[StBernard] LENT, A TIME TO SHOULDER OUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES

[Westley Annis]

LENT, A TIME TO SHOULDER OUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES 

Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - During his general audience this
morning, the Holy Father dedicated his catechesis to the subject of Lent
(which begins today, Ash Wednesday), the period of forty days leading up to
the Easter Triduum, memorial of the passion, death and resurrection of Our
Lord Jesus Christ.

Benedict XVI reminded the 7,500 pilgrims gathered in the Paul VI Hall that,
in the early days of the Church, Lent was a time in which catechumens began
their journey of faith and conversion prior to receiving Baptism. Later, all
the faithful were invited to participate in this period of spiritual
renewal. Thus "the participation of the whole community in the various
stages of the Lenten journey underlines an important dimension of Christian
spirituality: the fact that redemption is available not just for the few,
but for everyone, thanks to Christ's death and resurrection".

"The time leading up to Easter is a time of 'metanoia', a time of change and
penance, a time which identifies our human lives and our entire history as a
process of conversion, which begins to move now in order to meet the Lord at
the end of time".

The Church calls this period "Quadragesima", a period of forty days which
has precise references in Holy Scripture. Indeed, "forty is the symbolic
number with which the Old and New Testaments represent the most important
moments of the People of God's experience of faith. It is a figure which
expresses a time of expectation, purification, return to the Lord, awareness
that God is faithful to His promises; ... a time within which we must make
our choice, shoulder our responsibilities without further delay. It is a
time for mature decisions".

Noah spent forty days in the Ark during the Flood, then had to wait forty
days more before he could return to dry land. Moses spent forty days on
Mount Sinai to collect the Commandments. The Jewish People spent forty years
wandering in the desert, then enjoyed forty years of peace under the
government of the Judges. The inhabitants of Niniveh made forty days penance
to obtain God's forgiveness. The reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, the
first kings of Israel, lasted forty years each. In the New Testament, Jesus
spent forty days praying in the wilderness before beginning His public life
and, following the resurrection, He spent forty days instructing His
disciples before ascending to heaven.

The liturgy of Lent, the Pope explained, "has the aim of facilitating our
journey of spiritual renewal in the light of this long biblical experience.
Above all, it helps us to imitate Jesus Who, in the forty days He spent in
the wilderness, taught us to overcome temptation through the Word of God.
... Jesus went into the wilderness in order to be in profound contact with
the Father. This was a constant aspect of Christ's earthly life. He always
sought out moments of solitude to pray to His Father and abide in intimate
and exclusive communion with Him, before retuning among mankind. But in the
'wilderness' ... Jesus was beset by temptation and the seduction of the Evil
One, who suggested a messianic path, a path which was far from God's plans
because it involved power, success and dominion, not love and the total gift
of self on the Cross".

Benedict XVI went on to suggest that the Church herself is a pilgrim in the
"wilderness" of the world and history. This wilderness is made up of "the
aridity and poverty of words, life and values, of secularism and the culture
of materialism which enclose people within a worldly horizon and detach them
from any reference to transcendence. In such an atmosphere the sky above us
is dark, because veiled with clouds of selfishness, misunderstanding and
deceit. Nonetheless, even for the Church today, the wilderness can become a
period of grace, because we have the certainty that even from the hardest
rock God can cause the living water to gush forth, water which quenches
thirst and restores strength".

"During Lent", said the Holy Father in conclusion, "may we discover fresh
courage to accept situations of difficulty, affliction and suffering with
patience and faith, aware that, from the darkness, the Lord will cause a new
day to shine forth. And if we have been faithful to Jesus, following Him on
the way of the Cross, the luminous world of God, the world of light, truth
and joy, will be ours again".

At the end of the catechesis Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims in various
languages. Speaking Polish he highlighted how "fasting and prayer, penance
and works of mercy" are the principal means of preparation for Easter.

The Pope also addressed a special greeting to faithful of the Personal
Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who were present in the Paul VI Hall.
The ordinariate was set up a little over a year ago for groups of Anglican
clergy and faithful wishing to enter into full visible communion with the
Catholic Church. The general audience ended with the apostolic blessing.