Pope's Lenten Message 2018
Lent is time to become awareof false prophets, cold hearts, pope says
VATICANCITY -- Catholics should use the season of Lent tolook for signs and symptoms of being under the spell of false prophets and ofliving with cold, selfish and hateful hearts, Pope Francis said.
Together with "the often bitter medicine ofthe truth," the church -- as mother and teacher -- offers people "thesoothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting," the pope said in hismessage for Lent, which begins Feb. 14 for Latin-rite Catholics.
The pope also invited all non-Catholics who aredisturbed by the increasing injustice, inertia and indifference in the world,to "join us then in raising our plea to God in fasting and in offeringwhatever you can to our brothers and sisters in need."
Thepope's Lenten message, which was released at the Vatican Feb. 6, looked atJesus' apocalyptic discourse to the disciples on the Mount of Olives, warningthem of the many signs and calamities that will signal the end of time and thecoming of the son of man.
Titled, "Because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many willgrow cold" (Mt. 24:12), the papal message echoes Jesus' caution againstthe external enemies of false prophets and deceit, and the internal dangers ofselfishness, greed and a lack of love.
Today's false prophets, the pope wrote, "can appear as 'snake charmers,'who manipulate human emotions in order to enslave others and lead them wherethey would have them go."
So many of God'schildren, he wrote, are: "mesmerized by momentary pleasures, mistakingthem for true happiness"; enchanted by money's illusion, "which onlymakes them slaves to profit and petty interests"; and convinced they areautonomous and "sufficient unto themselves, and end up entrapped byloneliness!"
"False prophetscan also be 'charlatans,' who offer easy and immediate solutions to sufferingthat soon prove utterly useless," he wrote. People can be trapped by theallure of drugs, "disposable relationships," easy, but dishonestgains as well as "virtual," but ultimately meaningless relationships,he wrote.
"These swindlers, in peddling things that have no real value, robpeople of all that is most precious: dignity, freedom and the ability tolove," the message said.
The pope asked peopleto examine their heart to see "if we are falling prey to the lies of thesefalse prophets" and to learn to look at things more closely, "beneaththe surface," and recognize that what comes from God is life-giving andleaves "a good and lasting mark on our hearts."
Christians also need to look for any signs that their love for God andothers has started to dim or grow cold, the pope said.
Greed for money is a major red flag, he wrote, because it is the"root of all evil" and soon leads to a rejection of God and hispeace.
"All this leads toviolence against anyone we think is a threat to our own 'certainties': theunborn child, the elderly and infirm, the migrant, the foreigner among us, orour neighbor who does not live up to our expectations," the pope wrote.
Another sign of loveturned cold is the problem of pollution, he said, which causes creation tobecome poisoned by waste, "discarded out of carelessness orselfishness."
The polluted oceans unfortunately also become a burial ground forcountless victims of forced migration and "the heavens, which in God'splan, were created to sing his praises," are slashed by machinery thatrain down instruments of death, he wrote.
Whole communities, hesaid, also can show signs of a cold lack of love wherever there is selfishsloth, sterile pessimism, the temptation to become isolated, constant internalfighting and a "worldly mentality that makes us concerned only forappearances, and thus lessens our missionary zeal."
The remedy for these ills can be strengthened during Lent with prayer,almsgiving and fasting, he wrote.
Praying more enables"our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, andthen to find the consolation God offers," he said in his message.
"Almsgiving setsus free from greed and helps us to regard our neighbor as a brother orsister," it said.
Urging people to makecharitable giving and assistance a genuine part of their everyday life, heasked that people look at every request for help as a request from God himself.Look at almsgiving as being part of God's generous and providential plan, andhelping his children in need.
Finally, "fastingweakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an importantopportunity for growth," he said, while also letting people feel what itmust be like for those who struggle to survive.
It also "expressesour own spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God. Fasting wakes us up. Itmakes us more attentive to God and our neighbor," he wrote, and"revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying ourhunger."
The pope also remindedpeople to take part in the "24 Hours for the Lord" initiative March9-10 in which many dioceses will have at least one church open for 24 hours,offering Eucharistic adoration and the sacrament of reconciliation.
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