Twal : Our Lenten journey to Jerusalem

This Wednesday, the Universal Church enters the liturgical period of Lent; the 40 days of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, that lead us towards Easter. In his message this year, Pope Benedict called believers to show fraternal concern for one another. His invitation is echoed by the Patriarch of the Holy Land Faud Twal, who asks us not to forget the families struggling to keep a Christian presence alive in the land of Our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection:

He says that in the Holy Land “the situation is still really not encouraging”. “We have these two dimensions that we are called and invited to live: The dimension of sacrifice, in reflection of Our Lord’s Sacrifice and the dimension of hope, in the hope of our Resurrection one day. In my message I write that despite all of our sacrifices we must look forward to the Resurrection”.

And he asks Christians worldwide to show fraternal closeness to their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land by fasting for peace this Lent: Listen:

Below the full text of the Patriarch’s Lenten Message

Penance for the Kingdom and for Peace!
Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Fouad Twal Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Lent 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“Grace and peace be with you all!”
1. We read in the Gospel that “Jesus fasted for forty days
and forty nights.” (Mt 4:2)
This fast very likely took place in the desert region
four kilometers northwest of Jericho, on a mountain named
“Quarantena” (or Quruntul in Arabic). In the 12th century,
the mountain belonged to the Latin Canons of the Holy
Sepulcher, and was inhabited by a group of clerics named the
Brothers of the Forty Days.
Once more, our Church of Jerusalem may speak
not only about history, but also of the geography and the
topography of Salvation. This site, not far from Jordan, is a
place of pilgrimage not only for Christians coming from afar
but also for the local faithful who are invited to visit the sites
of our Redemption with piety.
2. A fast which the Lord did not need!
In theory Jesus could have miraculously dispensed
with food; but “he had to become like his brothers” and sisters
- other men, and “has similarly been tested in every way,
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yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15) Neither his fast, nor even his
baptism from John, satisfied any kind of personal necessity.
In contrast, penance, fasting, reconciliation, with prayer and
almsgiving are indispensable for us for the atonement of our
own sins. However, there is an essential difference: we have in
the fast of our Lord, a magnificent example for ourselves. We
cannot fast for forty days and forty nights “without anything
to eat;” but during Lent the Church undertakes to re-enact
the time passed by Christ in the desert in prayer and fasting.
The intention of the Church is clear: “to imitate Christ” (1
Cor 11:2) who “wished to serve as an example,” not only in
the washing of one another’s feet (Jn 13:15) but also in every
other domain. (Phil 2:5)
Our fast intends to imitate that of Christ, who himself
followed the example of Moses who fasted forty days before
receiving the tablets of the Commandments. (Ex 34: 28-29)
Elijah also fasted for forty days before his encounter with the
Lord on Horeb. (1 Kgs 19:8) During the transfiguration of
our Lord on Mount Tabor, it was precisely these two figures,
who had fasted forty days, who appeared beside the Messiah
in glory.
3. A “preventive” and atoning fast
In his 2009 Lenten message, Pope Benedict XVI
raised the question of what value and sense there might be
for us Christians today, in depriving ourselves of food and
drink, both being necessities for our health and survival. He
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responded with support from Holy Scripture and Christian
Tradition that a fast is an important undertaking for the
avoidance of sin and all that might lead us to it.
In his Lenten message for 2011, the Pope denounced
greed, as if men wanted to “devour the world.” He stated,
“we are often faced with the temptation of accumulating
and love of money that undermine God’s primacy in our
lives.” In 2008, he courageously said: “According to the
teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners but rather
administrators of the goods we possess: these, then, are not
to be considered as our exclusive possession, but means
through which the Lord calls each one of us to act as a
steward of His providence for our neighbor.” Through this
sharing and in communion, we live as in the early Church of
Jerusalem. (“Apostolic Life” of the Early Christians in Acts
2 and 4; 2 Cor 8 and 9) The beloved apostle, John, wrote
with severity: “If someone who has worldly means sees a
brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the
love of God remain in him? (1 Jn 3:17)
The Holy Father’s Message for Lent this year takes the
theme: “Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response
in love and good works.” (Heb 10:24) Pope Benedict stated
that, “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.”
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For us sinners, mortals constantly confronted with
our failures, fasting is an effective way to demonstrate our
repentance and the desire to set right our failings. “It was
in this way that after Jonah’s warning, through penance and
fasting the Ninevites avoided God’s wrath and were granted
His mercy.” (Jonah 3:10)
Jesus gives us a framework for fasting and almsgiving:
that they are to be carried out secretly and discretely, without
pretension, (Mt 6: 3-4) showing outwardly neither misery nor
mortification. (Mt 6:16) This does not in any way contradict
the public and communal character of these practices in the
Church, but rather is necessary to spurn individual excess
and caprice.
Later, Jesus will expound on the Christian fast, in
contrast with that of the Pharisees and the disciples of John:
Christians, as relatives of the Bridegroom, “will fast in those
days [when He is taken away from them]” and raised on the
Cross. (Mk 2: 19-20)
This is why the first Christians fasted during the holy
Triduum. Subsequently, they fasted every Wednesday and
Friday. (The Didache, Ch. 8)
Penance is a healthy practice. Indeed, it calls for a
healthy attitude, which is a “return” to the Lord and to His
goodness; a return “to the Father” like the prodigal son. (cf
Lk 15) In fact, the verb “toubou” in Aramaic and Arabic
means “Return.” This call by the Baptist and the Savior is
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significant. It is there, near the Jordan River and the rest of
this desert region, where the presence of God is marked in the
emptiness and splendor of nature!
4. A fast of conversion of persons and peoples
In the tradition of the Church, Lent is a preparation for
the Easter Triduum, the “days during which the Bridegroom
will be taken away from among us,” (Mt 9:15) and raised on
the Cross.
Lent is a forty-day journey, symbolically representing
the forty years of the Hebrew people in the desert – it is a call:
a) To meditate on the mystery of the Cross, that we might
conform ourselves to the death of Jesus, (cf Rom 6:5) in
light of a radical change in our lives;
b) To be docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, who will
transform us, as he transformed Saul of Tarsus on the
road to Damascus;
c) To adapt our lives with determination to the will of
God, freeing ourselves from any egoism, lust for power,
or avarice, by opening our hearts to the love of Christ
and neighbor, especially the poor and indigent. Lent, as
the Holy Father reminds us, is a providential time for us
to recognize our frailty and welcome reconciliation, in
order to orient ourselves to Christ.
Lent this year is between two Episcopal Synods of
extreme importance. The first was the Special Assembly for
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the Middle East in October 2010, and the next in October
this year, for the New Evangelization for the Transmission
of the Christian Faith. As with ecumenism which aims at
reconciliation in light of the unity of Christians, it is “the
conversion of the heart” which, by the grace of God, is
the key to seemingly impenetrable problems and the end
to ostensibly ceaseless and irreparable hostilities. This
conversion rests on the understanding that “man does not
live on bread alone but by every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God,” (Mt. 4: 4) that “the flesh [alone]
is of no use,” and one must “watch and pray that you may
not undergo the test.” (Mt. 26:41) In this case, fasting is an
excellent antidote to the many excesses of every day.
Is this not a great time for the people of our region,
constantly in conflict, to “return” to the Lord, by the
application of the Ten Commandments, especially the
respect for life, for property, and for human rights? Would
the solution not be in a “metanoia,” in upheaval, in radical
change, whereby the good of the nations supersedes the
interests of some leaders and authorities to the detriment of
their people?
5. A fast in a time of crisis
In the midst of difficulty and adversity, we must act with
wisdom while helping one another. Pope Benedict has stated
without hesitation from the advent of the global financial
crisis that, those who construct on money build on sand.
The Holy Father on several occasions has underlined that the
fundamental crisis is one of values and ethics, following a
crisis of faith.
6. Our fast: a means not an end
We do not fast simply to fast. We fast to imitate
Christ, to be conscious of those who hunger and thirst. As
proclaimed by the fourth Preface for Lent: “For through
bodily fasting you restrain our faults, raise up our minds,
and bestow both virtue and its rewards, through Christ our
lord.”
7. Fast for peace
In the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East,
we continue to suffer from violence and conflict. Peace is
one of the greatest graces that the Lord gives to humanity.
With the birth of the Saviour, who is Peace incarnate, in
Bethlehem-Ephratha, (Mic 5:1, 5) the angels sang “peace to
those on whom His favor rests.” (Lk 2:14) The Lord asks us
to work for peace, and if we achieve it, He commends us with
compassion and gentleness. (Beatitudes, Mt 5:3,9) Before his
Passion, he declared to his disciples: “I leave you peace, my
peace I give you.” (Jn 14:27) In his crucified Body, Jesus
abolished the separation wall between peoples, (Eph 2:14)
by establishing peace. It is this peace that we hope to achieve
by the grace of God, to which we dedicate our prayer, our
penance and our fast.
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8. How to fast
The Church demands a minimum of fasting and
abstinence as follows:
a) Those above 14 are asked to abstain from meat on
Fridays during Lent, during the time of the Passion, and
on Ash Wednesday.
b) Those between 21 and 60 are urged to be satisfied with
only one meal per day. The sick and elderly are excused
from this practice.
c) In addition to abstinence and fasting from certain foods
and drinks, it is the “spiritual” fast which most pleases
the Lord: that our sense of “fasting” extends to refusing
sin, “in word, act, and omission.”
d) During Lent, it is advised to avoid succulent meals and
alcoholic beverages. It is suitable to abstain from or limit
smoking. To promote an atmosphere of contemplation
and of piety, it would be beneficial to avoid or reduce
viewing spectacles, especially on television and the
internet.
e) So that charity and almsgiving might accompany our
fast, we suggest that the fruit of our sacrifices and
renunciations be offered to the poor, and to a vital project
for our Diocese. I propose, in particular, donations for
the construction of the Church of the Baptism of the
Lord and the adjacent convent on the Jordan.
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Conclusion
In the Mother Church of the Holy City, the city of
Calvary, of the empty tomb of the Resurrection, of the Church
of the Ascension and of Pentecost, we pray with fervor. We
plead that the Lord accept our penance and include us, in
spite of our weaknesses, “in the procession of his triumph”
over evil, sin, and death. (Eph 1:15-23)
And “that the Lord, creator of heaven and earth, bless
you all the days of your life.” (Ps 128:5)
I wish all of you a holy Lent
and a happy Easter!
† Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch
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