BENEDICT XVI'S 2011 LENTEN MESSAGE

"God Created Men and Women for Resurrection and

Life"

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 22, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is

Benedict XVI annual Lenten message, which was released
today with a theme from Colossians: "You were buried
with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with
him." The message offers a reflection for each of the
Sunday Gospel readings of the liturgical season.

***

"You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were

also raised with him." (cf. Col 2: 12)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Lenten period, which leads us to the celebration of

Holy Easter, is for the Church a most valuable and
important liturgical time, in view of which I am pleased to
offer a specific word in order that it may be lived with
due diligence. As she awaits the definitive encounter with
her Spouse in the eternal Easter, the Church community,
assiduous in prayer and charitable works, intensifies her
journey in purifying the spirit, so as to draw more
abundantly from the Mystery of Redemption the new life
in Christ the Lord (cf. Preface I of Lent).

1. This very life was already bestowed upon us on the

day of our Baptism, when we "become sharers in Christ's
death and Resurrection", and there began for us "the
joyful and exulting adventure of his disciples" (Homily on
the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, 10 January, 2010).
In his Letters, St. Paul repeatedly insists on the singular
communion with the Son of God that this washing brings
about. The fact that, in most cases, Baptism is received
in infancy highlights how it is a gift of God: no one earns
eternal life through their own efforts. The mercy of God,
which cancels sin and, at the same time, allows us to
experience in our lives "the mind of Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:
5), is given to men and women freely.The Apostle to the
Gentiles, in the Letter to the Philippians, expresses the
meaning of the transformation that takes place through
participation in the death and resurrection of Christ,
pointing to its goal: that "I may come to know him and
the power of his resurrection, and partake of his
sufferings by being molded to the pattern of his death,
striving towards the goal of resurrection from the dead"
(Phil 3: 10-11). Hence, Baptism is not a rite from the
past, but the encounter with Christ, which informs the
entire existence of the baptized, imparting divine life and
calling for sincere conversion; initiated and supported by
Grace, it permits the baptized to reach the adult stature
of Christ.

A particular connection binds Baptism to Lent as the

favorable time to experience this saving Grace. The
Fathers of the Second Vatican Council exhorted all of the
Church's Pastors to make greater use "of the baptismal
features proper to the Lenten liturgy" (Constitution on
the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium, n. 109). In
fact, the Church has always associated the Easter Vigil
with the celebration of Baptism: this Sacrament realizes
the great mystery in which man dies to sin, is made a
sharer in the new life of the Risen Christ and receives the
same Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead (cf.
Rm 8: 11). This free gift must always be rekindled in
each one of us, and Lent offers us a path like that of the
catechumenate, which, for the Christians of the early
Church, just as for catechumens today, is an
irreplaceable school of faith and Christian life. Truly, they
live their Baptism as an act that shapes their entire
existence.

2. In order to undertake more seriously our journey

towards Easter and prepare ourselves to celebrate the
Resurrection of the Lord – the most joyous and solemn
feast of the entire liturgical year – what could be more
appropriate than allowing ourselves to be guided by the
Word of God? For this reason, the Church, in the Gospel
texts of the Sundays of Lent, leads us to a particularly
intense encounter with the Lord, calling us to retrace the
steps of Christian initiation: for catechumens, in
preparation for receiving the Sacrament of rebirth; for
the baptized, in light of the new and decisive steps to be
taken in the sequela Christi and a fuller giving of oneself
to him.

The First Sunday of the Lenten journey reveals our

condition as human beings here on earth. The victorious
battle against temptation, the starting point of Jesus'
mission, is an invitation to become aware of our own
fragility in order to accept the Grace that frees from sin
and infuses new strength in Christ – the way, the truth
and the life (cf. Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum,
n. 25). It is a powerful reminder that Christian faith
implies, following the example of Jesus and in union with
him, a battle "against the ruling forces who are masters
of the darkness in this world" (Eph 6: 12), in which the
devil is at work and never tires – even today – of
tempting whoever wishes to draw close to the Lord:
Christ emerges victorious to open also our hearts to hope
and guide us in overcoming the seductions of evil.

The Gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord puts before

our eyes the glory of Christ, which anticipates the
resurrection and announces the divinization of man. The
Christian community becomes aware that Jesus leads it,
like the Apostles Peter, James and John "up a high
mountain by themselves" (Mt 17: 1), to receive once
again in Christ, as sons and daughters in the Son, the gift
of the Grace of God: "This is my Son, the Beloved; he
enjoys my favor. Listen to him" (Mt17: 5). It is the
invitation to take a distance from the noisiness of
everyday life in order to immerse oneself in God's
presence. He desires to hand down to us, each day, a
Word that penetrates the depths of our spirit, where we
discern good from evil (cf. Heb 4:12), reinforcing our will
to follow the Lord.

The question that Jesus puts to the Samaritan woman:

"Give me a drink" (Jn 4: 7), is presented to us in the
liturgy of the third Sunday; it expresses the passion of
God for every man and woman, and wishes to awaken in
our hearts the desire for the gift of "a spring of water
within, welling up for eternal life" (Jn 4: 14): this is the
gift of the Holy Spirit, who transforms Christians into
"true worshipers," capable of praying to the Father "in
spirit and truth" (Jn 4: 23). Only this water can
extinguish our thirst for goodness, truth and beauty! Only
this water, given to us by the Son, can irrigate the
deserts of our restless and unsatisfied soul, until it "finds
rest in God", as per the famous words of St. Augustine.

