Benedict XVI's Lenten message seeks to show how faith leads to charity's deepest dimensions, a Vatican official explained.Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes,(pic'd alongside) president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," presented the papal message today in the Vatican press office.
The message is centered around the mystery of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. The prelate began his address by explaining how the command of charity is culturally accepted.
He said: "Worldwide entrepreneurs, for example, Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, establish social foundations; film stars and politicians invite to charity dinners; governments create friends for themselves in public opinion thanks to international cooperation; and great fund-raising endeavors -- at times for catastrophes -- in some cases reach considerable quantities.
"As Christians we can observe, not without satisfaction, that in social life the biblical commandment of love of neighbor seems universally accepted." Theocentric Archbishop Cordes pointed out that the Pope's message for Lent "is considerably different" than previous ones, written by him or by Pope John Paul II.
Previous messages have focused on "works of charity in the sense of Christians' social commitment," the prelate said. This time, the Pontiff "forcefully places God the Father of Jesus Christ at the center." Therefore, the focus is not anthropocentric but theocentric. "The Holy Father is less concerned with the horizontal dimension, in order to bring into clearer light the vertical dimension of Christian living," he added.
"This change of thought can be observed in general in Benedict XVI's preaching," Achbishop Cordes stated. He added that in the Pope's encyclical or in other discourses, the central theme is always the love of the Father in heaven becoming man in the Son Jesus Christ. Spiritual poverty Archbishop Cordes speculated on the Pope's reasons for changing the focus of the Lenten message. For the Holy Father, the prelate explained, "the absence of God is worse than material poverty, because it kills every firm hope and leaves man alone with his pain and lament."
In the Lenten message, the archbishop said, "the Pope is bound to the pain that weighs on our lives because of our own or others' faults, and invites us to look up from down here toward the heights." The prelate said that is why he chose the theme: "They Shall Look Upon Him Whom They Have Pierced."
The Vatican official clarified that Benedict XVI does not forget to invite the faithful to concrete works of charity. According to Archbishop Cordes, the Holy Father says that the pierced side of Christ "will impel us, in particular, to combat every form of contempt of life or of exploitation of the person and to alleviate the tragedies of loneliness and abandonment of so many people."
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