01/03/2022
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Fantasia para un Gentilhombre
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The Pope's Message for Lent 2022 focuses on sowing and reaping
POPE
Pope Francis’ Lenten message: Sow seeds of goodness
In his message for Lent 2022, Pope Francis invites the faithful to sow seeds of goodness, so that we might reap a harvest of salvation for ourselves and others.
By Christopher Wells
Pope Francis based his Message for Lent 2022 on a passage from St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all” (6:9-10).
God’s co-workers
Beginning with the image of sowing and reaping, the Holy Father points out that “Lent invites us to conversion, to a change in mindset, so that life’s truth and beauty may be found not so much in possessing as in giving, not so much in accumulating as in sowing and sharing goodness.”
God, he explains, is the first to sow, sowing “abundant seeds of goodness in our human family.” During the period of Lent, “we are called to respond to God’s gift” by listening to His Word, so that it might “bear fruit in our lives.” In this way, we become “God’s co-workers,” which is a grace of sharing in God’s own “bountiful goodness.”
Reaping the harvest
This, in turn, leads to a harvest. When we sow seeds of goodness and kindness, “no matter how small,” in our own lives, we radiate light and carry “the fragrance of Christ to the world.” Recalling the Gospel proverb, “one sows, while another reaps,” Pope Francis reminds us that “we see only a small portion of the fruits we sow.” The Pope explains that “sowing goodness for the benefit of others frees us from narrow self-interest, infuses us our actions with gratuitousness, and makes us part of the magnificent horizon of God’s benevolent plan.”
Prayer, fasting, and charitable g
