I was reading through a blog of homilies by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis (http://jmgarciaiii.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=bergoglio) and his Lenten letter to faithful of Buenos Aires the was so awesome that I needed to repost it. Can't wait for his first encyclical.
And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your
God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to
repent of the evil. (Joel 2:13)
Little by little we become accustomed to hearing and seeing, through
the mass media, the dark chronicle of contemporary society, presented with an
almost perverse elation, and also we become [desensitized] to touching it and
feeling it all around us [even] in our own flesh. Drama plays out on the streets, in our
neighborhoods, in our homes and -- why not? -- even in our own hearts. We live alongside a violence that kills, that
destroys families, that enlivens wars and conflicts in so many countries of the
world. We live with envy, hatred,
slander, the mundane in our heart.
The suffering of the innocent and peaceable buffets us nonstop; the
contempt for the rights of the most fragile of people and nations is not so
distant from us; the tyrannical rule of money with its demonic effects, such as
drugs, corruption, trafficking in people -- even children -- along with misery,
both material and moral, are the coin of the realm [today]. The destruction of dignified work, painful
emigrations and the lack of a future also join in this [tragic] symphony.
Our errors and sins as Church are not beyond this analysis. Rationalizing selfishnesses, does not
diminish it, lack of ethical values within a society metastisizes in [our]
families, in the environment of [our] neighborhoods, towns and cities, [this
lack of ethical values] testifies to our limitations, to our weaknesses and to
our incapacity to transform this innumerable list of destructive realities.
The trap of powerlessness makes us wonder: Does it make sense to try to change all
this? Can we do anything against
this? Is it worthwhile to try, if the
world continues its carnival merriment, disguising all [this tragedy] for a
little while? But, when the mask falls,
the truth appears and, although to many it may sound anachronistic to say so,
once again sin becomes apparent, sin that wounds our very flesh with all its
destructive force, twisting the destinies of the world and of the history.
Lent is presented us as a shout of truth and certain hope that comes us
to say "Yes, it is possible to not slap on makeup, and not draw plastic
smiles as if nothing happened."
Yes, it is possible that all is made new and different because God
remains "rich in kindness and mercy, always willing to forgive" and
He encourages us to begin anew time and again.
Today, again, we are invited to undertake a Paschal road toward Life, a
path that includes the cross and resignation; a path that will be uncomfortable
but not fruitless. We are invited to
admit that something inside us is not going well, (in society or in the Church)
to change, to turn around, to be converted.
Today, the words of the prophet Joel are strong and challenging: Rend
your heart, not your clothing: be converted to the Lord, your God. These [words] are an invitation to all
people, nobody is excluded.
Rend your heart, not the clothing of artificial penance without [an
eternal] future.
Rend your heart, not the clothing of technical fasting of compliance
that [only serves to keep us] satisfied.
Rend your heart, not the clothing of egotistical and superficial prayer
that does not reach the inmost part of [your] life to allow it to be touched by
God.
Rend your heart, that we may say with the Psalmist: "We have sinned."
"The wound of the soul is sin: Oh, poor wounded one, recognize
your Doctor! Show him the wounds of your
faults. And, since from Him our most
secret thoughts cannot hide themselves, make the cry of your heart felt [to
Him]. Move him to compassion with your
tears, with your insistence ¡beg him!
Let Him hear your sighs, that your pain reaches Him so that, at the end,
He can tell you: The Lord has forgiven
your sins." (St. Gregory the Great)
This is the reality of our human condition. This is the truth that approaches authentic
reconciliation between God and men. This
is not a matter of discrediting [one's] self-worth but of penetrating, to its fullest
depth, our heart and to take charge of the mystery of suffering and pain that
had tied us down for centuries, for thousands of years, [in fact,]
forever.
Rend your hearts so that through this opening we can truly see.
Rend your hearts, open your hearts, because only with [such a] heart
can we allow the entry of the merciful love of the Father, who loves us and
heals us.
Rend your hearts the prophet says, and Paul asks us -- almost on his
knees -- "be reconciled with God."
Changing our way of living is both a sign and fruit of a torn heart,
reconciled by a love that overwhelms us.
This is [God's] invitation, juxtaposed against so many injuries that
wound us and can tempt us temptation to be hardened: Rend your hearts to experience, in serene and
silent prayer, the gentle tenderness of God.
Rend your hearts to hear the echo of so many torn lives, that
indifference [to suffering] does not paralyze us.
Rend your hearts to be able to love with the love with which we are
beloved, to console with the consolation with which we are consoled and to
share what we have received.
The liturgical time the Church starts today is not only for us, but
also for the transformation of our family, of our community, of our Church, of
our Country, of the whole world. They
are forty days so that we may convert to the same holiness as God's; that we
become collaborators who receive the grace and the potential to reconstruct
human life so that everyone may experience the salvation which Christ won for
us by His death and resurrection.
Next to prayer and penitence, as a sign of our faith in the force of an
all-transforming Easter, we also begin, as in previous years a "Lenten
Gesture of Solidarity." As Church
in Buenos Aires, marching towards Easter and believing the Kingdom of God is possible
we need that, in our hearts torn by the desire of conversion and by love, grace
may blossom. [We need] effective
gestures to alleviate the pain of so many of our brothers who walk alongside. "No act of virtue can be large if it
does not also benefit another...
Therefore, no matter how you spend the day fasting, no matter how you
may sleep on a hard floor, and how you may eat ashes and sigh continuously, if
do not do good to others, you do not accomplish anything great." (St. John Chrysostom)
This year of faith we are traversing is also an opportunity God gives
us to grow and to mature in an encounter with the Lord made visible in the
suffering face of so many children without a future, in the trembling hands of
the elders who have been forgotten and in the trembling knees of so many
families who continue to face life without finding anyone who will assist
them.
I wish you a holy Lent, a penitential and fruitful Lent and, please, I
ask you all that you pray for me.
May Jesus bless you and may the Blessed Virgin care for you.
Paternally,
Card. Jorge Mario
Bergoglio S.J.
