GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square -- Ash Wednesday, 1st March 2017
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| PHOTO: pinterest.com |
Christian hope - 13. Lent as a
journey of hope
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good
morning!
On this day, Ash Wednesday, we
enter the Liturgical Season of Lent. And because we are offering a series of
catecheses on Christian hope, today I would like to present Lent to
you as a journey of hope.
Indeed, this prospect is
immediately evident if we consider that Lent was instituted in the Church as a
time of preparation for Easter and that, therefore, the whole meaning of this
40-day period is illuminated by the Paschal Mystery toward
which it is directed. We can imagine the Risen Lord who calls us to come out of
our darkness, and so we set ourselves on the path toward the One who is Light.
Lent is a journey toward the Risen Jesus; it is a period of repentance, also of
mortification, not as an end in itself, but rather aimed at enabling ourselves
to rise with Christ, to renew our baptismal identity, that is, to be born anew
“of the spirit”, by the love of God (cf. Jn 3:3-6). This is why Lent is, by
nature, a time of hope.
In order to better understand
what this means, we must refer to the fundamental experience of the exodus of
the Israelites from Egypt, recounted in the Bible in the Book which bears this
name: Exodus. The point of departure was the condition of slavery
in Egypt, oppression, forced labour. But the Lord has not forgotten his people
and his promise: He calls Moses and, with a mighty arm, enables the Israelites
to flee from Egypt and guides them through the desert toward the Land of
Liberty. During this journey from slavery to freedom, the Lord gives the Law to
the Israelites, to teach them to love Him, the One Lord, and to love each other
as brothers. Scripture shows that the exodus is long and tormented:
symbolically it lasts 40 years, which is the lifespan of a generation. A
generation which, faced by the trials of the journey, is always tempted to
bemoan Egypt and turn back. We too all know the temptation to turn back,
everyone. But the Lord remains faithful and that poor people, led by Moses,
reaches the Promised Land. This entire journey is carried out in hope:
the hope of reaching the Land, and precisely in this sense it is an “exodus”, a
escape from slavery to freedom. These 40 days are also for all of us an release
from slavery, from sin, to experience freedom, the encounter with the Risen
Christ.
Each step, each effort, each
trial, each failure and each new start, all have meaning only within the
salvific plan of God, who wants for his people life and not death, joy and not
pain.
The Paschal Mystery of Jesus is
his exodus, by which He has opened the way for us to reach full, eternal and blessed
life. To open this path, this passage, Jesus had to strip himself of his glory,
humble himself, be obedient unto death and unto death on the cross. Opening the
path to eternal life for us cost all his blood, and thanks to Him we are saved
from the slavery of sin. But this does not mean to say that He has done
everything and that we do not have to do anything, that He has passed through
the cross and we “go to heaven in a carriage”. It is not like that. Our
salvation is surely his gift, but as it is a love story, he asks for our ‘yes’
and our participation in his love, as Our Mother Mary shows us, and after her,
all the Saints.
This is the dynamic of Lent:
Christ precedes us with his exodus, and we cross the desert thanks to Him and
behind Him. He is tempted for us, and has defeated the Tempter for us, but we
too must face temptations with Him and overcome them. He gives us the living
water of his Spirit, and it is up to us to draw from his font and drink, in the
Sacraments, in prayer, in adoration; He is the light which conquers darkness,
and we are asked to keep alight the little flame that was entrusted to us on
the day of our Baptism.
In this sense, Lent is the “sacramental
sign of our conversion” (cf. Roman Missal, Oration, Collect, First
Sunday of Lent); those who make the Lenten journey are always on the path of
conversion. Lent is the sacramental sign of our journey from slavery to
freedom, always to be renewed. It is certainly a demanding journey, as it
rightly should be, because love is demanding, but it is a journey filled with
hope. Indeed, I would add: the Lenten exodus is the journey in which hope
itself is formed. The difficulty in crossing the desert — all the
trials, temptations, illusions, mirages ... — all this serves to forge a solid,
steadfast hope, on the model of that of the Virgin Mary, who, in the midst of
the darkness of the Passion and death of her Son, continues to believe and to
hope in his Resurrection, in the victory of God’s love.
With hearts open to this horizon,
today we enter the Season of Lent. Feeling that we are part of the holy People
of God, let us joyfully begin this journey of hope.
Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
taking part in today’s Audience, particularly the groups from Korea and the
United States of America. May the Lenten journey we begin today bring us to
Easter with hearts purified and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Upon you and
your families I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in Christ our Redeemer.
God bless you all!
I hope for each one of you that
this encounter at the beginning of Lent may bring about a spiritual renewal
with the participation in the Lenten celebrations and in the campaigns of
solidarity that the many ecclesial organizations, in various parts of the
world, promote so as to witness closeness to brothers and sisters in need.
I address a special thought to young
people, to the sick and to newlyweds. Dear brothers and sisters, today,
Ash Wednesday, may the Lord show you the path of hope to follow. May the Holy
Spirit guide you to carry out a true journey of conversion, so as to rediscover
the gift of the Word of God, to be cleansed of sin and to serve Christ.
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