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A
Message from Pope Benedict XVI |
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For years during the start of the Season of
Lent the Holy Father addressed the faithful on
our duty of charity, of aid for the various
forms of human suffering: poverty, hunger,
sickness, persecution, exile. This year His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI writes, breaking
that tradition about God's Love.
Here's the first few paragraphs. For the
complete text,
please follow this link: |
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MESSAGE OF
HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2007
“They shall look on Him
whom they have pierced” (Jn
19:37)
Dear Brothers
and Sisters!
“They
shall look on Him whom they have pierced”
(Jn 19:37). This is the biblical
theme that this year guides our Lenten
reflection. Lent is a favourable time to
learn to stay with Mary and John, the
beloved disciple, close to Him who on the
Cross, consummated for all mankind the
sacrifice of His life (cf. Jn
19:25). With a more fervent participation
let us direct our gaze, therefore, in this
time of penance and prayer, at Christ
crucified who, dying on Calvary, revealed
fully for us the love of God. In the
Encyclical
Deus caritas est,
I dwelt upon this theme of love,
highlighting its two fundamental forms:
agape and eros.
God’s love: agape and eros
The
term agape, which appears many
times in the New Testament, indicates the
self-giving love of one who looks
exclusively for the good of the other. The
word eros, on the other hand,
denotes the love of one who desires to
possess what he or she lacks and yearns
for union with the beloved. The love with
which God surrounds us is undoubtedly
agape. Indeed, can man give to God
some good that He does not already
possess? All that the human creature is
and has is divine gift. It is the creature
then, who is in need of God in everything.
But God’s love is also eros. In the
Old Testament, the Creator of the universe
manifests toward the people whom He has
chosen as His own a predilection that
transcends every human motivation. The
prophet Hosea expresses this divine
passion with daring images such as the
love of a man for an adulterous woman (cf.
3:1-3). For his part, Ezekiel, speaking of
God’s relationship with the people of
Israel, is not afraid to use strong and
passionate language (cf. 16:1-22). These
biblical texts indicate that eros
is part of God’s very heart: the Almighty
awaits the “yes” of His creatures as a
young bridegroom that of his bride.
Unfortunately, from its very origins,
mankind, seduced by the lies of the Evil
One, rejected God’s love in the illusion
of a self-sufficiency that is impossible
(cf. Gn 3:1-7). Turning in on
himself, Adam withdrew from that source of
life who is God Himself, and became the
first of “those who through fear of death
were subject to lifelong bondage” (Heb
2:15). God, however, did not give up. On
the contrary, man’s “no” was the decisive
impulse that moved Him to manifest His
love in all of its redeeming strength.
The Cross reveals the fullness of God’s
love
It
is in the mystery of the Cross that the
overwhelming power of the heavenly
Father’s mercy is revealed in all of its
fullness. In order to win back the love of
His creature, He accepted to pay a very
high price: the blood of His only begotten
Son. Death, which for the first Adam was
an extreme sign of loneliness and
powerlessness, was thus transformed in the
supreme act of love and freedom of the new
Adam. One could very well assert,
therefore, together with Saint Maximus the
Confessor, that Christ “died, if one could
say so, divinely, because He died freely”
(Ambigua, 91, 1956). On the Cross,
God’s eros for us is made manifest.
Eros is indeed – as
Pseudo-Dionysius expresses it – that force
“that does not allow the lover to remain
in himself but moves him to become one
with the beloved” (De divinis nominibus,
IV, 13: PG 3, 712). Is there more “mad
eros” (N. Cabasilas, Vita in Cristo,
648) than that which led the Son of God to
make Himself one with us even to the point
of suffering as His own the consequences
of our offences?
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Ash Wednesday |
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Ash
Wednesday, officially known as dies cinerum (Day of
Ashes) marks the beginning of the Season of Lent, which falls
forty days before Good Friday.
History
The Catholic practice of using
ashes to mark the our foreheads with the sign of
the cross started around the 12th century when
people began burning palm leaves from the
previous Palm Sunday mixed with olive oil, holy
water and incense, for ashes. According to
Thomas J. Talley, an expert on the history of
the liturgical year, the first clearly recorded
liturgy for Ash Wednesday that provides for
sprinkling ashes is in the Romano- |
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Germanic pontifical
of 960. |
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Although the New American Bible slightly differs in its
translation, the use of ashes is based on the Holy Bible,
especially the in the Book of Genesis 3:19: |
NAB:
Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your face shall you get bread
to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you
were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall
return.
