Dear Brothers and Sisters
1. We are about to embark on the Lenten journey, which will lead us to the solemn celebrations of the central mystery of faith, the mystery of Christ's passion, death and resurrection. We are about to experience the propitious time that the Church offers believers to meditate on the work of salvation accomplished by the Lord on the Cross. The heavenly Father's saving plan was fulfilled in the free and total gift of his only-begotten Son to mankind. "No one takes my life from me, but I offer it of myself" (Jn 10:18), Jesus affirms, making it very clear that he voluntarily sacrifices his own life for the salvation of the world. In confirmation of such a great gift of love, the Redeemer adds: "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).
Lent, a providential occasion for conversion, helps us to contemplate this wonderful mystery of love. It constitutes a return to the roots of faith, because, meditating on the immeasurable gift of grace that is Redemption, we cannot fail to realise that everything has been given to us by divine loving initiative. Precisely to meditate on this aspect of the salvific mystery, I have chosen as the theme of this year's Lenten Message the words of the Lord: "Freely you have received, freely give" (Mt 10:8).
2. God freely gave us his Son: who could or could deserve such a privilege? St Paul says: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but are justified freely by his grace" (Rom 3:23-24). God has loved us with infinite mercy without allowing Himself to be stopped by the severely broken condition in which sin had placed the human person. He has graciously bent over our infirmity, taking occasion for a new and more wonderful outpouring of his love. The Church does not cease to proclaim this mystery of infinite goodness, extolling the divine free choice and His desire not to condemn, but to readmit man to communion with Himself.
"Freely you have received, freely give". May these Gospel words resonate in the heart of every Christian community on the penitential pilgrimage towards Easter. May Lent, by calling to mind the mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection, lead every Christian to intimately marvel at the greatness of this gift. Yes! Gratuously we have received. Is not our entire existence marked by God's kindness? The blossoming of life and its prodigious unfolding is a gift. And precisely because it is a gift, existence cannot be considered a possession or private property, even if the potential we have today to improve its quality might lead one to think that man is its 'master'. Indeed, the achievements of medicine and biotechnology could sometimes lead man to think of himself as his own creator, and to give in to the temptation to manipulate "the tree of life" (Gen 3:24).
It is also good to reiterate here that not everything that is technically possible is also morally permissible. While the efforts of science to ensure a quality of life more in keeping with human dignity are admirable, it must never be forgotten that human life is a gift, and that it remains a value even when it is marked by suffering and limitation. A gift to always welcome and love: freely received and freely placed at the service of others.
3. Lent, by proposing to us the example of Christ who sacrificed Himself for us on Calvary, helps us in a unique way to understand that life is redeemed in Him. Through the Holy Spirit, He renews our lives and makes us partakers of that same divine life that introduces us into God's intimacy and makes us experience His love for us. It is a sublime gift, which the Christian cannot fail to proclaim with joy. St John writes in his Gospel: "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17: 3). This life, communicated to us through Baptism, we must continually nourish with a faithful individual and communitarian response, through prayer, the celebration of the Sacraments and evangelical witness.
Having, in fact, gratuitously received life, we must, in turn, give it to our brothers and sisters gratuitously. Jesus asks this of his disciples, sending them as his witnesses into the world: "Freely you have received, freely give". And the first gift to be given is that of a holy life, a witness to God's gratuitous love. May the Lenten itinerary be a constant reminder for all believers to deepen this particular vocation of ours. We must open ourselves, as believers, to an existence marked by "gratuitousness", dedicating ourselves unreservedly to God and neighbour.
4. "What do you possess," admonishes St Paul, "that you have not received? "(1 Cor 4:7). Loving our brothers and sisters, dedicating ourselves to them, is a need that springs from this awareness. The more they are in need, the more urgent the task of serving them becomes for the believer. Does God not allow us to be in need, so that by going out to meet others we may learn to free ourselves from our selfishness and live out authentic evangelical love? Jesus' command is clear: "If you love those who love you, what merit do you have? Do not the publicans also do this? "(Mt 5:46). The world values relationships with others on the basis of self-interest and selfishness, nurturing a self-centred view of existence, in which too often there is no place for the poor and the weak. On the contrary, every person, even the least gifted, must be welcomed and loved for himself, beyond his merits and faults. On the contrary, the more he is in difficulty, the more he must be the object of our concrete love. It is this love that the Church, through countless institutions, bears witness to by taking care of the sick, the marginalised, the poor and the exploited. Christians, in this way, become apostles of hope and builders of the civilisation of love.
It is very significant that Jesus pronounces the words: 'Freely you have received, freely give', precisely when sending the apostles to spread the Gospel of salvation, the first and principal gift He gave to humanity. He wants his Kingdom now at hand (cf. Mt 10:5ff) to be propagated through gestures of gratuitous love on the part of his disciples. This is what the apostles did at the beginning of Christianity, and those who met them recognised them as bearers of a message greater than themselves. As then, today too the good done by believers becomes a sign and often an invitation to believe. Even when, as in the case of the Good Samaritan, the Christian goes out to meet his neighbour's needs, his is never simply material help. It is always also the proclamation of the Kingdom, which communicates the full meaning of life, of hope, of love.
5. Dear brothers and sisters! Let this be the style with which we prepare to live Lent: active generosity towards our poorer brothers and sisters! By opening our hearts to them, we become increasingly aware that our gift to others is a response to the many gifts that the Lord continues to give us. Freely we have received, freely we give!
What more opportune time than the season of Lent to give this witness of gratuitousness that the world so badly needs? In the very love that God has for us there is a call to give ourselves, in turn, to others gratuitously. I thank all those - lay people, religious, priests - in every corner of the world who give this witness of charity. May it be so for every Christian, in the different situations in which he or she finds himself or herself.
May Mary, the Virgin and Mother of beautiful Love and Hope, be our guide and support in this Lenten itinerary. To all with affection I assure my prayers, while I gladly impart a special Apostolic Blessing to each one, especially to those who work daily in the many frontiers of charity.
From the Vatican, 4 October 2001, feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
[Pope John Paul II, Message for Lent 2002]
