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.
From the Vatican, 30 October
2007
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
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