Cardinal Bergoglio’s Diocesan Lenten Letter, 2013
'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 non-stop; 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 selfishness, does not diminish it, lack
of ethical values within a society metastisizes in our families, in the
environment of our neighborhoods, towns and cities, 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 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 to us as a shout of
truth and certain hope, that comes to us to say, “Yes, it is possible to not
slap on make-up, 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, 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 any 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 our life to allow it to be touched by God.
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 our 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. 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 self-worth but of
penetrating, to its fullest depth, our heart and to take charge of the mystery
of suffering and pain that has tied us down for centuries, for thousands of
years, for ever.
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
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 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 you 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.
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May God bless and Our Lady guide and protect our Holy Father, Pope Francis. Amen.
