Vatican City, 19 February 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, the Holy Father presided at the traditional
penitential procession from the church of St. Anselm on the Aventine
Hill to the Basilica of St. Sabina, located on the same Roman hill. A
number of cardinals, archbishops and bishops also took part, along
with the Benedictine monks of St. Anselm, the Dominican fathers of
Santa Sabina, and the faithful.
After the procession, Pope Francis
presided at the Eucharistic celebration with the rite of the blessing
and imposition of the ashes. The Pope received them from the hands of
Cardinal Josef Tomko, the titular of the Basilica, and subsequently
imposed them upon the cardinals and several monks, consecrated
persons and faithful.
In his homily, the Pope commented on
the Gospel readings of the Mass, beginning with the passage from the
Prophet Joel, sent by God to call the population to penance and
conversion following the plague of locusts that devastated Judah.
“Only the Lord can save from the scourge, and it is therefore
necessary to plead through prayer and fasting, confessing one's own
sin”. The prophet insists on inner conversion, begging the
population to return to God with all their hearts, which means
“undertaking a path of conversion that is not superficial or
transitory, but rather a spiritual itinerary that involves the most
intimate part of our person. The heart, indeed, is the seat of our
sentiments, the centre where our decisions and attitudes mature”.
Joel's call is not directed solely at
individuals: it is extended to the entire community, and is a
convocation to all, paying special attention to the prayer of
priests, and reiterating that this must be accompanied by tears. “It
does good to all, but especially to priests, at the beginning of this
Lenten time, to ask for the gift of ears, so as to make our prayer
and our path of conversion ever more authentic and free of
hypocrisy”, continued the Pope. “It is good for us to ask: 'Do I
weep? Does the Pope weep? Do the cardinals weep? Do the bishops weep?
Do priests weep? Do we weep in our prayers?”.
This is the message, he emphasised, of
today's Gospel reading, in which Jesus rereads the three works of
mercy prescribed by the Mosaic Law – almsgiving, prayer and fasting
– “which over time have been attacked by the rust of external
formalism, or have even mutated into signs of social superiority”.
He continued, “Jesus highlights a common temptation in these three
works, that can be summarised in hypocrisy (mentioned three times):
'Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order
to be seen by them … Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no
trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do … And when you pray, you
must not be like the hypocrites … For they love to stand and pray
... that they may be seen by others'. Be aware, brothers, that
hypocrites do not know how to weep, they have forgotten how, they do
not ask for the gift of tears”.
“When we do something good, almost
instinctively there arises in us the desire to be esteemed and
admired for this good action, to receive satisfaction from it. Jesus
invites us to carry out these works without any ostentation, and to
trust solely in the Father's reward”.
“The Lord never ceases to have mercy
on us, or to offer his forgiveness once again, whenever we are in
need of it, inviting us to turn to him with a renewed heart, purified
of evil, purified by tears, in order to participate in His joy. How
can we accept this invitation? St. Paul suggests to us: 'We implore
you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God'. This effort of
conversion is not simply a human task: it is allowing oneself to be
reconciled. The reconciliation between us and God is possible thanks
to the mercy of the Father Who, out of love for us, did not hesitate
to sacrifice His only Son. … In Him, we can become righteous, in
Him we can change, if we welcome God's grace and do not allow the
'favourable time' to pass by in vain. Please, let us stop for a
moment and let ourselves be reconciled with God”, exclaimed the
Holy Father.
As a sign of our will to be reconciled
with God, “aside from the tears that are shed in secret, we make
the public gesture of the imposition of the ashes on the forehead.
The celebrant pronounces these words: 'For you are dust, and to dust
you shall return', or repeats Jesus' exhortation: 'Repent and believe
in the Gospel'. Both formulas constitute a reminder of the truth of
human existence: we are limited creatures, sinners always in need of
penance and conversion. How important it is to hear and heed this
call in our time! The invitation to convert thus inspires us to
return, like the son in the parable, into the arms of God, tender
and merciful Father, to weep in that embrace, to trust in Him and
entrust ourselves to Him”.
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