“It may seem surprising, but in today’s Gospel, the word that comes up several times is reward“Wrote Pope Francis in his homily for Ash Wednesday Mass, March 2, 2022.
The pope was unable to preside over the penitential procession from Saint Anselmo to Santa Sabina, on the Aventine because of his pain in his right knee, which the pope’s doctor ordered rest.
The celebration was presided in his name by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who read the homily prepared by Pope Francis, in Italian, and in which the Pope recalls that this day of fasting and prayer is offered for peace in Ukraine.
This Ash Wednesday – marked by the sign of the imposition of ashes – inaugurates the period of 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter (April 17). It is therefore, for the baptized, a period of intense spiritual preparation – through prayer, fasting, abstinence and good works – in order to be able to welcome the resurrection of Christ, a promise of resurrection also for humanity. And for thousands of catechumens from the 5 continents, it is a period of more intense preparation for their baptism.
For the pope, prayer, charity and fasting are “medicines” for everyone, and they “can change history”. These are the “primary means for God to intervene in our lives and in the world. »
And on this day of prayer and fasting for Ukraine, the pope recalled this intention: “We implore from God this peace that men and women are unable to build by themselves”, so that he “restores peace in our heart; once once more grant your peace to our days”.
The pope invited us to seek “the true and ultimate reward, the goal of our lives”, and not “ephemeral” rewards. And precisely the rite of ashes protects “from the error of putting the reward received from others before the reward we receive from the Father”, and marks an “austere sign”, which helps us to appreciate the transience of our human condition. It is like a bitter-tasting medicine, he added, “effective in curing the disease of appearances, a spiritual disease that enslaves us and makes us dependent on the admiration of others.”
Here is the official translation of the Pope’s homily read in Italian by Cardinal Parolin.
AWAY
Penitential procession from Saint Anselm to Saint Sabina, Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022 © Vatican Media
Homily of Pope Francis
On this day which opens the season of Lent, the Lord says to us: What you do to become righteous, avoid doing it in front of men to make yourself noticed. Otherwise there is no reward for you with your Father who is in heaven. » (Mt 6, 1). It may seem surprising, but in today’s Gospel, the word that comes up several times is reward (cf. vv 1.2.5.16). Usually, on Ash Wednesday, our attention is drawn to the effort demanded by the journey of faith, more than to the price with which it is crowned. However, today, the discourse of Jesus returns each time to this term, reward, which seems to be the mainspring of our action. Indeed, there is in us, in our heart, a thirst, a desire to reach a reward which attracts us and which motivates what we do.
The Lord, however, distinguishes between two types of rewards to which a person’s life can tend: on the one hand the reward with the Father and, on the other, the reward for men. The first is eternal; it is the true, the definitive, it is the goal of life. The second, on the other hand, is transitory, it is a false road in which we engage when the admiration of men and worldly success become for us the most important thing, the greatest satisfaction. But it is an illusion: it is like a mirage which, once achieved, leaves one empty-handed. Worry and discontent are always around the corner for those whose horizon is worldliness that seduces but then disappoints. He who looks at the reward of the world never finds peace, and he does not even know how to promote peace because he loses sight of the Father and the brothers. It is a risk that we all run and that is why Jesus warns us: “be careful”. It is as if he were saying: “You have the possibility of enjoying an infinite reward, an unequaled reward: therefore be careful not to be blinded by appearances by pursuing lesser rewards, which spin you between the fingers”.
The ritual of ashes that we receive on the head wants to save us from the blindness which consists in putting the reward with men before the reward with the Father. This austere sign which makes us reflect on the caducity of our human condition is like a remedy with a bitter taste, but effective, to cure the appearance disease. It is a spiritual disease that enslaves the person, leading him to become dependent on the admiration of others. It is a real “slavery of the eyes and of the mind” (cf. Ep 6, 6; Col 3, 22) which urges us to live under the sign of vainglory according to which what counts is not the purity of the heart but the admiration of people; not how God looks at us, but how others look at us. And one cannot live well by being satisfied with this reward.
The problem is that this disease of appearance threatens even the most sacred realms. This is what Jesus insists on today: even prayer, charity and fasting can become self-referential. In every gesture, even the most beautiful, the worm of complacency can hide. The heart is then not completely free because it does not seek love for the Father and for the brothers, but human approval, people’s applause, glory. And everything can become a kind of fiction vis-à-vis God, oneself and others. This is why the Word of God invites us to look within ourselves, to see our hypocrisies. Let’s do a diagnosis of the appearances we are looking for ; try to unmask them. It will do us good.
The ashes bring to light the nothingness that hides behind the frantic search for worldly rewards. They remind us that worldliness is like dust blown by the wind. Sisters, brothers, we are not in the world at the mercy of the wind; our heart thirsts for eternity. Lent is a time given by the Lord to live once more, to be cared for interiorly and to walk towards Easter, towards what does not pass away, towards reward with the Father. It is a path of healing, not to change everything overnight, but to live each day in a new spirit, with a different style. This is what prayer, charity and fasting serve: purified by the ashes of Lent, purified from the hypocrisy of appearance, they regain all their strength and regenerate a living relationship with God, with brothers and with yourself.
The pray humble, made “in secret” (Mt 6, 6), in the discretion of one’s bedroom, becomes the secret to making life flourish outside. It is a warm dialogue of affection and trust that consoles and opens the heart. Especially in this time of Lent, let us pray while looking at the Crucified: let us allow ourselves to be invaded by the moving tenderness of God and place our wounds and those of the world in his wounds. Let us not be rushed, let us remain silent before Him. Let us rediscover what is essential and fruitful in intimate dialogue with the Lord. For God does not like spectacular things; on the contrary, he likes to allow himself to be found in secret. It is “the secret of love”, far from any ostentation and dazzling colors.
If the prayer is true, it can only be translated into charity. And charity frees us from the worst slavery, that of ourselves. The charity of Lent, purified by the ashes, brings us back to the essential, to the intimate joy that there is in giving. Almsgiving, done away from the spotlight, brings peace and hope to the heart. It reveals to us the beauty of the gift which becomes a receiving and thus enables us to discover a precious secret: giving makes the heart rejoice more than receiving (cf. Ac 20, 35).
Finally, the young. It is not a diet, on the contrary, it frees us from the self-referentiality of the obsessive search for physical well-being, to help us keep in shape not the body, but the mind. Fasting leads us to give due value to things. Concretely, he reminds us that life should not be subject to the fleeting scene of this world. And fasting should not be limited only to food: especially during Lent, we should fast from what gives us a certain dependence. Let everyone think regarding it to make a fast that really affects his concrete life.
But if prayer, charity and fasting must mature in secrecy, their effects are not secret. Prayer, charity and fasting are not remedies only for oneself, but for everyone: they can indeed change history. First of all because the one who experiences the effects, almost without realizing it, also transmits them to others; and above all because prayer, charity and fasting are the main ways that allow God to intervene in our life and in the life of the world. They are the weapons of the mind, and it is with them that, in this day of prayer and fasting for Ukrainewe implore from God this peace that men alone cannot build.
O Lord, You who see in secret and who reward us beyond all expectation, hear the prayer of those who entrust themselves to You, especially that of the most humble, of the most tried, of those who suffer and flee under the clash of arms. Restore peace to hearts, restore your peace to our days.
Amen.
© Vatican Library Publisher
