Beautiful Pope Francis Homily

I realize it's NOT Lent, but this reflection can in many ways be applied to the beginning of Advent as well. As I often say, I absolutely love this man and am so thankful that the Lord has chosen him to lead the Church at this point in history. Please read what he actually says and writes, everyone! Don't believe ANYTHING you hear in soundbites.

“Be Reconciled to God”: An Eagle Among Turkeys

Transcription of a Homily for Ash Wednesday

BUENOS AIRES, MARCH 9, 2011

The practice of Lent begins with the rite of imposition of ashes, reminding us of what we are— earth and clay— and what we are going to be— ashes. But it would be very sad to think that that is all. We were earth taken up by loving hands, by a God who breathed on us and gave us life. In breathing on us, he placed his hope in us. God does have hope for us. We will be ashes, but ashes that bear the imprint of the love we have given on earth. Lent, in this context, speaks to us of the love with which we were created and the love we must carry with us and leave in the end.

Penance, prayer, and fasting: The stripping-down that we do during Lent is not masochism; rather, it is a smoothing out of the heart, the heart that selfishness was causing to shrivel up. This is why the Church says to us each year: “Look further, look to the horizon! God didn’t make you to go around with a shriveled heart. God didn’t make you for egoism, or for yourself alone— he made you for love.” This is why St. Paul began that very beautiful sermon, which is like the watchword of Lent, saying: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5: 20). This is the cry of Lent: Let yourself be reconciled to God!

You may not feel that you are at odds with God. No, but your heart is shriveled because, just like the hypocrites in the Gospel, perhaps you are looking at yourself too much, focused on your comforts, your own affairs, your own belongings. Eventually God is set aside. Be reconciled with God! There is also that beautiful call of the prophet Joel who says to his people: “Return to me with all your heart, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God.” It is Jesus who reconciles us. Let us make room for Jesus so that he can reconcile us, and we will return to God with all our heart. We can do this through actions that are a little more emphatic than usual, that get rid of our egoism and expand our hearts, so that our horizons can open up. Lent is not a time to be sad, with long faces (as Jesus says in the Gospel); it is for gazing out at that horizon of love and opening our hearts, letting those desires for something great rise up within us.

Some time ago I read a parable written by a monk which enlightened me greatly about this shriveling of the heart and how, at times, the world tends to press us in upon ourselves. The parable goes like this: Some boys climbing a mountain found an eagle’s nest with an egg, and they brought it down with them. Later they wondered what they should do with the egg, and one of the boys suggested that they take it to his house, since he had a turkey hen that was sitting on some eggs to be hatched. So they added the egg to the ones the turkey was sitting on. The chicks were hatched, they all looked the same, and they started growing. But the eagle chick acted differently from the rest. When the others walked along looking at the ground, he looked at the sky and felt something. But since he had no one to teach him to fly, his life, which ought to have been spent flying high, was spent in the coop among the turkeys.

Together with this call to “be reconciled with God” and to “turn to God with all your heart,” we can also ask ourselves this question: Am I in the turkey coop, or do I feel a desire to fly? Am I attached to a flock which is going along blindly doing what everyone else does, seeking only its own satisfaction, concentrating on self, or am I looking upward to fly high? I assure you that if, during this Lent, you look higher, pray more, and fast from things which entertain you in a negative way and instead take advantage of that time to do a good work: visiting a sick person, keeping your children company, listening to your father, or your grandfather, who says the same thing over and over— if you do this during this Lent, your heart will begin looking up and you will find a great surprise at the end.

May your shriveled heart, which is now practically a tomb, begin to feel that this tomb is the witness of someone who rose to save you, and you will encounter the living Jesus. So we begin Lent with a healthy optimism, with this great hope: Reconcile yourself with God; return to the Lord with your whole heart; let your heart grow larger; look upward! He will do the rest. Have confidence.

Pope Francis (2013-05-28). Encountering Christ: Homilies, Letters, and Addresses of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis) (Kindle Locations 547-580). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.