Thoughts from the Lenten meditations:
Towards 'ever-renewed conversion'
Translated from the 3/2/12 issue of
From the sign of the Cross to consciousness of sin, through a rediscovery of the truth of the faith that should involve the Church herself, which is called upon to live the evangelical beatitudes and reject hypocrisy and lies.
This is the itinerary of reflection chosen by Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, for the first part of the Lenten spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia, which has been taking place this week in the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace, in the presence of Benedict XVI.
Developing the theme "The Christian's communion with God", the cardinal started with the sign of the Cross as the ideal introduction for the topics that comprise the meditations on the first letter of St. John during the days between Sunday, Feb. 26, and Saturday, March 3, when the retreat ends: God is life, God is light, God is truth, God is mercy and piety, God is a loving guide, the conclusive eschatological communion, love of the world, the anti-Christs (or lack of faith in Jesus Christ), and the sin of priests.
"It is not that works and actions need a new consecration, when the profound nucleus of existence is already consecrated by Baptism", Cardinal Pasinya recalled, referring to the sign of the Cross, "but with this act, we add to every action the spledndor of consciosness, the dynamism of freedom".
What does the gesture mean? He has no doubts: It means "sacrificing for love: it is dying in order to resurrect".
This also means, therefore, renouncing vanity, prestige, the desire to possess and to dominate, in order to consecrate one's own work to Christ.
Indeed, if an action is done out of pure vanity, "it cnanot carry the sign of the Cross. it is not crucified, it is not Christianly sanctified: a work of apostolate is offered and consecrated for love of our neighbor".
The sign of the Cross, is therefore much more than habit. For Cardinal Pasinya, a way to "annul the selfish sense of any action is to mark it with with the Cross - it also means liberating it and making it available for further dynamism".
The meditation on the sign of the Cross was followed by three reflections on God as light, truth and life. In this context, the African cardinal referred to some of the tragic phenomena which already distinguish our time - wars, the arms race, genocides, political violence, abortion and every form of exploitation of man for economic and commercial motivations.
He asked that mankind not remain indifferent to "the repression and exploitation of man by man, not to let down our guard even if the mystery of sin seems to overwhelm us, and never to banalize human life".
He particularly stressed the difficult situation these days in Syria and the appeal launched by Benedict XVI at the Angelus on February 12: "We must walk in the light," the Pope had said, "meaning, decide to abandon sin" and allow ours life to be transformed by truth through a path of 'ever renewed conversion".
This understanding of God-as Truth particularly interpellates those who no longer have any consciousness of their own sin, those who have lost the sense of sin because they no longer even consider the question of God.
Equally targeted by this are those who no longer have any criteria of morality, who confuse good and evil". This is a tendency that the cardinal juxtaposed with "religious indifferentism oif those who affirm that all religions are valid but in fact, only want an easy morality".
Even priests, the cardinal pointed out, "are not sheltered from these errors to the degree that spiritual aridity itself leads them to the same defects. In which case the priestly minister is transformed into a functionary without a true sense of God - a lost opportunity for true communion with the Lord".
Taking up the theme in a subsequent meditation, the cardinal 3xamined the emblematic case of the apostles Judas and Peter. About the former, he said, "He had been betrayed by his generosity and attachment to Christ, nonetheless, he fell, because he was reckless and exposed himself close to danger. But shortly thereafter, he abandoned the place where he had fallen and wept bitterly for his sin".
From this, a lesson to all priests: "Our generosity does not shelter us from sin. We must take prudent measures to avoid recklessness that exposes us to falling. In any case, whatever happens, the Lord is always by our side. The greatest harm that we can do is to doubt his mercy, as Judas did".
"To live in the truth", he underscored, "is to live according to the beatitudes. It is to repudiate the lies in our words and actions. It is to reject the hypocrisy that makes us appear to be what we really are not".
But he said this was not merely an individual question. Society itself must fight for the truth. The Church herself must fight lies and deceits within herself and in the world. "Above all, she must fight in order that the truth of the Gospel of Christ may be known and lived".
What is important, he said, is to trust in God's mercy. "If we publicly confess our sins, he said, when speaking about God as light on the third day of the retr4eat, "Jesus the just and the faithful will forgive and purify us of every unease".
In fact, he said, we have in him a defender, he who had been the victim to expiate our sins. In order to orient our journey towards him, he gave us his commandments, especially love.
"It would be wrong," he said, "to consider the observance of the commandments as if that means communion with God. It is rather a sign and a criterion of our communion with God. Indeed, John considers communion as an effective reality which is recognized by observance of the commandments, and might be compared to the performance of a pianist - the more errors he makes, the less perfect is his performance". Sin, he said, is a rupture of our communion with God.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/03/2012 00:01]