DRB: Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou
wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt
return.
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The marking
of the cross on the forehead is based on the Holy Bible as
well. In Chapter 9:4-6 of the Book of Ezekiel, the
pre-eminent prophet of personal retribution, he writes: |
"…saying to him: Pass through the city (through
Jerusalem) and mark an X on the foreheads of those who
moan and groan over all the abominations that are
practiced within it. To the others I heard him say: Pass
through the city after him and strike! Do not look on
them with pity nor show any mercy! Old men, youths and
maidens, women and children--wipe them out! But do not
touch any marked with the X; begin at my sanctuary. So
they began with the men (the elders) who were in front
of the temple."
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the mark X
on the forehead spares the innocent from the wicked from
death. The ashes are sacramentals, not a sacrament. |
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The
Practice and its Significance |
Ash
Wednesday is not a day of obligation but it is an
important part of the Season of Lent. We, the Roman
Catholic faithful observe Ash Wednesday as a day of
repentance and penance (Code
of Canon Law Can. 1250),
and of fasting, abstinence (Code
of Canon Law Can. 1251).
Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are permitted to
consume only one full meal, which may be supplemented by
two smaller meals, which together should not equal the
full meal. Many Catholics will go beyond the minimum
obligations demanded by the Church and undertake a
complete fast or a bread and water fast. Many Catholics
continue fasting during the whole of lent, as was the
Church's traditional requirement, concluding only after
the celebration of the Easter Vigil.
The cross marked with ashes on the forehead is a reminder
that we are creatures of the earth and at the same time
members of the Body of Christ. The ashes symbolize penance
and contrition and a reminder that God is gracious and
merciful to those who call on Him and repent. The ashes
also remind us of our mortality.
Although it is not required, the marking with the cross is
a declaration of humility, as enjoined on us in the Letter
of James (the slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ)
to the Diaspora James 4:10: "Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you." |
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Read more about the Liturgical Year |
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The Readings |
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February
21, 2007: Ash Wednesday |
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First Reading From
the Book of Joel: |
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Jl 2:12-18 |
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Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart, with fasting,
and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to
the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger,
rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him
a blessing, Offerings and libations for the LORD,
your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion! proclaim a fast, call an
assembly;
Gather the people, notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders, gather the children and the
infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her
chamber.
Between the porch and the altar let the priests,
the ministers of the LORD, weep, And say, "Spare,
O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach, with the
nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is
their God?’"
Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people. |
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Responsorial From the Book of
Psalms: |
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Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab,
12-13, 14 and 17 |
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R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out
my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have
sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have
sinned. |
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Second Reading From
the Letter to the Corinthians: |
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2 Cor 5:20—6:2 |
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Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were
appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled
to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not
know sin, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.
Working together, then, we appeal to you not to
receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:
In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day
of salvation I helped you.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now
is the day of salvation. |
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The Gospel From the
Book
of Matthew:
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Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 |
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Jesus said to his disciples:
"Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order
that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your
heavenly Father.
When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before
you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in
the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their
reward.
But when you give alms, do not let your left hand
know what your right is doing, so that your
almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who
love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on
street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their
reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room, close
the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
"When you fast, do not look gloomy like the
hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance, so that they may
appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their
reward.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your
face, so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay
you." |
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Notes: |
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The sermon
continues with a warning against doing good in
order to be seen and gives three examples,
almsgiving (Matthew 6:2-4), prayer (Matthew
6:5-15), and fasting (Matthew 6:16-18). In
each, the conduct of the hypocrites (Matthew
6:2) is contrasted with that demanded of the
disciples. The sayings about reward found here
and elsewhere (Matthew 5:12, 46; 10:41-42)
show that this is a genuine element of
Christian moral exhortation. Possibly to
underline the difference between the Christian
idea of reward and that of the hypocrites, the
evangelist uses two different Greek verbs to
express the rewarding of the disciples and
that of the hypocrites; in the latter case it
is the verb apecho, a commercial term for
giving a receipt for what has been paid in
full (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16).
The
hypocrites are the scribes and Pharisees. The
designation reflects an attitude resulting not
only from the controversies at the time of
Jesus' ministry but from the opposition
between Pharisaic Judaism and the church of
Matthew. They have received their reward: they
desire praise and have received what they were
looking for.
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Coming Soon! |
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Comments and
Contributions are Most Welcome.
If you have any
comments or contributions, please
use the form in this link.
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