Lenten Reflection From the City of Calvary
Patriarch of Jerusalem Calls for
Fasting for Peace
JERUSALEM, FEB. 21, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is the Lenten letter from
the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal.
* * *
Dear Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, Grace and peace be with you all!
1. We read in the
Gospel that Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. (Mt
4:2)
This fast very likely
took place in the desert region four kilometers northwest of Jericho , on a mountain named
Quarantena (or Quruntul in Arabic). In the 12th century, the
mountain belonged to the Latin Canons of the Holy Sepulcher, and was inhabited
by a group of clerics named the Brothers of the Forty Days.
Once more, our Church of Jerusalem may speak not only about
history, but also of the geography and the topography of Salvation. This site,
not far from Jordan ,
is a place of pilgrimage not only for Christians coming from afar but also for
the local faithful who are invited to visit the sites of our Redemption with
piety.
2. A fast which the
Lord did not need!
In theory Jesus could
have miraculously dispensed with food; but he had to become like his
brothers and sisters - other men, and has similarly been tested
in every way, yet without sin. (Heb 4:15) Neither his fast, nor even his
baptism from John, satisfied any kind of personal necessity. In contrast,
penance, fasting, reconciliation, with prayer and almsgiving are indispensable
for us for the atonement of our own sins. However, there is an essential
difference: we have in the fast of our Lord, a magnificent example for
ourselves. We cannot fast for forty days and forty nights without
anything to eat; but during Lent the Church undertakes to re-enact the t ime passed by Christ in the desert in prayer and
fasting. The intention of the Church is clear: to imitate Christ
(1 Cor 11:2) who wished to serve as an example, not only in the
washing of one anothers feet (Jn 13:15) but also in every other domain.
(Phil 2:5)
Our fast intends to
imitate that of Christ, who himself followed the example of Moses who fasted
forty days before receiving the tablets of the Commandments. (Ex 34: 28-29)
Elijah also fasted for forty days before his encounter with the Lord on Horeb.
(1 Kgs 19:8) During the transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Tabor ,
it was precisely these two figures, who had fasted forty days, who appeared
beside the Messiah in glory.
3. A
preventive and atoning fast
In his 2009 Lenten
message, Pope Benedict XVI raised the question of what value and sense there
might be for us Christians today, in depriving ourselves of food and drink,
both being necessities for our health and survival. He responded with support
from Holy Scripture and Christian Tradition that a fast is an important
undertaking for the avoidance of sin and all that might lead us to it.
In his Lenten message
for 2011, the Pope denounced greed, as if men wanted to devour the
world. He stated, we are often faced with the temptation of accumulating
and love of money that undermine Gods primacy in our lives. In
2008, he courageously said: According to the teaching of the Gospel, we
are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess: these, then,
are not to be considered as our exclusive possession, but means through which
the Lord calls each one of us to act as a steward of His providence for our
neighbor. Through this sharing and in communion, we live as in the early
Church of Jerusalem . (Apostolic Life
of the Early Christians in Acts 2 and 4; 2 Cor 8 and 9) The beloved apostle,
John, wrote with severity: If someone who has worldly means sees a
brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in
him? (1 Jn 3:17)
The Holy Fathers
Message for Lent this year takes the theme: Let us be concerned for each
other, to stir a response in love and good works. (Heb 10:24) Pope
Benedict stated that, Christians can also express their membership in
the one body which is the Church through concrete concern for the poorest of
the poor. Concern for one another likewise means acknowledging the good that
the Lord is doing in others and giving thanks for the wonders of grace that
Almighty God in his goodness continuously accomplishes in his children.
For us sinners, mortals
constantly confronted with our failures, fasting is an effective way to
demonstrate our repentance and the desire to set right our failings. It
was in this way that after Jonahs warning, through penance and fasting
the Ninevites avoided Gods wrath and were granted His mercy.
(Jonah 3:10)
Jesus gives us a
framework for fasting and almsgiving: that they are to be carried out secretly
and discretely, without pretension, (Mt 6: 3-4) showing outwardly neither
misery nor mortification. (Mt 6:16) This does not in any way contradict the
public and communal character of these practices in the Church, but rather is
necessary to spurn individual excess and caprice.
Later, Jesus will
expound on the Christian fast, in contrast with that of the Pharisees and the
disciples of John: Christians, as relatives of the Bridegroom, will fast
in those days [when He is taken away from them] and raised on the Cross.
(Mk 2: 19-20)
This is why the first
Christians fasted during the holy Triduum. Subsequently, they fasted every
Wednesday and Friday. (The Didache, Ch. 8)
Penance is a healthy
practice. Indeed, it calls for a healthy attitude, which is a
return to the Lord and to His goodness; a return to the
Father like the prodigal son. (cf Lk 15) In fact, the verb toubou
in Aramaic and Arabic means Return. This call by the Baptist and
the Savior is significant. It is there, near the Jordan
River and the rest of this desert region, where the presence of
God is marked in the emptiness and splendor of nature!
