MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
FOR LENT 2007
"They shall look on Him
whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
"They shall look on Him whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37). This
is the biblical theme that this year guides our Lenten reflection. Lent
is a favourable time to learn to stay with Mary and John, the beloved disciple,
close to Him who on the Cross, consummated for all mankind the sacrifice
of His life (cf. Jn 19:25). With a more fervent participation let us direct
our gaze, therefore, in this time of penance and prayer, at Christ crucified
who, dying on Calvary, revealed fully for us the love of God. In the Encyclical
Deus caritas est, I dwelt upon this theme of love, highlighting its two
fundamental forms: agape and eros.
God's love: agape and eros
The term agape, which appears many times in the New Testament, indicates
the self-giving love of one who looks exclusively for the good of the other.
The word eros, on the other hand, denotes the love of one who desires to
possess what he or she lacks and yearns for union with the beloved. The
love with which God surrounds us is undoubtedly agape. Indeed, can man give
to God some good that He does not already possess? All that the human creature
is and has is divine gift. It is the creature then, who is in need of God
in everything. But God's love is also eros. In the Old Testament, the Creator
of the universe manifests toward the people whom He has chosen as His own
a predilection that transcends every human motivation. The prophet Hosea
expresses this divine passion with daring images such as the love of a man
for an adulterous woman (cf. 3:1-3). For his part, Ezekiel, speaking of
God's relationship with the people of Israel, is not afraid to use strong
and passionate language (cf. 16:1-22). These biblical texts indicate that
eros is part of God's very heart: the Almighty awaits the "yes"
of His creatures as a young bridegroom that of his bride. Unfortunately,
from its very origins, mankind, seduced by the lies of the Evil One, rejected
God's love in the illusion of a self-sufficiency that is impossible (cf.
Gn 3:1-7). Turning in on himself, Adam withdrew from that source of life
who is God Himself, and became the first of "those who through fear
of death were subject to lifelong bondage" (Heb 2:15). God, however,
did not give up. On the contrary, man's "no" was the decisive
impulse that moved Him to manifest His love in all of its redeeming strength.
The Cross reveals the fullness of God's love
It is in the mystery of the Cross that the overwhelming power of the heavenly
Father's mercy is revealed in all of its fullness. In order to win back
the love of His creature, He accepted to pay a very high price: the blood
of His only begotten Son. Death, which for the first Adam was an extreme
sign of loneliness and powerlessness, was thus transformed in the supreme
act of love and freedom of the new Adam. One could very well assert, therefore,
together with Saint Maximus the Confessor, that Christ "died, if one
could say so, divinely, because He died freely" (Ambigua, 91, 1956).
On the Cross, God's eros for us is made manifest. Eros is indeed - as Pseudo-Dionysius
expresses it - that force "that does not allow the lover to remain
in himself but moves him to become one with the beloved" (De divinis
nominibus, IV, 13: PG 3, 712). Is there more "mad eros" (N. Cabasilas,
Vita in Cristo, 648) than that which led the Son of God to make Himself
one with us even to the point of suffering as His own the consequences of
our offences?
"Him whom they have pierced"
Dear brothers and sisters, let us look at Christ pierced in the Cross! He
is the unsurpassing revelation of God's love, a love in which eros and agape,
far from being opposed, enlighten each other. On the Cross, it is God Himself
who begs the love of His creature: He is thirsty for the love of every one
of us. The Apostle Thomas recognized Jesus as "Lord and God" when
he put his hand into the wound of His side. Not surprisingly, many of the
saints found in the Heart of Jesus the deepest expression of this mystery
of love. One could rightly say that the revelation of God's eros toward
man is, in reality, the supreme expression of His agape. In all truth, only
the love that unites the free gift of oneself with the impassioned desire
for reciprocity instills a joy, which eases the heaviest of burdens. Jesus
said: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself"
(Jn 12:32). The response the Lord ardently desires of us is above all that
we welcome His love and allow ourselves to be drawn to Him. Accepting His
love, however, is not enough. We need to respond to such love and devote
ourselves to communicating it to others. Christ "draws me to Himself"
in order to unite Himself to me, so that I learn to love the brothers with
His own love.
Blood and water
"They shall look on Him whom they have pierced." Let us look with
trust at the pierced side of Jesus from which flow "blood and water"
(Jn 19:34)! The Fathers of the Church considered these elements as symbols
of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Through the water of Baptism,
thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, we are given access to the intimacy
of Trinitarian love. In the Lenten journey, memorial of our Baptism, we
are exhorted to come out of ourselves in order to open ourselves, in trustful
abandonment, to the merciful embrace of the Father (cf. Saint John Chrysostom,
Catecheses, 3,14ff). Blood, symbol of the love of the Good Shepherd, flows
into us especially in the Eucharistic mystery: "The Eucharist draws
us into Jesus' act of self-oblation … we enter into the very dynamic
of His self-giving" (Encyclical Deus caritas est, 13). Let us live
Lent then, as a "Eucharistic" time in which, welcoming the love
of Jesus, we learn to spread it around us with every word and deed. Contemplating
"Him whom they have pierced" moves us in this way to open our
hearts to others, recognizing the wounds inflicted upon the dignity of the
human person; it moves us, in particular, to fight every form of contempt
for life and human exploitation and to alleviate the tragedies of loneliness
and abandonment of so many people. May Lent be for every Christian a renewed
experience of God's love given to us in Christ, a love that each day we,
in turn, must "regive" to our neighbour, especially to the one
who suffers most and is in need. Only in this way will we be able to participate
fully in the joy of Easter. May Mary, Mother of Beautiful Love, guide us
in this Lenten journey, a journey of authentic conversion to the love of
Christ. I wish you, dear brothers and sisters, a fruitful Lenten journey,
imparting with affection to all of you, a special Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 21 November 2006.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI