"Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works."
(Heb 10:24)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon
the very heart of Christian life: charity. This is a favorable time to
renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with
the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one
marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of
the joy of Easter.
This year I would like to propose a few thoughts in the light of a
brief biblical passage drawn from the Letter to the Hebrews:“ Let us be
concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works”.
These words are part of a passage in which the sacred author exhorts us
to trust in Jesus Christ as the High Priest who has won us forgiveness
and opened up a pathway to God. Embracing Christ bears fruit in a life
structured by the three theological virtues: it means approaching the
Lord “sincere in heart and filled with faith” (v. 22), keeping firm “in
the hope we profess” (v. 23) and ever mindful of living a life of
“love and good works” (v. 24) together with our brothers and sisters.
The author states that to sustain this life shaped by the Gospel it is
important to participate in the liturgy and community prayer, mindful of
the eschatological goal of full communion in God (v. 25). Here I would
like to reflect on verse 24, which offers a succinct, valuable and ever
timely teaching on the three aspects of Christian life: concern for
others, reciprocity and personal holiness.
1. “Let us be concerned for each other”: responsibility towards our brothers and sisters.
This first aspect is an invitation to be “concerned”: the Greek verb
used here is katanoein, which means to scrutinize, to be attentive, to
observe carefully and take stock of something. We come across this word
in the Gospel when Jesus invites the disciples to “think of” the ravens
that, without striving, are at the centre of the solicitous and caring
Divine Providence (cf. Lk 12:24), and to “observe” the plank in our own
eye before looking at the splinter in that of our brother (cf. Lk 6:41).
In another verse of the Letter to the Hebrews, we find the
encouragement to “turn your minds to Jesus” (3:1), the Apostle and High
Priest of our faith. So the verb which introduces our exhortation tells
us to look at others, first of all at Jesus, to be concerned for one
another, and not to remain isolated and indifferent to the fate of our
brothers and sisters. All too often, however, our attitude is just the
opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked
as a respect for “privacy”. Today too, the Lord’s voice summons all of
us to be concerned for one another. Even today God asks us to be
“guardians” of our brothers and sisters (Gen
4:9), to establish
relationships based on mutual consideration and attentiveness to
the well-being, theintegral well-being of others. The great commandment
of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility
towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God.
Being brothers and sisters in humanity and, in many cases, also in the
faith, should help us to recognize in others a true alter ego,
infinitely loved by the Lord. If we cultivate this way of seeing others
as our brothers and sisters, solidarity, justice, mercy and compassion
will naturally well up in our hearts. The Servant of God
Pope Paul VI stated
that the world today is suffering above all from a lack of brotherhood:
“Human society is sorely ill. The cause is not so much the depletion of
natural resources, nor their monopolistic control by a privileged few;
it is rather the weakening of brotherly ties between individuals and
nations” (
Populorum Progressio, 66).
Concern for others entails desiring what is good for them from every
point of view: physical, moral and spiritual. Contemporary culture seems
to have lost the sense of good and evil, yet there is a real need to
reaffirm that good does exist and will prevail, because God is “generous
and acts generously” (Ps 119:68). The good is whatever gives, protects
and promotes life, brotherhood and communion. Responsibility towards
others thus means desiring and working for the good of others, in the
hope that they too will become receptive to goodness and its demands.
Concern for others means being aware of their needs. Sacred Scripture
warns us of the danger that our hearts can become hardened by a sort of
“spiritual anesthesia” which numbs us to the suffering of others. The
Evangelist Luke relates two of Jesus’ parables by way of example. In the
parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite “pass by”,
indifferent to the presence of the man stripped and beaten by the
robbers (cf. Lk 10:30-32). In that of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man is
heedless of the poverty of Lazarus, who is starving to death at his
very door (cf. Lk 16:19). Both parables show examples of the opposite of
“being concerned”, of looking upon others with love and compassion.
What hinders this humane and loving gaze towards our brothers and
sisters? Often it is the possession of material riches and a sense of
sufficiency, but it can also be the tendency to put our own interests
and problems above all else. We should never be incapable of “showing
mercy” towards those who suffer. Our hearts should never be so wrapped
up in our affairs and problems that they fail to hear the cry of the
poor. Humbleness of heart and the personal experience of suffering can
awaken within us a sense of compassion and empathy. “The upright
understands the cause of the weak, the wicked has not the wit to
understand it” (Prov 29:7). We can then understand the beatitude of
“those who mourn” (Mt 5:5), those who in effect are capable of looking
beyond themselves and feeling compassion for the suffering of others.
Reaching out to others and opening our hearts to their needs can become
an opportunity for salvation and blessedness.
“Being concerned for each other” also entails being concerned for
their spiritual well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of
the Christian life, which I believe has been quite forgotten:fraternal
correction in view of eternal salvation. Today, in general, we are very
sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and
material well-being of others, but almost completely silent about our
spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. This was not
the case in the early Church or in those communities that are truly
mature in faith, those which are concerned not only for the physical
health of their brothers and sisters, but also for their spiritual
health and ultimate destiny. The Scriptures tell us: “Rebuke the wise
and he will love you for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser
still, teach the upright, he will gain yet more” (Prov 9:8ff). Christ
himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf.