4. A fast of conversion
of persons and peoples
In the tradition of the
Church, Lent is a preparation for the Easter Triduum, the days during
which the Bridegroom will be taken away from among us, (Mt 9:15) and
raised on the Cross.
Lent is a forty-day
journey, symbolically representing the forty years of the Hebrew people in the
desert it is a call:
a) To meditate on the
mystery of the Cross, that we might conform ourselves to the death of Jesus,
(cf Rom 6:5) in light of a radical change in our lives;
b) To be docile to the
action of the Holy Spirit, who will transform us, as he transformed Saul of
Tarsus on the road to Damascus ;
c) To adapt our lives
with determination to the will of God, freeing ourselves from any egoism, lust
for power, or avarice, by opening our hearts to the love of Christ and
neighbor, especially the poor and indigent. Lent, as the Holy Father reminds
us, is a providential t ime for us to
recognize our frailty and welcome reconciliation, in order to orient ourselves
to Christ.
Lent this year is
between two Episcopal Synods of extreme importance. The first was the Special
Assembly for the Middle East in October 2010,
and the next in October this year, for the New Evangelization for the
Transmission of the Christian Faith. As with ecumenism which aims at
reconciliation in light of the unity of Christians, it is the conversion
of the heart which, by the grace of God, is the key to seemingly
impenetrable problems and the end to ostensibly ceaseless and irreparable
hostilities. This conversion rests on the understanding that man does
not live on bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of
God, (Mt. 4: 4) that the flesh [alone] is of no use, and
one must watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. (Mt.
26:41) In this case, fasting is an excellent antidote to the many excesses of
every day.
Is this not a great t ime for the people of our region, constantly in
conflict, to return to the Lord, by the application of the Ten
Commandments, especially the respect for life, for property, and for human
rights? Would the solution not be in a metanoia, in upheaval, in
radical change, whereby the good of the nations supersedes the interests of
some leaders and authorities to the detr ime nt
of their people?
5. A fast in a t ime of crisis
In the midst of
difficulty and adversity, we must act with wisdom while helping one another.
Pope Benedict has stated without hesitation from the advent of the global
financial crisis that, those who construct on money build on sand. The Holy Father
on several occasions has underlined that the fundamental crisis is one of
values and ethics, following a crisis of faith.
6. Our fast: a means
not an end
We do not fast simply
to fast. We fast to imitate Christ, to be conscious of those who hunger and thirst.
As procla ime d by the fourth Preface
for Lent: For through bodily fasting you restrain our faults, raise up
our minds, and bestow both virtue and its rewards, through Christ our
lord.
7. Fast for peace
In the Holy Land and
throughout the Middle East , we continue to
suffer from violence and conflict. Peace is one of the greatest graces that the
Lord gives to humanity. With the birth of the Saviour, who is Peace incarnate,
in Bethlehem-Ephratha, (Mic 5:1, 5) the angels sang peace to those on whom
His favor rests. (Lk 2:14) The Lord asks us to work for peace, and if we
achieve it, He commends us with compassion and gentleness. (Beatitudes, Mt
5:3,9) Before his Passion, he declared to his disciples: I leave you
peace, my peace I give you. (Jn 14:27) In his crucified Body, Jesus
abolished the separation wall between peoples, (Eph 2:14) by establishing
peace. It is this peace that we hope to achieve by the grace of God, to which
we dedicate our prayer, our penance and our fast.
8. How to fast
The Church demands a
minimum of fasting and abstinence as follows:
a) Those above 14 are
asked to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, during the t ime of the Passion, and on Ash Wednesday.
b) Those between 21 and
60 are urged to be satisfied with only one meal per day. The sick and elderly
are excused from this practice.
c) In addition to
abstinence and fasting from certain foods and drinks, it is the
spiritual fast which most pleases the Lord: that our sense of
fasting extends to refusing sin, in word, act, and
omission.
d) During Lent, it is
advised to avoid succulent meals and alcoholic beverages. It is suitable to
abstain from or limit smoking. To promote an atmosphere of contemplation and of
piety, it would be beneficial to avoid or reduce viewing spectacles, especially
on television and the internet.
e) So that charity and
almsgiving might accompany our fast, we suggest that the fruit of our
sacrifices and renunciations be offered to the poor, and to a vital project for
our Diocese. I propose, in particular, donations for the construction of the
Church of the Baptism of the Lord and the adjacent convent on the Jordan .
Conclusion
In the Mother Church
of the Holy City ,
the city of Calvary ,
of the empty tomb of the Resurrection, of the Church of the Ascension and of
Pentecost, we pray with fervor. We plead that the Lord accept our penance and
include us, in spite of our weaknesses, in the procession of his
triumph over evil, sin, and death. (Eph 1:15-23)
And that the
Lord, creator of heaven and earth, bless you all the days of your life.
(Ps 128:5)
I wish all of you a
holy Lent and a happy Easter!
Fouad Twal,
Latin Patriarch
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