Lent 2015 is rapidly approaching and Pope Francis wants every Catholic to open up to new ways of thinking about Catholic values, especially attention to the needs of the poor.
In his message for Lent 2015, Pope Francis shares his belief that in our western culture, indifference has closed the door to many hearts. Nothing seems to matter much anymore. Or, to put it in another way, if all opinions are equal, there are no authentic values. Cultural indifference means no superior values. Then, for what ought we to give our lives? If every opinion has equal worth where is truth?
Pope Francis reminds us that it’s too easy to say that everyone’s opinion is valid and, therefore, valuable. Some opinions are narrow minded or dangerous, or just dumb. Yes, I know, I am judging. What’s wrong with that? If you remind me of Jesus’ warning not to judge lest I be judged, then think of the times Jesus confronted a questioner with a scenario where that person needed to make a judgment, a judgment on the conduct of someone else. Lent 2015 is a gut-check for the practice of mercy and Pope Francis is relentless in reminding us of this.
The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) who stops along the road to assist an injured member of the Jewish community involves judging that a priest and a levite faced with the same opportunity both failed to live up to the covenant value of mercy.
“Who was neighbor to the man who fell in with robbers, Jesus asks?” “The one who had mercy on him,” is the response. “Go and do likewise” is the command of Jesus. Maybe the opinion of the priest who passed by the roadside victim would be credible enough to you to justify his inaction. It could have been that the priest was in a hurry to get to Jericho to assist his family there. The levite, too, could have been worried that he might have ended up a victim of the same band of robbers so he hurried by the injured man. But, the value Jesus places on mercy and the urgency of the need makes the priest and the levite look like sad examples of living the covenant. Who practiced the covenant virtue of mercy? A Samaritan. A despised member of a schismatic sect.
In the language of contemporary America, we Christian have to “make a difference.” Pope Francis tells us that we cannot be indifferent to the poor, to the foreigners among us or to the suffering in nations far from our shores.
Lent 2015 is a great time to remind ourselves of the active part of our faith. So, rather than give up something — candy, cigarettes, our favorite TV program — instead, Francis urges us to give something away. Give your time away to someone who asks you for help; give your money away to the street-person who asks for something; build something with your talent for someone else.
It may be commendable to give up video games or texting for Lent. It could give you bragging rights. “Hey, I went all of Lent 2015 without texting once!” It shows how strong you can be, how determined. But, that’s not what Lent is supposed to be. It’s not to make me better, but to make the world better.
This Lent Pope Francis calls us back to the practice of mercy, the value which is so essential to the Christian life and so opposed to the culture of indifference. Francis asks that we allow our hearts to be touched by poverty so that we do something that costs us our own pride. The old refrain of WWJD should be dusted off and used everyday of Lent 2015: “What Would Jesus Do?”