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MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2008
"Christ made Himself poor for you" (2 Cor 8,9)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. Each year, Lent offers us a providential opportunity to deepen
the meaning and value of our Christian lives, and it stimulates
us to rediscover the mercy of God so that we, in turn, become
more merciful toward our brothers and sisters. In the Lenten period,
the Church makes it her duty to propose some specific tasks that
accompany the faithful concretely in this process of interior
renewal: these are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. For this year's
Lenten Message, I wish to spend some time reflecting on the practice
of almsgiving, which represents a specific way to assist those
in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free
us from attachment to worldly goods. The force of attraction to
material riches and just how categorical our decision must be
not to make of them an idol, Jesus confirms in a resolute way:
"You cannot serve God and mammon" (Lk 16,13). Almsgiving
helps us to overcome this constant temptation, teaching us to
respond to our neighbor's needs and to share with others whatever
we possess through divine goodness. This is the aim of the special
collections in favor of the poor, which are promoted during Lent
in many parts of the world. In this way, inward cleansing is accompanied
by a gesture of ecclesial communion, mirroring what already took
place in the early Church. In his Letters, Saint Paul speaks of
this in regard to the collection for the Jerusalem community (cf.
2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27).
2. According to the teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners
but rather administrators of the goods we possess: these, then,
are not to be considered as our exclusive possession, but means
through which the Lord calls each one of us to act as a steward
of His providence for our neighbor. As the Catechism
of the Catholic Church reminds us, material goods bear
a social value, according to the principle of their universal
destination (cf. n.
2404)
In the Gospel, Jesus explicitly admonishes the one who possesses
and uses earthly riches only for self. In the face of the multitudes,
who, lacking everything, suffer hunger, the words of Saint John
acquire the tone of a ringing rebuke: "How does God's love
abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or
sister in need and yet refuses to help?" (1 Jn 3,17). In
those countries whose population is majority Christian, the call
to share is even more urgent, since their responsibility toward
the many who suffer poverty and abandonment is even greater. To
come to their aid is a duty of justice even prior to being an
act of charity.
3. The Gospel highlights a typical feature of Christian almsgiving:
it must be hidden: "Do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing," Jesus asserts, "so that your alms
may be done in secret" (Mt 6,3-4). Just a short while before,
He said not to boast of one's own good works so as not to risk
being deprived of the heavenly reward (cf. Mt 6,1-2). The disciple
is to be concerned with God's greater glory. Jesus warns: "In
this way, let your light shine before others, so that they may
see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven"
(Mt 5,16). Everything, then, must be done for God's glory and
not our own. This understanding, dear brothers and sisters, must
accompany every gesture of help to our neighbor, avoiding that
it becomes a means to make ourselves the center of attention.
If, in accomplishing a good deed, we do not have as our goal God's
glory and the real well being of our brothers and sisters, looking
rather for a return of personal interest or simply of applause,
we place ourselves outside of the Gospel vision. In today's world
of images, attentive vigilance is required, since this temptation
is great. Almsgiving, according to the Gospel, is not mere philanthropy:
rather it is a concrete expression of charity, a theological virtue
that demands interior conversion to love of God and neighbor,
in imitation of Jesus Christ, who, dying on the cross, gave His
entire self for us. How could we not thank God for the many people
who silently, far from the gaze of the media world, fulfill, with
this spirit, generous actions in support of one's neighbor in
difficulty? There is little use in giving one's personal goods
to others if it leads to a heart puffed up in vainglory: for this
reason, the one, who knows that God "sees in secret"
and in secret will reward, does not seek human recognition for
works of mercy.
4. In inviting us to consider almsgiving with a more profound
gaze that transcends the purely material dimension, Scripture
teaches us that there is more joy in giving than in receiving
(cf. Acts 20,35). When we do things out of love, we express the
truth of our being; indeed, we have been created not for ourselves
but for God and our brothers and sisters (cf. 2 Cor 5,15). Every
time when, for love of God, we share our goods with our neighbor
in need, we discover that the fullness of life comes from love
and all is returned to us as a blessing in the form of peace,
inner satisfaction and joy. Our Father in heaven rewards our almsgiving
with His joy. What is more: Saint Peter includes among the spiritual
fruits of almsgiving the forgiveness of sins: "Charity,"
he writes, "covers a multitude of sins" (1 Pt 4,8).
As the Lenten liturgy frequently repeats, God offers to us sinners
the possibility of being forgiven. The fact of sharing with the
poor what we possess disposes us to receive such a gift. In this
moment, my thought turns to those who realize the weight of the
evil they have committed and, precisely for this reason, feel
far from God, fearful and almost incapable of turning to Him.
By drawing close to others through almsgiving, we draw close to
God; it can become an instrument for authentic conversion and
reconciliation with Him and our brothers.
5. Almsgiving teaches us the generosity of love. Saint Joseph
Benedict Cottolengo forthrightly recommends: "Never keep
an account of the coins you give, since this is what I always
say: if, in giving alms, the left hand is not to know what the
right hand is doing, then the right hand, too, should not know
what it does itself" (Detti e pensieri, Edilibri, n. 201).
In this regard, all the more significant is the Gospel story of
the widow who, out of her poverty, cast into the Temple treasury
"all she had to live on" (Mk 12,44). Her tiny and insignificant
coin becomes an eloquent symbol: this widow gives to God not out
of her abundance, not so much what she has, but what she is. Her
entire self.
We find this moving passage inserted in the description of the
days that immediately precede Jesus' passion and death, who, as
Saint Paul writes, made Himself poor to enrich us out of His poverty
(cf. 2 Cor 8,9); He gave His entire self for us. Lent, also through
the practice of almsgiving, inspires us to follow His example.
In His school, we can learn to make of our lives a total gift;
imitating Him, we are able to make ourselves available, not so
much in giving a part of what we possess, but our very selves.
Cannot the entire Gospel be summarized perhaps in the one commandment
of love? The Lenten practice of almsgiving thus becomes a means
to deepen our Christian vocation. In gratuitously offering himself,
the Christian bears witness that it is love and not material richness
that determines the laws of his existence. Love, then, gives almsgiving
its value; it inspires various forms of giving, according to the
possibilities and conditions of each person.
6. Dear brothers and sisters, Lent invites us to "train ourselves"
spiritually, also through the practice of almsgiving, in order
to grow in charity and recognize in the poor Christ Himself. In
the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the Apostle Peter said
to the cripple who was begging alms at the Temple gate: "I
have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name
of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk" (Acts 3,6). In giving
alms, we offer something material, a sign of the greater gift
that we can impart to others through the announcement and witness
of Christ, in whose name is found true life. Let this time, then,
be marked by a personal and community effort of attachment to
Christ in order that we may be witnesses of His love. May Mary,
Mother and faithful Servant of the Lord, help believers to enter
the "spiritual battle" of Lent, armed with prayer, fasting
and the practice of almsgiving, so as to arrive at the celebration
of the Easter Feasts, renewed in spirit. With these wishes, I
willingly impart to all my Apostolic Blessing.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
From the Vatican, 30 October 2007
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