Pope Francis: May Lent be a path of freedom

The pontiff's message for the period that leads t0 Easter which begins on February 14th. "Even today we are slaves to a growth model that divides us and steals our future, leading us to grope in inequalities and conflicts." But "God is not tired of us: he doesn't want us subjects but children". The challenge of a community dimension in the path of conversion.

itity of the Vatican (AsiaNews) - Lent as a time to reclaim one's freedom Pope Francis writes to the faithful worldwide in his message for the journey towards Easter, which begins this year on 14 February, Ash Wednesday. “Through the desert God leads us to freedom” is the theme suggested by the pontiff in the text, presented today in a press conference in the Vatican.

Pope Francis starts from the revelation of God who in the Exodus, handing the Decalogue to Moses, presents himself with words that focus on the call to freedom, saying: "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of land of Egypt, from the condition of slavery" (Ex 20,2). He defines it as "a vigorous call", which "is not exhausted in a single event, because it matures in a journey".

"Just as Israel in the desert still regrets Egypt - he adds - "so too today the people of God brings itself of the oppressive bonds that it must choose to abandon." Otherwise "we lack hope and wander through life as if in a desolate land, without a promised land towards which to strive together".

Lent, therefore, as an exodus from slavery on a journey that is not abstract at all. Because his first step - Francis notes - is “wanting to see reality. Today too, the cry of so many of our oppressed brothers and sisters rises to heaven. Let us ask ourselves: Do we hear that cry? Does it trouble us? Does it move us? All too many things keep us apart from each other, denying the fraternity that, from the beginning, binds us to one another."

We must recognize – he continues – that “we realize that even today we remain under the rule of Pharaoh. A rule that makes us weary and indifferent. A model of growth that divides and robs us of a future. Earth, air and water are polluted, but so are our souls. True, Baptism has begun our process of liberation, yet there remains in us an inexplicable longing for slavery. A kind of attraction to the security of familiar things, to the detriment of our freedom."

In this regard, the Pope underlines how in the Exodus it is God who "sees, is moved and liberates, it is not Israel that asks for it". Because "the Pharaoh stifles dreams, blocks the view of heaven, makes it appear that this world, in which human dignity is trampled upon and authentic bonds are denied, can never change. That is, he manages to bond with himself." Hence the invitation to ask ourselves: “Do I want a new world? Am I ready to leave behind my compromises with the old? The witness of many of my brother bishops and a great number of those who work for peace and justice has increasingly convinced me that we need to combat a deficit of hope that stifles dreams and the silent cry that reaches to heaven and moves the heart of God. This “deficit of hope” is not unlike the nostalgia for slavery that paralyzed Israel in the desert and prevented it from moving forward. An exodus can be interrupted: how else can we explain the fact that humanity has arrived at the threshold of universal fraternity and at levels of scientific, technical, cultural, and juridical development capable of guaranteeing dignity to all, yet gropes about in the darkness of inequality and conflict."

But "God has not grown tired of us" and Lent is the time to listen to his Word again. “For forty days – explains Francis – He will be before us and with us: he is the incarnate Son.  Unlike Pharaoh, God does not want subjects, but sons and daughters. The desert is the place where our freedom can mature in a personal decision not to fall back into slavery."

In this journey, the Pharaoh's even more fearsome danger is the idols: "To be able to do everything, to be recognized by everyone, to get the better of everyone: every human being feels the seduction of this lie within himself - warns the Pope - It's an old road. We can thus become attached to money, to certain projects, ideas, goals, to our position, to a tradition, even to some people. Instead of moving us, they will paralyze us. Instead of bringing us together, they will pit us against each other."

Here then is the invitation to join - on the contrary - the school of the "poor in spirit, silent force of good that cares for and supports the world". Learning from them that "not having other gods means stopping in the presence of God, in the flesh of one's neighbor. For this reason, prayer, almsgiving and fasting are not three independent exercises, but a single movement of opening, of emptying: out with the idols that weigh us down, away with the attachments that imprison us. Then the atrophied and isolated heart will awaken."

The message concludes with an invitation not to stop at the personal dimension of Lent alone: "The Church’s synodal form, which in these years we are rediscovering and cultivating, suggests that Lent is also a time of communitarian decisions, of decisions, small and large, that are countercurrent. Decisions capable of altering the daily lives of individuals and entire neighbourhoods, such as the ways we acquire goods, care for creation, and strive to include those who go unseen or are looked down upon. I invite every Christian community to do just this: to offer its members moments set aside to rethink their lifestyles, times to examine their presence in society and the contribution they make to its betterment".