To receive God into our lives, to bear witness to the "new time" in Jesus Christ and to care for the suffering and abandoned. Pope Francis' Message for Lent this year, which begins next Wednesday, February 17, is structured around these three "operative" verbs, these three tasks.
The starting point is given by the Gospel passage of Matthew 20:18, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem...", when Jesus separates the disciples from the crowd and announces to them the final phase of his earthly life, entrusting to them also the inheritance of the mission. An ascent to Jerusalem that becomes a true and proper pilgrimage to the Father's house, and an invitation to imitate the self-denial and infinite and gratuitous love of Jesus himself.
Selfless obedience
We too, his followers, are called to follow this path that should bring us closer to the definitive example of Christ for all humanity, learning the lesson he gave on the Cross: obedient faith, selfless love and hope in the Resurrection.
It is not by chance that Pope Francis' reflection seeks to apply these three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity to the current experience of humanity, called to confront the tragic effects of the pandemic. In this time, therefore, we are called to live in depth the experience of Calvary, with the desire to await the Resurrection and, therefore, true freedom from every bondage that holds our life.
A period of conversion, which Lent helps to achieve through three concrete actions: fasting, as "the way of poverty and deprivation", almsgiving, through "the gaze and gestures of love towards the wounded man" and prayer, which is "the filial dialogue with the Father".
Welcoming the faith
Fasting in poverty and deprivation means fundamentally - Pope Francis explains - learning to listen to the voice of God that comes to us through his Word, rediscovering that we are "creatures who, in his image and likeness, find their fulfillment in him". It is essentially a journey of faith, which in Lent must be carried out as a "time to believe," once we have cleared the field of the superfluous, and thus "welcome and live the Truth that has been manifested in Christ.
The path of hope
In the face of the worries of the world, of uncertainties and fragility, the call to hope becomes stronger, and this hope is always manifested in God, even if only by looking at the patience with which he still "continues to watch over his Creation".
And hope becomes a way - that is, it makes us progress in the life of faith - when we become capable of asking for forgiveness and in turn become spreaders of forgiveness, learning to console the wounded. The attitude of prayer - the Pope maintains - also serves here to shed light on the challenges that await us and to bear witness to a God who "makes all things new".
Charity care
Finally, charity, which "rejoices to see the other grow," and by going out of ourselves opens us to sharing and communion. Obviously it is a gift to be asked for, but once accepted it can really give meaning to our lives, making us consider those around us as friends, brothers and sisters and, ultimately, members of our own family. Charity thus understood is generative, because as we ourselves give confidence to others, we make them feel that God loves them as children.
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem...": in this pilgrimage that opens us to prayer, stimulates us to share and leads us to a true conversion of heart, every stage of our life is marked, a propitious time "to believe, to hope and to love".
Our time, the hour of history. This Lent 2021.
