This morning's General Audience began at 9:15am in Saint Peter's Square where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world.
In his speech, the Pope added his meditation on the subject of Lent: entering into the desert (cf Lk 4:1)
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. Then, he expressed once again his closeness to those who are suffering from the Coronavirus and those who are caring for them.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten journey, a forty-day journey toward Easter, toward the heart of the liturgical year and the heart of our faith. This is a journey that follows the journey of Jesus, who at the beginning of his ministry went away for forty days to pray, to fast and to be tempted by the devil in the desert. It is precisely about the spiritual significance of the desert that I would like to speak to you today. What is the spiritual significance of the desert for all of us; even for those of us who live in cities, what is the significance of the desert?
Let us imagine that we are in a desert. The first sensation would be to find ourselves surrounded by great silence: no noises, apart from the wind and our breath. Here, the desert is the place of detachment from the noise that surrounds us. It is the absence of words in order to make room for another Word, the Word of God, which caresses our hearts like a light breeze (cf 1 Kings 19:12). The desert is the place of the Word, with a capital W. In fact, in the Bible, the Lord loves to talk to us in the desert. In the desert he gives Moses the ten words, the ten commandments. And when the people turn away from him, becoming like an unfaithful bride, God says: Behold, I will lead her to the desert and speak to her heart. There he will answer me, as in the days of his youth (Hos 2: 16-17). In the desert we hear the Word of God, which is like a light sound. The Book of Kings says that the Word of God is like a thread of sonorous silence. In the desert one finds intimacy with God, the love of the Lord. Jesus loved to withdraw every day to deserted places in order to pray (cf Lk 5:16). He taught us how to look for the Father, who speaks to us in silence. And it is not easy to keep silence in the heart, because we always try to talk a little, to spend time with others.
Lent is the right time to make room for the Word of God. It is the time to turn off the television and open the Bible. It is the time to disconnect from the cell phone and connect to the Gospel. When I was a child there was no television, but there was a habit of not listening to the radio. Lent is deserted, it is the time to give up, to detach ourselves from the cell phone and connect to the Gospel. It is the time to give up unnecessary words, chatter, rumours, gossip, and to speak and give yourself to the Lord. It is the time to devote yourself to a healthy ecology of the heart, to clean up there. We live in an environment that is polluted by too much verbal violence, by many offensive and harmful words, which the network amplifies. Today, people hurl insults as if they were saying, Good day. We are inundated with empty words, with advertisements, with subtle messages. We have become used to hearing everything about everyone and we risk slipping into a worldliness that hardens our heart and there is no bypass to heal this, but only silence. We struggle to distinguish the voice of the Lord who speaks to us, the voice of conscience, the voice of good. Jesus, calling to us in the desert, invites us to listen to what matters, to the important, to the essential. To the devil who tempted him, he replied: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4: 4). Like bread, more than bread, we need the Word of God, we need to speak with God: we need to pray. Because only before God do the inclinations of the heart come to light and the duplicity of the soul fall away. This is the desert, a place of life, not of death, because dialogue in silence with the Lord brings us back to life.
Let's try again to think of a desert. The desert is the place of the essential. Let's look at our lives: how many useless things surround us! We chase a thousand things that seem necessary but in reality are not. How good it would be for us to get rid of so many superfluous realities, to rediscover what really matters, to find the faces of those around us! Jesus also sets an example in this regard: fasting. Fasting is knowing how to give up vain things, superfluous things, to go to the essentials. Fasting is not just for weight loss, fasting is going to the essentials, it is seeking the beauty of a simpler life.
Finally, the desert is a place of solitude. Even today, near to us, there are many deserts. There are lonely and abandoned people. How many poor and elderly people stand by us and live in silence, without making a fuss, yet they are marginalized and discarded! Talking about them doesn't create audiences. But the desert leads us to them, to those who, having been silenced, silently ask for our help. There are many silent glances that ask for our help. The path in the Lenten desert is a path of charity towards the weak.
Prayer, fasting, works of mercy: this is the path through the desert of Lent.
Dear brothers and sisters, with the voice of the prophet Isaiah, God has made this promise: Behold, I am doing something new, I will open a road in the desert (Is 43: 19). The road that leads us from death to life opens up in the desert. If we enter the desert with Jesus, we will come out of it savouring Easter, the power of God's love that renews life. It will happen to us as it does in those deserts that bloom in the spring, making buds and plants suddenly sprout out of nowhere. Be courageous; today, we enter this desert of Lent, we follow Jesus in the desert: with him our deserts will flourish.
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages and His Holiness offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. To English-speaking visitors, he said:
I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from England, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States of America. May the Lenten journey we begin today bring us to Easter with hearts purified and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Upon you and your families I invoke joy and peace in Christ our Redeemer. May God bless you.
At the conclusion of the General Audience, the Holy Father issued the following appeal:
I wish to express once again my closeness to those who are suffering from the Coronavirus and to those health care workers who are caring for the sick, as well as the civil authorities and all those who are working to help the patients and to contain the spread of the virus.
