Conversion to Christ this ultimately means:
exit the illusion of
to discover and accept their own poverty,
need of His forgiveness.
Benedict XVI
Mt 6.1 - 6.16-18
At that time, Jesus told his disciples, "Beware of practicing your good works before men to be seen of them, otherwise you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and streets to be praised by men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when you give alms, let not thy left hand know what your right hand, so that your alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to pray standing in synagogues and at street corners to be seen by men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Tu invece, quando preghi, entra nella tua camera e, chiusa la porta, prega il Padre tuo nel segreto; e il Padre tuo, che vede nel segreto, ti ricompenserà. E quando digiunate, non assumete aria malinconica come gli ipocriti, che si sfigurano la faccia per far vedere agli uomini che digiunano. In verità vi dico: hanno gia ricevuto la loro ricompensa. Tu invece, quando digiuni, profumati la testa e lavati il volto, perché la gente non veda che tu digiuni, ma solo tuo Padre che è nel segreto; e il Padre tuo, che vede nel segreto, ti ricompenserà ».
IL COMMENTO
Silence. E 'Lent. 'S time to close the door of the heart and try our Father . Go down the stairs of the heart and learn to live like orphans who do everything to be noticed and loved, even when we hide from others running away, after all it is because our life depends on who is around us. And today begins Lent. For those who thirst for life and love is good news: there is hope. There is a conversion, a pious Israelite Teshuvà say, the return .
Conversion is the prodigal son, the dense that beat his breast, he threw the clear perception of life and it is now a wreck in dry, harsh experience of solitude - which is no eternal hell ahead of God - no heart, no face, no words. All lost, slipped away. But, for a mysterious grace, the presence who has not left ever respectful of his freedom and the hidden depths of his soul, at the end of the descent into the abyss, falls in himself. Falls and stands alone, understands, and understands what he has lost. His Father. "I'll be up and I return to my Father." R is Lent ientrare in his heart and discover, in the solitude, the gaze of the Father's mercy, a love without limits, even those of the most heinous sin.
The fasting, the ' alms, the prayers are, first signs of our reality that the world and the devil we hide, the sign of absence. In us is gone the memory of the Father. Lent begins and takes us where we are. Like the prodigal son, we are left with a life ashes, dust rootless. The sign that today we receive helps us to return to ourselves, to make truth and recognize the fate that awaits us. Only an embrace of mercy can turn dust into gold, just the love of our Father can make what is mortal immortal.
Lent is returning home to our Father. E ' trembles in expectation of the window and run around. His reward is His embrace of mercy, His love does not end. "God has touched anything for our for our treachery to our poverty rough, forget it, for our pettiness. I had mercy on your nothing, I had mercy on your hate to me. I was very moved because I hate , as a father and a mother to tears by the hatred of his son: that the child changes, for his fate. It 's a pity, a pity a passion "(Luigi Giussani, You can live like that. Charity, pp.321 ff.) Compassion is God's m to the road is our thing, without it is true love. The Son has opened for us, coming home, back from hell before us. His footprints lead us in this Lenten season, from death to life, from loneliness to intimacy with our Father, until the night of nights, the night of Passover, the night of the children in the Son.
good Lent then, safe journey home.
St. Leo the Great (?-About 461), pope and doctor of the Church
Fourth Homily on Lent, n ° 1 et 2
"Now is the day of salvation! "Of course, there is no time that is not full of divine gifts. At all times, the grace of God gives us access to his mercy. However, now is the time when it is necessary that all hearts are stimulated with a greater zeal in spiritual progress, with more confidence. In fact, the return of the day we were redeemed invites us all to spiritual work. So celebrate the body and the soul purified, the mystery that overrides all others: the sacrament of the Lord's Passover.
These mysteries would require a continuous spiritual effort, so until I was always under the gaze of God, as we should be found on the feast of Easter. But this virtue is found only in a few men, for us, in the midst of the activities of this life, due to the weakness of the flesh weakens the zeal ... To make the purity of our souls, the Lord has prepared the remedy of a workout than forty days in which the sins committed during other periods can be redeemed by good works, and consumed by the holy fasting. Take care, therefore, to obey the commandment of the Apostle: "Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and the Spirit" (2 Cor 7, 1).
However, our way of life should agree with our withdrawal. The essence of fasting is not only abstaining from food, there is no profit in exempting the food to the body unless the heart turns away from injustice, if the language does not abstain from slander ... This is the time of meekness, patience, peace ... Now that the soul is strong to get used to forgive the injustices, not to mention the address, forget the insults ... However, the attitude of the spirit will not be sad, it's holy. Not hear the murmur of groans, that there is a real joy.
St. Maximus of Turin (? - About 420), bishop
Speeches, 28, PL 57, 587s
"At the time of mercy I have heard, the day of salvation I helped you" (Is 49:8). The Apostle Paul continues with these words: "Now is the time, now is the day of salvation." For my part, I take you to witness, now is the day of redemption here, in a sense, the moment of spiritual care, we treat all stains of our vices, all the wounds of our sins, if we pray constantly physician of our souls, if ... we do not neglect any of its provisions ...
The doctor is our Lord Jesus, who said: "It is I who bring both death and I live" (Dt 32.39). The Lord gave the first death, then gives life. By baptism, destroys us in adultery, murder, crime and theft, and then we will experience, such as new men, eternal immortality. We die for our sins, of course, through baptism, we resume life in the Spirit of life ... We deliver ourselves to our doctor patiently to regain health. As we have discovered is unworthy of stained for sin, consumed by ulcers, he cut it, the powers to let him take away there in us, once removed all the wounds of the devil, only what belongs to God
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