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HOLY FATHER, HOLY LENT
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HOLY FATHER, HOLY LENT[This essay is an excerpting and “unpacking” of Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2023.]
Pope Francis focuses primarily on the Transfiguration, which is the Gospel for the 2nd Sunday in Lent in all three of our Lectionary cycles (we’ll be reading Matthew’s version this year). He wants us to see the taking of Peter, James, and John to the top of Mt Tabor as a special lesson for Peter, who tried to talk Jesus out of the Cross, and James and John, who want the glory of sitting at Jesus’ right and left in the Kingdom.
We, too, are “…invited to ascend ‘a high mountain’ in the company of Jesus and to live a particular experience of spiritual discipline…as God’s holy people.” It’s a time, for us, of “…overcoming our lack of faith and our resistance to following Jesus on the way of the cross.” The intention of Jesus is for us “…to detach ourselves from mediocrity and vanity”—not a small task for me, at least! But it’s an important one that the Holy Father will be expanding on in this message. In a particular way, he wants us to “…benefit greatly from reflecting on the relationship between Lenten penance and the synodal experience.” It’s a great coming together of his thoughts and our own parish process in these first Thursdays of Lent!
A church that is "synodal” is one that walks together (ALL together, not just prelates or priests) with Jesus. After all, the word “synod” comes from the Greek meaning “a way together.” It is a path that, he insists, is “shared, not solitary… For it is in togetherness that we follow Jesus.”
He reminds us, playing with metaphors: “During any strenuous mountain trek, we must keep our eyes firmly fixed on the path; yet the panorama that opens up at the end amazes us and rewards us by its grandeur. So, too, the synodal process…”
Two points I might interject here: after Pope Benedict resigned the papacy, in preparation for the conclave, the cardinals (even those too old actually to enter for voting) engaged in a synodical process called “General Congregations,” in which everyone had a chance to speak and express their perspective on the needs and desires of the Church at that time. It is largely in response to these expressed visions that Pope Francis has taken on the reform tasks that he has.
The second point is that the synodal process does NOT, as some seem to fear, turn the Church into a democracy in which majority rules. Pope Francis elaborates on this second point by insisting that our process must be “rooted in the Church’s tradition and at the same time open to newness. Tradition is a source of inspiration for seeking new paths and for avoiding the opposed temptations of immobility and improvised experimentation.” Most of us, sadly, have had (or may still have) the experience of contact with clerics who embrace one or the other of these temptations…
So Pope Francis offers “two paths” that he thinks should guide our Lent. The first is “Listen to him” (from the Gospel of the Transfiguration). How? “First, in the word of God, which the Church offers us in the liturgy. May that word not fall on deaf ears…” But listen, as well, to our brothers and sisters, “…especially in the faces and the stories of those who are in need. …listening to Christ often takes place in listening to our brothers and sisters in the Church.” This is the witness of the gatherings of the cardinals before the conclave that elected Francis.
Secondly, the Holy Father doesn’t want us to focus so much on a “…religiosity made up of extraordinary events and dramatic experiences (aka, over-the-top penances).” Instead, let’s make sure that our Lent actually takes us where it wants to take us: to Easter, to Resurrection. “Lent leads to Easter…[it is] not an end in itself, but a means of preparing us to experience the Lord’s passion and cross with faith, hope and love, and thus to arrive at the resurrection.”
It’s a great journey—let’s get there together!