In his speech, the Pope added his meditation on the subject of Lent: entering into the desert (cf Lk 4:1)
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. Then, he expressed once again his closeness to those who are suffering from the Coronavirus and those who are caring for them.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten journey, a forty-day journey toward Easter, toward the heart of the liturgical year and the heart of our faith. This is a journey that follows the journey of Jesus, who at the beginning of his ministry went away for forty days to pray, to fast and to be tempted by the devil in the desert. It is precisely about the spiritual significance of the desert that I would like to speak to you today. What is the spiritual significance of the desert for all of us; even for those of us who live in cities, what is the significance of the desert?
Let us imagine that we are in a desert. The first sensation would be to find ourselves surrounded by great silence: no noises, apart from the wind and our breath. Here, the desert is the place of detachment from the noise that surrounds us. It is the absence of words in order to make room for another Word, the Word of God, which caresses our hearts like a light breeze (cf 1 Kings 19:12). The desert is the place of the Word, with a capital W. In fact, in the Bible, the Lord loves to talk to us in the desert. In the desert he gives Moses the ten words, the ten commandments. And when the people turn away from him, becoming like an unfaithful bride, God says: Behold, I will lead her to the desert and speak to her heart. There he will answer me, as in the days of his youth (Hos 2: 16-17). In the desert we hear the Word of God, which is like a light sound. The Book of Kings says that the Word of God is like a thread of sonorous silence. In the desert one finds intimacy with God, the love of the Lord. Jesus loved to withdraw every day to deserted places in order to pray (cf Lk 5:16). He taught us how to look for the Father, who speaks to us in silence. And it is not easy to keep silence in the heart, because we always try to talk a little, to spend time with others.
Lent is the right time to make room for the Word of God. It is the time to turn off the television and open the Bible. It is the time to disconnect from the cell phone and connect to the Gospel. When I was a child there was no television, but there was a habit of not listening to the radio. Lent is deserted, it is the time to give up, to detach ourselves from the cell phone and connect to the Gospel. It is the time to give up unnecessary words, chatter, rumours, gossip, and to speak and give yourself to the Lord. It is the time to devote yourself to a healthy ecology of the heart, to clean up there. We live in an environment that is polluted by too much verbal violence, by many offensive and harmful words, which the network amplifies. Today, people hurl insults as if they were saying, Good day. We are inundated with empty words, with advertisements, with subtle messages. We have become used to hearing everything about everyone and we risk slipping into a worldliness that hardens our heart and there is no bypass to heal this, but only silence. We struggle to distinguish the voice of the Lord who speaks to us, the voice of conscience, the voice of good. Jesus, calling to us in the desert, invites us to listen to what matters, to the important, to the essential. To the devil who tempted him, he replied: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4: 4). Like bread, more than bread, we need the Word of God, we need to speak with God: we need to pray. Because only before God do the inclinations of the heart come to light and the duplicity of the soul fall away. This is the desert, a place of life, not of death, because dialogue in silence with the Lord brings us back to life.
Let's try again to think of a desert. The desert is the place of the essential. Let's look at our lives: how many useless things surround us! We chase a thousand things that seem necessary but in reality are not. How good it would be for us to get rid of so many superfluous realities, to rediscover what really matters, to find the faces of those around us! Jesus also sets an example in this regard: fasting. Fasting is knowing how to give up vain things, superfluous things, to go to the essentials. Fasting is not just for weight loss, fasting is going to the essentials, it is seeking the beauty of a simpler life.
Finally, the desert is a place of solitude. Even today, near to us, there are many deserts. There are lonely and abandoned people. How many poor and elderly people stand by us and live in silence, without making a fuss, yet they are marginalized and discarded! Talking about them doesn't create audiences. But the desert leads us to them, to those who, having been silenced, silently ask for our help. There are many silent glances that ask for our help. The path in the Lenten desert is a path of charity towards the weak.
Prayer, fasting, works of mercy: this is the path through the desert of Lent.
Dear brothers and sisters, with the voice of the prophet Isaiah, God has made this promise: Behold, I am doing something new, I will open a road in the desert (Is 43: 19). The road that leads us from death to life opens up in the desert. If we enter the desert with Jesus, we will come out of it savouring Easter, the power of God's love that renews life. It will happen to us as it does in those deserts that bloom in the spring, making buds and plants suddenly sprout out of nowhere. Be courageous; today, we enter this desert of Lent, we follow Jesus in the desert: with him our deserts will flourish.
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages and His Holiness offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. To English-speaking visitors, he said:
I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from England, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States of America. May the Lenten journey we begin today bring us to Easter with hearts purified and renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Upon you and your families I invoke joy and peace in Christ our Redeemer. May God bless you.
At the conclusion of the General Audience, the Holy Father issued the following appeal:
I wish to express once again my closeness to those who are suffering from the Coronavirus and to those health care workers who are caring for the sick, as well as the civil authorities and all those who are working to help the patients and to contain the spread of the virus.
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