As we begin Lent, 2025 in these most turbulent times, two questions need to be asked: Who is the moral leader who stands out to lead us in our world today? Who is the leader of the Free World today?
As sick as Pope Francis is in the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, his Lenten Message to the world on Ash Wednesday should make everyone stop, reflect, repent, pray and act….
“We bow our heads in order to receive the ashes as if to look at ourselves, to look within ourselves. Indeed, the ashes help to remind us that our lives are fragile and insignificant: we are dust, from dust we were created, and to dust we shall return,” writes the pope.
“We learn this above all through the experience of our own fragility: Our weariness, the weaknesses we have to come to terms with, the fears that dwell in us, the failures that consume us, the fleetingness of our dreams and the realization that what we possess is ephemeral. Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty, and the hardships that can suddenly befall us and our families,” Francis continues.
“We also experience it when, in the social and political realities of our time, we find ourselves exposed to the ‘fine dust’ that pollutes our world: ideological opposition, the abuse of power, the re-emergence of old ideologies based on identity that advocate exclusion, the exploitation of the earth’s resources, violence in all its forms and war between peoples,” the homily continues. “This ‘toxic dust’ clouds the air of our planet impeding peaceful coexistence, while uncertainty and the fear of the future continue to increase,” he says.
In his prepared remarks, Francis said the condition of fragility “reminds us of the tragedy of death. In many ways, we try to banish death from our societies, so dependent on appearances, and even remove it from our language. Death, however, imposes itself as a reality with which we have to reckon, a sign of the precariousness and brevity of our lives,” the pope writes.
“Despite the masks we wear and the cleverly crafted ploys meant to distract us, the ashes remind us of who we are. This is good for us. It reshapes us, reduces the severity of our narcissism, brings us back to reality and makes us more humble and open to one another: None of us is God; we are all on a journey,” the pope says.
Francis writes that the ashes at the beginning of Lent remind Christians of the hope to which they are called in Jesus, the Son of God, “who has taken upon himself the dust of the earth and raised it to the heights of heaven.”
“This, brothers and sisters, is the hope that restores to life the ‘ashes’ of our lives. Without such hope, we are doomed passively to endure the fragility of our human condition. Particularly when faced with the experience of death, a lack of hope can lead us to fall into sadness and desolation, and we end up reasoning like fools,” the pope writes.
“However, Lent is not just about reflecting on human weakness — it is also about embracing the hope of redemption,” Francis said.
“Although we receive the ashes with our heads bowed in remembrance of who we are, the Lenten season does not end there,” he said. “On the contrary, we are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life.”
On Ash Wednesday, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis celebrated the Mass beginning Lent at the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome. He read the above homily prepared by Pope Francis in his hospital room at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome.
What impact will the words of Pope Francis have on YOUR life this Lent? Come Easter Sunday, what change will your family and friends notice in YOU?
WHEN THE SUNSHINE OF GOD’S LOVE MEETS THE SHADOWS OF OUR SORROWS, THE RAINBOW OF HOPE APPEARS.
Please share this Message of Pope Francis with others.
