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Message of the Holy Father Francis for Lent
2021, 12.02.2021
The following is the text of the Message of the
Holy Father Francis for Lent 2021, entitled:
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem “ (Mt 20:
18). Lent: a Time for Renewing Faith, Hope and
Love:
Message of the Holy Father
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem” (Mt
20:18).
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Jesus revealed to his disciples the deepest
meaning of his mission when he told them of his
passion, death and resurrection, in fulfilment
of the Father’s will. He then called the
disciples to share in this mission for the
salvation of the world.
In our Lenten journey towards Easter, let us
remember the One who “humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even death on a cross”
(Phil 2:8). During this season of conversion,
let us renew our faith, draw from the “living
water” of hope, and receive with open hearts the
love of God, who makes us brothers and sisters
in Christ. At the Easter vigil, we will renew
our baptismal promises and experience rebirth as
new men and women by the working of the Holy
Spirit. This Lenten journey, like the entire
pilgrimage of the Christian life, is even now
illumined by the light of the resurrection,
which inspires the thoughts, attitudes and
decisions of the followers of Christ.
Fasting, prayer and almsgiving, as preached by
Jesus (cf. Mt 6:1-18), enable and express our
conversion. The path of poverty and self-denial
(fasting), concern and loving care for the poor
(almsgiving), and childlike dialogue with the
Father (prayer) make it possible for us to live
lives of sincere faith, living hope and
effective charity.
1. Faith calls us to accept the truth and
testify to it before God and all our brothers
and sisters.
In this Lenten season, accepting and living the
truth revealed in Christ means, first of all,
opening our hearts to God’s word, which the
Church passes on from generation to generation.
This truth is not an abstract concept reserved
for a chosen intelligent few. Instead, it is a
message that all of us can receive and
understand thanks to the wisdom of a heart open
to the grandeur of God, who loves us even before
we are aware of it. Christ himself is this
truth. By taking on our humanity, even to its
very limits, he has made himself the way –
demanding, yet open to all – that leads to the
fullness of life.
Fasting, experienced as a form of self-denial,
helps those who undertake it in simplicity of
heart to rediscover God’s gift and to recognize
that, created in his image and likeness, we find
our fulfilment in him. In embracing the
experience of poverty, those who fast make
themselves poor with the poor and accumulate the
treasure of a love both received and shared. In
this way, fasting helps us to love God and our
neighbour, inasmuch as love, as Saint Thomas
Aquinas teaches, is a movement outwards that
focuses our attention on others and considers
them as one with ourselves (cf. Fratelli Tutti,
93).
Lent is a time for believing, for welcoming God
into our lives and allowing him to “make his
dwelling” among us (cf. Jn 14:23). Fasting
involves being freed from all that weighs us
down – like consumerism or an excess of
information, whether true or false – in order to
open the doors of our hearts to the One who
comes to us, poor in all things, yet “full of
grace and truth” (Jn 1:14): the Son of God our
Saviour.
2. Hope as “living water” enabling us to
continue our journey.
The Samaritan woman at the well, whom Jesus asks
for a drink, does not understand what he means
when he says that he can offer her “living
water” (Jn 4:10). Naturally, she thinks that he
is referring to material water, but Jesus is
speaking of the Holy Spirit whom he will give in
abundance through the paschal mystery, bestowing
a hope that does not disappoint. Jesus had
already spoken of this hope when, in telling of
his passion and death, he said that he would “be
raised on the third day” (Mt 20:19). Jesus was
speaking of the future opened up by the Father’s
mercy. Hoping with him and because of him means
believing that history does not end with our
mistakes, our violence and injustice, or the sin
that crucifies Love. It means receiving from his
open heart the Father’s forgiveness.
In these times of trouble, when everything seems
fragile and uncertain, it may appear challenging
to speak of hope. Yet Lent is precisely the
season of hope, when we turn back to God who
patiently continues to care for his creation
which we have often mistreated (cf. Laudato Si’,
32-33; 43-44). Saint Paul urges us to place our
hope in reconciliation: “Be reconciled to God”
(2 Cor 5:20). By receiving forgiveness in the
sacrament that lies at the heart of our process
of conversion, we in turn can spread forgiveness
to others. Having received forgiveness
ourselves, we can offer it through our
willingness to enter into attentive dialogue
with others and to give comfort to those
experiencing sorrow and pain. God’s forgiveness,
offered also through our words and actions,
enables us to experience an Easter of
fraternity.
In Lent, may we be increasingly concerned with
“speaking words of comfort, strength,
consolation and encouragement, and not words
that demean, sadden, anger or show scorn” (Fratelli
Tutti, 223). In order to give hope to others, it
is sometimes enough simply to be kind, to be
“willing to set everything else aside in order
to show interest, to give the gift of a smile,
to speak a word of encouragement, to listen amid
general indifference” (ibid., 224).
Through recollection and silent prayer, hope is
given to us as inspiration and interior light,
illuminating the challenges and choices we face
in our mission. Hence the need to pray (cf. Mt
6:6) and, in secret, to encounter the Father of
tender love.
To experience Lent in hope entails growing in
the realization that, in Jesus Christ, we are
witnesses of new times, in which God is “making
all things new” (cf. Rev 21:1-6). It means
receiving the hope of Christ, who gave his life
on the cross and was raised by God on the third
day, and always being “prepared to make a
defense to anyone who calls [us] to account for
the hope that is in [us]” (1 Pet 3:15).
3. Love, following in the footsteps of Christ,
in concern and compassion for all,is the highest
expression of our faith and hope.
Love rejoices in seeing others grow. Hence it
suffers when others are anguished, lonely, sick,
homeless, despised or in need. Love is a leap of
the heart; it brings us out of ourselves and
creates bonds of sharing and communion.
“‘Social love’ makes it possible to advance
towards a civilization of love, to which all of
us can feel called. With its impulse to
universality, love is capable of building a new
world. No mere sentiment, it is the best means
of discovering effective paths of development
for everyone” (Fratelli Tutti, 183).
Love is a gift that gives meaning to our lives.
It enables us to view those in need as members
of our own family, as friends, brothers or
sisters. A small amount, if given with love,
never ends, but becomes a source of life and
happiness. Such was the case with the jar of
meal and jug of oil of the widow of Zarephath,
who offered a cake of bread to the prophet
Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 17:7-16); it was also the
case with the loaves blessed, broken and given
by Jesus to the disciples to distribute to the
crowd (cf. Mk 6:30-44). Such is the case too
with our almsgiving, whether small or large,
when offered with joy and simplicity.
To experience Lent with love means caring for
those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful
because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In these days
of deep uncertainty about the future, let us
keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant,
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you” (Is 43:1).
In our charity, may we speak words of
reassurance and help others to realize that God
loves them as sons and daughters.
“Only a gaze transformed by charity can enable
the dignity of others to be recognized and, as a
consequence, the poor to be acknowledged and
valued in their dignity, respected in their
identity and culture, and thus truly integrated
into society” (Fratelli Tutti, 187).
Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our
lives is a time for believing, hoping and
loving. The call to experience Lent as a journey
of conversion, prayer and sharing of our goods,
helps us – as communities and as individuals –
to revive the faith that comes from the living
Christ, the hope inspired by the breath of the
Holy Spirit and the love flowing from the
merciful heart of the Father.
May Mary, Mother of the Saviour, ever faithful
at the foot of the cross and in the heart of the
Church, sustain us with her loving presence. May
the blessing of the risen Lord accompany all of
us on our journey towards the light of Easter.
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 11 November 2020, the
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours
Francis
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