VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) – Lent is a time to embrace conversion as a journey of return to God and to reject self-realization, Pope Benedict said on Ash Wednesday.
In remarks during his weekly audience Feb. 21, Pope Benedict said that Lent serves as an opportunity for the faithful “to go back to being Christian.”
The pope’s audience began a day that will see him open the Roman Catholic Church’s observance of Lent with a penitential procession, late afternoon celebration of Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina and the imposition of ashes.
Lent is a time of conversion “in which we return to our baptism in order to rediscover it and experience it more profoundly,” the pope said. “It is an occasion to go back to being Christian via a constant process of interior transformation, and of progress in the knowledge and love of Christ."
"Conversion," the pontiff said to about 3,000 in St. Peter’s Basilica and about 7,000 in the Vatican’s audience hall, is not something that happens once, but rather “is a process ... a journey ... that cannot be limited to a specific period but must embrace all existence."
In Lent, the Christian is called to “tear out” vanity’s roots, the pope said.
"Lent is an appropriate spiritual moment to train ourselves more earnestly to seek God, opening our hearts to Christ,” the pope said.
“Conversion means seeking God,” he said.
Pope Benedict said that conversion is “not an effort of self-realization,” but is found in submitting to God’s will.
“Self-realization is a contradiction, and it is too little for us. We have a higher destiny,” he said. “Conversion consists precisely in not thinking that one is the 'creator' of oneself, and thus discovering the truth."
He pointed to his Lenten message, released Feb. 13, in which he highlighted "the immense love that God has for us," and invites Christians to remain "with Mary and John, the disciple Jesus loved, next to him who on the cross gave his life for humanity."
In his 1,200-word 2007 Lenten message, Pope Benedict focused on love, the theme of his encyclical Deus caritas est (God is love), the cross, and the responsibility of Christians to respond to love in dealings with others.
"The cross is the definitive revelation of love and divine mercy,” the pope said in his remarks at the audience.
The conversion of the cross stands in contradiction to a culture that is “too often distracted by worldly and momentary concerns and interests.”
“God is love and his love is the secret of our happiness. To enter into this mystery of love there is no other way than that of losing ourselves, giving ourselves, the way of the cross."
"The liturgy of Lent invites us,” Pope Benedict said, “to reject sin and evil, and overcome selfishness and indifference.”
Prayer, fasting, penance and works of charity are all become “spiritual paths to follow in order to return to God," he said
Pope Benedict offered the prayer that Lent be a time “to learn how to give, once again, our love to our neighbors, especially those who are suffering or are in difficulty.”
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