Pope Francis urged
believers to overcome a "globalization of indifference" that is
threatening to spread a feeling of distress worldwide in his
Lenten message Tuesday.
The faithful must "open their hearts to God" to ward off a
powerlessness that is causing individuals and communities to
withdraw into themselves, closing "the door through which God
comes into the world and the world comes to him".
The Pope's Lenten message was released in the Vatican
Tuesday.
Lent, the period of fasting and penitence before
Christianity's greatest feast, Easter, begins on Ash Wednesday
which falls this year on 18 February.
Returning to a theme that has marked his papacy, Francis
said the "globalization of indifference" is a reality that
Christians must confront by going outside of themselves.
He urged the faithful to fight individualism with merciful
hearts that are more attentive to the needs of others.
"(Jesus) is interested in each of us; his love does not
allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us," the Pope
noted, saying that often times when we life a healthy and
comfortable lifestyle, "we forget about others".
"We are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings
and the injustices they endure...Our heart grows cold," he
observed, saying that today this "selfish attitude of
indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that
we can speak of a globalization of indifference.
"God is not indifferent to our world; he so loves it that
he gave his Son for our salvation," the pontiff explained.
The love of God breaks through the barriers of indifference
we frequently put up, Francis stressed.
"But we can only bear witness to what we ourselves have
experienced," he said, and encouraged faithful to turn to the
sacraments during Lent - particularly the Eucharist - in order
to better imitate the Lord.
He then pointed to an episode in Genesis when God asks Cain
"Where is your brother?"
This passage, he said, is representative of the various
parishes and Christian communities around the world.
In order to both receive what God gives to us and make it
bear fruit in our communities we need to go beyond the
boundaries of the physical Church, the Pope said.
"Flooded with news reports and troubling images of human
suffering, we often feel our complete inability to help,"
Francis went on.
But both praying together as a community and performing
small acts of charity are concrete ways that can prevent us from
getting "caught up in this spiral of distress and
powerlessness," the Pope explained.
Pope Francis concluded his message by praying that during
Lent, each person receive "a heart which is firm and merciful,
attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent
or prey to the globalization of indifference".
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