My brothers and sisters in Christ, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40 days of
preparation for the Easter season when Christians are called to renew their
commitments to spiritual practices like Fasting,
Prayer and Almsgiving. The season is intended as a time for personal
conversion leading up to Easter. The belief is that our consistent
participation in these practices—like exercise we do for our physical health—is
a form of purification that improves our spiritual well-being by stripping away
all that is unnecessary and by becoming more mindful of our ultimate dependence
on God in our lives. In his beautiful Lenten
Message for 2012, Pope Benedict XVI calls attention to the duty of
Christians to admonish and correct one another, stressing that such fraternal
correction is an important form of charity. Lent begins this year with Ash
Wednesday on February 22. The theme of the papal message is taken from the Letter
to the Hebrews 10:24: Let us be concerned for each other, to stir
a response in love and good works. To “be concerned” for others, the
Pope writes, means first to “be
attentive” to the activities of our neighbors. All too often, however, our
attitude is just the opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of
selfishness and masked as a respect for ‘privacy.’ This exaggerated concern
with privacy is at odds with the Christian understanding that we are all
brothers in Christ. The great commandment of love for one another demands that
we acknowledge our responsibility toward those who, like ourselves, are
creatures and children of God. Concern for others entails desiring what is good
for them from every point of view: physical, moral, and spiritual. Also His
Holiness reminds us that Christians have a duty to recognize and attend to the
needs of others, particularly those who are in special need of help: “That duty
applies also to those who are in spiritual need. An aspect of the Christian life,
which I believe, has been quite forgotten: fraternal correction in view of
eternal salvation. 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. Authentic fraternal correction should not be
motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination but by genuine love for
others and concern for their welfare. Christians should be prepared to accept
fraternal correction, recognizing that we are all sinners and need constant
reminders and encouragement to avoid sin. 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!”
Benedict XVI reminds us that the Church is a
community, in which the welfare of one member affects the welfare of all, so being
concerned for the good of others advances the overall mission of the Church,
and that charity teaches us that we are responsible not only for the material
well being of others, but also for their moral and spiritual good. Pope
Benedict says, “We cannot overlook the fact that a certain ideology which
exalts the rights of the individual can have the consequence of creating
isolation and solitude. When the call to
communion is denied in the name of individualism it is our humanity that
suffers, deceived by the impossible mirage of happiness obtainable alone. The Church is moved by a sincere concern
for mankind and for the world. Her activities are not moved by a desire to
condemn or recriminate, but by a justice and mercy which must also have the
courage to call things by their name. Only in this way can we expose the roots
of evil, which continue to intrigue the mind of modern man. This task of the
Church is called prophetic mission”. Finally he adds: “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[1].
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 the Mary Ever Virgin”
In this edition of
The Pastor's Bench I've only put
a few ideas of the Pope's message for Lent of 2012. I highly recommend you to
read the full text and you pray that after reading it, so that the ideas of
God's Vicar on earth reach deep within your heart. The entire message can read
it here: http://www.zenit.org/article-34255?l=english
■
Fr. Agustin, Pastor.
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