to holiness, the continuing journey of the spiritual life as we
aspire to the greater spiritual gifts and to an ever more sublime and fruitful
charity (cf. 1 Cor 12:31-13:13). Being concerned for one another should spur us
to an increasingly effective love which, “like the light of dawn, its
brightness growing to the fullness of day” (Prov 4:18), makes us live each day
as an anticipation of the eternal day awaiting us in God. The time granted us
in this life is precious for discerning and performing good works in the love
of God. In this way the Church herself continuously grows towards the full
maturity of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13). Our exhortation to encourage one another to
attain the fullness of love and good works is situated in this dynamic prospect
of growth.
Sadly,
there is always the temptation to become lukewarm, to quench the Spirit, to
refuse to invest the talents we have received, for our own good and for the
good of others (cf. Mt 25:25ff.). All of us have received spiritual or material
riches meant to be used for the fulfilment of God’s plan, for the good of the
Church and for our personal salvation (cf. Lk 12:21b; 1 Tim 6:18). The
spiritual masters remind us that in the life of faith those who do not advance
inevitably regress. Dear brothers and sisters, let us accept the invitation,
today as timely as ever, to aim for the “high standard of ordinary Christian
living” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). The wisdom
of the Church in recognizing and proclaiming certain outstanding Christians as
Blessed and as Saints is also meant to inspire others to imitate their virtues.
Saint Paul exhorts us to “anticipate one another in showing honour” (Rom
12:10).
In a world
which demands of Christians a renewed witness of love and fidelity to the Lord,
may all of us feel the urgent need to anticipate one another in charity,
service and good works (cf. Heb 6:10). This appeal is particularly pressing in
this holy season of preparation for Easter. As I offer my prayerful good wishes
for a blessed and fruitful Lenten period, I entrust all of you to the
intercession of Mary Ever Virgin and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.
From the
Vatican, 3 November 2011
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
© Copyright 2011 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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