MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS FOR LENT 2023
Friday, February 17, 2023
Bulletin of the Holy See
Lenten ascesis, synodal itinerary
Dear brothers and sisters!
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke coincide in narrating the episode of the Transfiguration of Jesus. In this event, we see the Lord’s response to a lack of understanding expressed by his disciples. In fact, shortly before, there had been a real divergence between the Master and Simon Peter; he had begun by professing his faith in Jesus as Christ, the Son of God, but then rejected his announcement of the Passion and the cross. And Jesus had harshly rebuked him: “Get away, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me, because your thoughts are not those of God, but those of men” (Mt 16:23). Therefore, “six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James and his brother John, and carried them alone up a high mountain” (Mt 17:1).
The gospel of the Transfiguration is proclaimed each year on the Second Sunday of Lent. Truly, in this liturgical time, the Lord takes us with him and takes us apart. Although our ordinary commitments ask us to remain in our usual places, going through an often repetitive and sometimes boring daily life, during Lent we are invited to climb “a high mountain” together with Jesus, to live with the Holy People of God a particular ascetic experience.
Lenten asceticism is a commitment, always animated by grace, to overcome our lack of faith and resistance to following Jesus on the path of the cross. Precisely what Peter and the other disciples needed. To deepen our knowledge of the Master, to deeply understand and embrace the mystery of divine salvation, accomplished in the total gift of oneself out of love, it is necessary to let ourselves be led by Him apart and upward, breaking with mediocrity and vanities . You need to set out on a journey, an uphill journey that requires effort, sacrifice and concentration, like a mountain excursion. These requirements are also important for the synodal path, which we, as a Church, are committed to carrying out. It will do us good to reflect on this relationship that exists between Lenten asceticism and the synodal experience.
For the “retreat” on Mount Tabor, Jesus takes with him three disciples, chosen to be witnesses of a singular event; He wants that experience of grace not to be lived alone, but in a shared way, as is, in fact, our entire life of faith. To Jesus, we follow Him together; and together, as a pilgrim Church in time, we live the Liturgical Year and, within it, Lent, walking with those whom the Lord has placed at our side as traveling companions. Like the ascent of Jesus and his disciples to Mount Tabor, we can say that our Lenten journey is “synodal”, because we travel it together along the same path, disciples of the one Master. Furthermore, we know that He Himself is the Way and, therefore, both in the liturgical itinerary and in that of the Synod, the Church does nothing other than enter ever more deeply and fully into the mystery of Christ the Savior.
And we reach the culminating moment. The Gospel narrates that Jesus “was transfigured before them: his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Mt 17:2). Here the “top” appears, the goal of the path. At the end of the climb and while they are at the top of the mountain with Jesus, the three disciples receive the grace of seeing Him in His glory, resplendent with supernatural light, which did not come from outside, but radiated from Himself. The divine beauty of this vision proved to be incomparably superior to any tiredness the disciples might have felt when climbing Tabor. Like any difficult mountain excursion, when climbing, you need to keep your eyes firmly fixed on the path; but the panorama that emerges at the end surprises and compensates for its wonder. The synodal process is also often arduous and at times we can even become discouraged; but what awaits us in the end is something, without a doubt, wonderful and surprising, which will help us to better understand God’s will and our mission in the service of his Kingdom.
The disciples’ experience on Mount Tabor becomes even more enriching when, alongside the transfigured Jesus, Moses and Elijah appear, who respectively personify the Law and the Prophets (cf. Mt 17:3). The newness of Christ is the fulfillment of the old Covenant and the promises; it is inseparable from God’s history with his people, and reveals its deep meaning. In a similar way, the synodal path is rooted in the tradition of the Church and, at the same time, open to new things. Tradition is a source of inspiration to seek new roads, avoiding the opposing temptations of immobility and improvised experimentation.
The Lenten ascetic path and, similarly, the synodal path, have as their goal a personal and ecclesiastical transfiguration. A transformation that, in both cases, finds its model in that of Jesus and is accomplished by the grace of his paschal mystery. So that, this year, such a transfiguration can be carried out in us, I want to propose two “paths” that we need to follow in order to climb together with Jesus and reach the goal with Him.
The first concerns the order that God the Father addresses to the disciples on Tabor, while they are contemplating the transfigured Jesus. The voice from the cloud says: “Listen to Him” (Mt 17:5). So the first indication is very clear: listen to Jesus. Lent is a time of grace to the extent that we listen to Him as He speaks to us. And how does He speak to us? First of all in the Word of God, which the Church offers us in the Liturgy: let us not let it fall on deaf ears; If we cannot always participate in Mass, at least let us read the Biblical Readings each day, even using the help of the internet. In addition to Holy Scripture, the Lord speaks to us about our brothers, especially in the faces and experiences of those who need help. But I want to add yet another aspect, very important in the synodal process: listening to Christ also involves listening to our brothers and sisters in the Church; In some phases, this mutual listening is the main objective, but it always remains indispensable in the method and style of a synodal Church.
Upon hearing the Father’s voice, “the disciples fell on their faces, terrified. Approaching them, Jesus touched them and said: “Stand up and do not be afraid.” Lifting their eyes, the disciples only saw Jesus and no one else» (Mt 17, 6-8). And here we have the second recommendation for this Lent: not to take refuge in a religiosity made up of extraordinary events, of suggestive experiences, led by the fear of facing reality with its daily fatigues, its hardships and contradictions. The light that Jesus shows to his disciples is an anticipation of Easter glory, and it is towards this that it becomes necessary to walk following “only Jesus and no one else”. Lent is oriented towards Easter: the “retreat” is not an end in itself, but it prepares us to live – with faith, hope and love – the passion and the cross, in order to reach the resurrection. The synodal journey must not deceive us as to the end point, which is not when God gives us the grace of some strong experiences of communion, as the Lord also repeats to us there: “Stand up and do not be afraid”. Let us descend to the plain and may the grace experienced sustain us to be artisans of synodality in the ordinary life of our communities.
Dear brothers and sisters, may the Holy Spirit encourage us this Lent as we climb with Jesus, to experience his divine splendor and thus, strengthened in faith, we continue the journey with Him, the glory of His people and the light of the nations.
Rome – Saint John Lateran, on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25, 2023.
FRANCISCO