The Sunday of the man born blind presents Christ as the

light of the world. The Gospel confronts each one of us
with the question: "Do you believe in the Son of man?"
"Lord, I believe!" (Jn 9: 35. 38), the man born blind
joyfully exclaims, giving voice to all believers. The
miracle of this healing is a sign that Christ wants not only
to give us sight, but also open our interior vision, so that
our faith may become ever deeper and we may recognize
him as our only Savior. He illuminates all that is dark in
life and leads men and women to live as "children of the
light".

On the fifth Sunday, when the resurrection of Lazarus is

proclaimed, we are faced with the ultimate mystery of
our existence: "I am the resurrection and the life… Do
you believe this?" (Jn11: 25-26). For the Christian
community, it is the moment to place with sincerity –
together with Martha – all of our hopes in Jesus of
Nazareth: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ,
the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world"
(Jn 11: 27). Communion with Christ in this life prepares
us to overcome the barrier of death, so that we may live
eternally with him. Faith in the resurrection of the dead
and hope in eternal life open our eyes to the ultimate
meaning of our existence: God created men and women
for resurrection and life, and this truth gives an authentic
and definitive meaning to human history, to the personal
and social lives of men and women, to culture, politics
and the economy. Without the light of faith, the entire
universe finishes shut within a tomb devoid of any future,
any hope.
The Lenten journey finds its fulfillment in the Paschal
Triduum, especially in the Great Vigil of the Holy Night:
renewing our baptismal promises, we reaffirm that Christ
is the Lord of our life, that life which God bestowed upon
us when we were reborn of "water and Holy Spirit", and
we profess again our firm commitment to respond to the
action of the Grace in order to be his disciples.

3. By immersing ourselves into the death and

resurrection of Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism,
we are moved to free our hearts every day from the
burden of material things, from a self-centered
relationship with the "world" that impoverishes us and
prevents us from being available and open to God and
our neighbor. In Christ, God revealed himself as Love (cf.
1Jn 4: 7-10). The Cross of Christ, the "word of the
Cross", manifests God's saving power (cf. 1Cor 1: 18),
that is given to raise men and women anew and bring
them salvation: it is love in its most extreme form (cf.
Encyclical Deus caritas est, n. 12). Through the
traditional practices of fasting, almsgiving and prayer,
which are an expression of our commitment to
conversion, Lent teaches us how to live the love of Christ
in an ever more radical way. Fasting, which can have
various motivations, takes on a profoundly religious
significance for the Christian: by rendering our table
poorer, we learn to overcome selfishness in order to live
in the logic of gift and love; by bearing some form of
deprivation – and not just what is in excess – we learn to
look away from our "ego", to discover Someone close to
us and to recognize God in the face of so many brothers
and sisters. For Christians, fasting, far from being
depressing, opens us ever more to God and to the needs
of others, thus allowing love of God to become also love
of our neighbor (cf. Mk 12: 31).

In our journey, we are often faced with the temptation of

accumulating and love of money that undermine God's
primacy in our lives. The greed of possession leads to
violence, exploitation and death; for this, the Church,
especially during the Lenten period, reminds us to
practicealmsgiving – which is the capacity to share. The
idolatry of goods, on the other hand, not only causes us
to drift away from others, but divests man, making him
unhappy, deceiving him, deluding him without fulfilling its
promises, since it puts materialistic goods in the place of
God, the only source of life. How can we understand
God's paternal goodness, if our heart is full of egoism and
our own projects, deceiving us that our future is
guaranteed? The temptation is to think, just like the rich
man in the parable: "My soul, you have plenty of good
things laid by for many years to come…". We are all
aware of the Lord's judgment: "Fool! This very night the
demand will be made for your soul…" (Lk 12: 19-20). The
practice of almsgiving is a reminder of God's primacy and
turns our attention towards others, so that we may
rediscover how good our Father is, and receive his
mercy.

During the entire Lenten period, the Church offers us

God's Word with particular abundance. By meditating and
internalizing the Word in order to live it every day, we
learn a precious and irreplaceable form of prayer; by
attentively listening to God, who continues to speak to
our hearts, we nourish the itinerary of faith initiated on
the day of our Baptism. Prayer also allows us to gain a
new concept of time: without the perspective of eternity
and transcendence, in fact, time simply directs our steps
towards a horizon without a future. Instead, when we
pray, we find time for God, to understand that his "words
will not pass away" (cf. Mk 13: 31), to enter into that
intimate communion with Him "that no one shall take
from you" (Jn 16: 22), opening us to the hope that does
not disappoint, eternal life.

In synthesis, the Lenten journey, in which we are invited

to contemplate the Mystery of the Cross, is meant to
reproduce within us "the pattern of his death" (Ph 3: 10),
so as to effect a deepconversion in our lives; that we
may be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit, like
St. Paul on the road to Damascus; that we may firmly
orient our existence according to the will of God; that we
may be freed of our egoism, overcoming the instinct to
dominate others and opening us to the love of Christ. The
Lenten period is a favorable time to recognize our
weakness and to accept, through a sincere inventory of
our life, the renewing Grace of the Sacrament of
Penance, and walk resolutely towards Christ.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, through the personal

encounter with our Redeemer and through fasting,
almsgiving and prayer, the journey of conversion towards
Easter leads us to rediscover our Baptism. This Lent, let
us renew our acceptance of the Grace that God bestowed
upon us at that moment, so that it may illuminate and
guide all of our actions. What the Sacrament signifies and
realizes, we are called to experience every day by
following Christ in an ever more generous and authentic
manner. In this our itinerary, let us entrust ourselves to
the Virgin Mary, who generated the Word of God in faith
and in the flesh, so that we may immerse ourselves –
just as she did – in the death and resurrection of her Son
Jesus, and possess eternal life.

From the Vatican, 4 November, 2010

BENEDICTUS PP XVI