Venerable Brothers,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin a new Lenten journey, a
journey that extends for forty days and leads us to the joy of Easter, the
victory of Life over death. Following the ancient Roman tradition of Lenten stationes,
we have gathered for the celebration of the Eucharist. The tradition says that
the first statio should take place in the Basilica of Santa Sabina on
the Aventine Hill. The circumstances have suggested that we gather in St.
Peter's Basilica. Tonight we are great in number around the tomb of the Apostle
Peter, also to request his intercession for the Church's journey at this
particular time, renewing our faith in the Supreme Pastor, Christ the Lord. For
me it is a good opportunity to thank everyone, especially the faithful of the
Diocese of Rome, as I prepare to conclude my Petrine ministry, and ask for a
special remembrance in prayer.
The readings that have been proclaimed provide us with ideas
that, with the grace of God, we are called to make concrete attitudes and
behaviors during this Lent. The Church proposes to us, first, the strong appeal
that the prophet Joel addressed to the people of Israel ,
"Thus says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with
weeping, and with mourning" (2:12 ).
Please note the phrase "with all my heart," which means from the
center of our thoughts and feelings, from the roots of our decisions, choices
and actions, with a gesture of total and radical freedom. But is this return to
God possible? Yes, because there is a force that does not reside in our hearts,
but that emanates from the heart of God. It is the power of his mercy. The
prophet says, further: "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, ready to repent of
evil" (v. 13). The return to the Lord is possible as a 'grace', because it
is the work of God and the fruit of that faith that we place in His mercy. But
this return to God becomes a reality in our lives only when the grace of God
penetrates to our inmost being and shakes it, giving us the power to "rend
our hearts." The same prophet causes these words from God to resonate:
"Rend your hearts and not your garments" (v. 13). In fact, even
today, many are ready to "rend their garments" before scandals and
injustices - of course, made by others - but few seem willing to act on their
own "heart", on their own conscience and their own intentions,
letting the Lord transform, renew and convert.
That "return to me with all your heart," then, is
a reminder that involves not only the individual, but the community. We have
heard, also in the first reading: "Play the horn in Zion ,
proclaim a solemn fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, convoke a
solemn assembly, call the old, gather the children and the infants at the
breast; let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her bridal
chamber"(vv.15-16). The community dimension is an essential element in
faith and Christian life. Christ came "to gather into one the children of
God who are scattered abroad" (cfr. Jn 11:52). The
"we" of the Church is the community in which Jesus brings us together
(cf. Jn 12:32 ): faith is
necessarily ecclesial. And this is important to remember and to live in this
time of Lent: each person is aware that he or she does not face the penitential
journey alone, but together with many brothers and sisters in the Church.
Finally, the prophet focuses on the prayers of the priests,
who, with tears in their eyes, turn to God, saying: "Do not expose your
heritage to the reproach and derision of the nations. Why should they say among
the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "(v.17). This prayer makes us reflect
on the importance of the testimony of faith and Christian life of each of us
and our community to show the face of the Church and how that face is sometimes
disfigured. I am thinking in particular about sins against the unity of the
Church, the divisions in the ecclesial body. Living Lent in a more intense and
evident ecclesial communion, overcoming individualism and rivalry, is a humble
and precious sign for those who are far from the faith or indifferent.
"Behold, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of
salvation" (2 Cor 6:2). The words of the Apostle Paul to the
Christians of Corinth resonate for us, too, with an urgency that does not allow
omission or inaction. The word "now" repeated several times says that
we cannot let this time pass us by, it is offered to us as a unique
opportunity. And the Apostle's gaze focuses on the sharing that Christ chose to
characterize his life, taking on everything human to the point of bearing the
very burden of men's sins. The phrase St. Paul
uses is very strong: "God made him sin for our sake." Jesus, the
innocent one, the Holy One, "He who knew no sin" (2 Cor 5:21 ), bears the burden of sin, sharing with
humanity its outcome of death, and death on the cross. The reconciliation
offered to us has cost a high price, that of the cross raised on Golgotha ,
on which was hung the Son of God made man. In this immersion of God in human
suffering and in the abyss of evil lies the root of our justification. The
"return to God with all your heart" in our Lenten journey passes
through the cross, following Christ on the road to Calvary ,
the total gift of self. It is a way on which to learn every day to come out
more and more from our selfishness and our closures, to make room for God who
opens and transforms the heart. And St. Paul recalls how the announcement of
the Cross resounds to us through the preaching of the Word, of which the Apostle
himself is an ambassador; it is a call for us to make this Lenten journey
characterized by a more careful and assiduous listening to the Word of God, the
light that illuminates our steps.
In the Gospel of Matthew, to which belongs the so-called
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to three fundamental practices required by
Mosaic Law: almsgiving, prayer and fasting; they are also traditional
indications in the Lenten journey to respond to the invitation to "return
to God with all your heart." But Jesus emphasizes that it is both the
quality and the truth of the relationship with God that determines the
authenticity of each religious gesture. For this reason He denounces religious
hypocrisy, the behavior that wants to be seen, attitudes seeking applause and approval.
The true disciple does not serve himself or the "public", but his
Lord, in simplicity and generosity: "And your Father, who sees in secret,
will reward you" (Mt 6:4.6.18). Our witness, then, will always be
more effective the less we seek our own glory, and we will know that the reward
of the righteous is God himself, being united to Him, here below, on the
journey of faith, and, at the end of life, in the peace and light of coming
face to face with Him forever (cf. 1 Cor 13:12).
Dear brothers and sisters, we begin our Lenten journey,
trusting and joyful. May the invitation to conversion resonate strongly in us,
to "return to God with all your heart", accepting His grace that
makes us new men, with the surprising novelty that is sharing in the very life
of Jesus. Let none of us, therefore, be deaf to this appeal, that is addressed
to us also in the austere rite, so simple and yet so beautiful, of the
imposition of ashes, which we will perform shortly. May the Virgin Mary
accompany us in this time, the Mother of the Church and model of every true
disciple of the Lord. Amen!