Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to “enter the inner desert” during this time to combat the “wild beasts” of vices, avarice, vanity and greed, on the first Sunday of Lent.
Recalling the Gospel, taken from Mark 1:12-15, the Holy Father said that Jesus remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan”, where “he was with the wild beasts and the angels served him.”
“We are also invited in Lent to ‘enter the desert’, that is, into silence, into the inner world, into listening to the heart, into contact with the truth,” Pope Francis said.
“In a symbolic sense,” he noted, wild beasts and angels “are also our company: when we enter the inner desert we may encounter wild beasts and angels.”
“Wild beasts. In what sense? In the spiritual life we can think of them as the disordered passions that divide the heart, trying to possess it. They suggest us, they seem seductive but, if we are not careful, they risk tearing us to pieces,” he noted.
Pope Francis indicated that we can “give a name to these ‘beasts’ of the soul: the various vices, the greed for wealth, which imprisons us in calculation and dissatisfaction, the vanity of pleasure, which condemns us to restlessness and loneliness, and even the greed for fame, which generates insecurity. and a continuous need for confirmation and prominence.”
“They are like ‘wild’ beasts and as such we must tame them and combat them: otherwise they will devour our freedom. And Lent helps us enter the inner desert to correct these things,” he assured.
The Holy Father then noted that “in the desert there were angels. They are the messengers of God, who help us, do us good; In fact, its characteristic according to the Gospel is service: exactly the opposite of possession, typical of the passions. Service versus possession.”
“Angelic spirits remember good thoughts and feelings suggested by the Holy Spirit. While temptations tear us apart, good divine inspirations unify us and bring us into harmony: they calm the heart, they infuse the taste of Christ, ‘the taste of heaven.'”
“And to capture the inspiration of God, we must enter into silence and prayer. And Lent is the time to do this,” he expressed.
Pope Francis then encouraged us to ask: “First, what are the disordered passions, the ‘wild beasts’ that stir in my heart? Second: to allow the voice of God to speak to my heart and guard it for good, do I plan to retreat a little into the ‘desert’, do I try to dedicate some space in the day to this?
“May the Blessed Virgin, who guarded the Word and did not allow herself to be touched by the temptations of the evil one, help us on the path of Lent,” he concluded.
Pope Francis Encourages Fighting the “ Against Vanity and Greed in Lent
Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to “enter the inner desert” during this time to combat the “wild beasts” of vices, avarice, vanity and greed, on the first Sunday of Lent.
Recalling the Gospel, taken from Mark 1:12-15, the Holy Father said that Jesus remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan”, where “he was with the wild beasts and the angels served him.”
“We are also invited in Lent to ‘enter the desert’, that is, into silence, into the inner world, into listening to the heart, into contact with the truth,” Pope Francis said.
“In a symbolic sense,” he noted, wild beasts and angels “are also our company: when we enter the inner desert, in fact, we may encounter wild beasts and angels.”
“Wild beasts. In what sense? In the spiritual life we can think of them as the disordered passions that divide the heart, trying to possess it. They suggest us, they seem seductive but, if we are not careful, they risk tearing us to pieces,” he noted.
Pope Francis indicated that we can “give a name to these ‘beasts’ of the soul: the various vices, the greed for wealth, which imprisons us in calculation and dissatisfaction, the vanity of pleasure, which condemns us to restlessness and loneliness, and even the greed for fame, which generates insecurity. and a continuous need for confirmation and prominence.”
“They are like ‘wild’ beasts and as such we must tame them and combat them: otherwise they will devour our freedom. And Lent helps us enter the inner desert to correct these things,” he assured.
The Holy Father then noted that “in the desert there were angels. They are the messengers of God, who help us, do us good; In fact, its characteristic according to the Gospel is service: exactly the opposite of possession, typical of the passions. Service versus possession.”
“Angelic spirits remember good thoughts and feelings suggested by the Holy Spirit. While temptations tear us apart, good divine inspirations unify us and bring us into harmony: they calm the heart, they infuse the taste of Christ, ‘the taste of heaven.'”
“And to capture the inspiration of God, we must enter into silence and prayer. And Lent is the time to do this,” he expressed.
Pope Francis then encouraged us to ask: “First, what are the disordered passions, the ‘wild beasts’ that stir in my heart? Second: to allow the voice of God to speak to my heart and guard it for good, do I plan to retreat a little into the ‘desert’, do I try to dedicate some space in the day to this?
“May the Blessed Virgin, who guarded the Word and did not allow herself to be touched by the temptations of the evil one, help us on the path of Lent,” he concluded.