Mt 18:15). The verb used to express fraternal correction – elenchein –
is the same used to indicate the prophetic mission of Christians to
speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11). The
Church’s tradition has included “admonishing sinners” among the
spiritual works of mercy. It is important to recover this dimension of
Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking
of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal
convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning
their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are
contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness.
Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of
accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and
springs from genuine concern for the good of the other. As the Apostle
Paul says: “If one of you is caught doing something wrong, those of you
who are spiritual should set that person right in a spirit of
gentleness; and watch yourselves that you are not put to the test in the
same way” (Gal 6:1). In a world pervaded by individualism, it is
essential to rediscover the importance of fraternal correction, so that
together we may journey towards holiness. Scripture tells us that even
“the upright falls seven times” (Prov 24:16); all of us are weak and
imperfect (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). It is a great service, then, to help others
and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the whole truth
about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the Lord’s
ways. There will always be a need for a gaze which loves and
admonishes, which knows and understands, which discerns and forgives
(cf. Lk 22:61), as God has done and continues to do with each of us.
2. “Being concerned for each other”: the gift of reciprocity.
This “custody” of others is in contrast to a mentality that, by
reducing life exclusively to its earthly dimension, fails to see it in
an eschatological perspective and accepts any moral choice in the name
of personal freedom. A society like ours can become blind to physical
sufferings and to the spiritual and moral demands of life. This must not
be the case in the Christian community! The Apostle Paul encourages us
to seek “the ways which lead to peace and the ways in which we can
support one another” (Rom 14:19) for our neighbour’s good, “so that we
support one another” (15:2), seeking not personal gain but rather “the
advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved” (1 Cor 10:33).
This mutual correction and encouragement in a spirit of humility and
charity must be part of the life of the Christian community.
The Lord’s disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a
fellowship that binds them one to another as members of a single body.
This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his
or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation. Here we touch upon a
profound aspect of communion: our existence is related to that of
others, for better or for worse. Both our sins and our acts of love have
a social dimension. This reciprocity is seen in the Church, the
mystical body of Christ: the community constantly does penance and asks
for the forgiveness of the sins of its members, but also unfailingly
rejoices in the examples of virtue and charity present in her midst. As
Saint Paul says: “Each part should be equally concerned for all the
others” (1 Cor 12:25), for we all form one body. Acts of charity towards
our brothers and sisters – as expressed by almsgiving, a practice
which, together with prayer and fasting, is typical of Lent – is rooted
in this common belonging. Christians can also express their membership
in the one body which is the Church through concrete concern for the
poorest of the poor. Concern for one another likewise means
acknowledging the good that the Lord is doing in others and giving
thanks for the wonders of grace that Almighty God in his goodness
continuously accomplishes in his children. When Christians perceive the
Holy Spirit at work in others, they cannot but rejoice and give glory to
the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:16).
3. “To stir a response in love and good works”: walking together in holiness.
These words of the Letter to the Hebrews (10:24) urge us to reflect
on the universal call to holiness, the continuing journey of the
spiritual life as we aspire to the greater spiritual gifts and to an
ever more sublime and fruitful charity (cf. 1 Cor 12:31-13:13). Being
concerned for one another should spur us to an increasingly effective
love which, “like the light of dawn, its brightness growing to the
fullness of day” (Prov 4:18), makes us live each day as an anticipation
of the eternal day awaiting us in God. The time granted us in this life
is precious for discerning and performing good works in the love of God.
In this way the Church herself continuously grows towards the full
maturity of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13). Our exhortation to encourage one
another to attain the fullness of love and good works is situated in
this dynamic prospect of growth.
Sadly, there is always the temptation to become lukewarm, to quench
the Spirit, to refuse to invest the talents we have received, for our
own good and for the good of others (cf. Mt 25:25ff.). All of us have
received spiritual or material riches meant to be used for the
fulfilment of God’s plan, for the good of the Church and for our
personal salvation (cf. Lk 12:21b; 1 Tim 6:18). The spiritual masters
remind us that in the life of faith those who do not advance inevitably
regress. Dear brothers and sisters, let us accept the invitation, today
as timely as ever, to aim for the “high standard of ordinary Christian
living” (
Novo Millennio Ineunte,
31). The wisdom of the Church in recognizing and proclaiming certain
outstanding Christians as Blessed and as Saints is also meant to inspire
others to imitate their virtues. Saint Paul exhorts us to “anticipate
one another in showing honour” (Rom 12:10).
In a world which demands of Christians a renewed witness of love and
fidelity to the Lord, may all of us feel the urgent need to anticipate
one another in charity, service and good works (cf. Heb 6:10). This
appeal is particularly pressing in this holy season of preparation for
Easter. As I offer my prayerful good wishes for a blessed and fruitful
Lenten period, I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Mary Ever
Virgin and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 3 November 2011
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
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