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This very special Easter Sunday, allow me to share with
you the trimmed version of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2008
Lenten Message that teaches us basic truths about
almsgiving in the light of what has grown to be a
negative view of the practice.
“Christ
made Himself poor for you”
For this
year’s Lenten Message, I wish to reflect on almsgiving,
which represents a specific way to assist those in need
and is an exercise in self-denial to free us from
attachment to worldly goods.
Almsgiving helps us to overcome this temptation,
teaching us to respond to our neighbor’s needs and to
share whatever we possess through divine goodness. This
is the aim of the special collections in favor of the
poor, which are promoted during Lent in many parts of
the world. In this way, inward cleansing is accompanied
by a gesture of ecclesial communion.
We are
not owners but rather administrators of the goods we
possess: these, then, are not to be considered as our
exclusive possession, but means through which the Lord
calls each one of us to act as a steward of His
providence for our neighbor. Material goods bear a
social value.
Jesus
explicitly admonishes the one who possesses and uses
earthly riches only for self. In the face of the
multitudes, who, lacking everything, suffer hunger, “How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s
goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet
refuses to help?” (1 John 3:17). In countries whose
population is majority Christian, the call to share is
more urgent, since their responsibility toward the many
who suffer poverty and abandonment is greater. To come
to their aid is a duty.
A
typical feature of Christian almsgiving is that it must
be hidden: “Do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing,” Jesus asserts, “so that your alms
may be done in secret” (Matthew 6:3-4). The disciple is
to be concerned with God’s greater glory. Jesus warns:
“In this way, let your light shine before others, so
that they may see your good works and give glory to your
Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Almsgiving is not mere philanthropy; rather, it is a
concrete expression of charity, a theological virtue
that demands interior conversion to love of God and
neighbor, in imitation of Jesus Christ who, dying on the
cross, gave His entire self for us.
When we
do things out of love, we express the truth of our
being; indeed, we have been created not for ourselves
but for God and our brothers and sisters (cf. 2
Corinthians
5:15). Every time when, for love of God, we share our goods with
our neighbor in need, we discover that the fullness of
life comes from love, and all is returned to us as a
blessing in the form of peace, inner satisfaction and
joy. Our Father in heaven rewards our almsgiving with
His joy. What is more, Saint Peter includes among the
spiritual fruits of almsgiving the forgiveness of sins.
By
drawing close to others through almsgiving, we draw
close to God; it can become an instrument for authentic
conversion and reconciliation with Him and our brothers.
Almsgiving teaches us the generosity of love. In this
regard, all the more significant is the Gospel story of
the widow who, out of her poverty, cast into the Temple
treasury “all she had to live on” (Mark
12:44). Her tiny and insignificant coin becomes an eloquent
symbol: this widow gives to God not out of her
abundance, not so much what she has, but what she is.
Her entire self.
Lent,
through the practice of almsgiving, inspires us to
follow His example. In His school, we learn to make of
our lives a total gift; imitating Him, we are able to
make ourselves available, not so much in giving a part
of what we possess, but our very selves. The Lenten
practice of almsgiving thus becomes a means to deepen
our Christian vocation. In gratuitously offering
himself, the Christian bears witness that it is love and
not material richness that determines the laws of his
existence.
Lent
invites us to “train ourselves” spiritually, also
through the practice of almsgiving, in order to grow in
charity and recognize in the poor Christ Himself. Let
this time be marked by a personal and community effort
of attachment to Christ in order that we may be
witnesses of His love. May Mary, Mother and faithful
Servant of the Lord, help believers to enter the
“spiritual battle” of Lent, armed with prayer, fasting
and the practice of almsgiving.
Benedictus PP. XVI
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