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Time to sow

06/04/2022

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Omnes

Ramiro Pellitero

Professor at School of Theology

Among the interventions of Pope Francis during the month of March, the message for the four women doctors of the Church, his message for Lent and the speech in which he relaunches the global Pact educational are particularly noteworthy. 

March opened with a message from Francis referring to the four women doctors of the Church, whose witness of holiness is the fruit of correspondence to God's grace. In his Lenten message, the Pope had invited us to sow the seeds of goodness. Halfway through the month, Francis wanted to relaunch the global Pact educational , underlining the transforming power of Education in these times of conflict. 

Women Doctors of the Church and "female sainthood".

The Pope addressed a message (1-III-2022) on the occasion of an international congress organised to celebrate the anniversaries of the declaration of Teresa of Jesus, Catherine of Siena, Therese of Lisieux and Hildegard of Bingen as Doctors of the Church, to whom Brigid of Sweden and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who, together with Catherine of Siena, were named co-patronesses of Europe by Saint John Paul II (cfr. Spes ædificandi, n. 3), wished to be joined.

A doctrine taught first and foremost with a holy life

All these saints have in common, first, their witness as women who have led a holy life; second, an "eminent doctrine" for its "permanence, depth and timeliness which offers, in the present circumstances, light and hope to our fragmented and disharmonious world". As far as their doctrine is concerned, the most important teachings are precisely those that refer to holiness.

What did they teach about holiness? This is how Francis puts it: "Docile to the Spirit, by the grace of Baptism, they walked their path of faith, moved not by changing ideologies, but by an unwavering adherence to the 'humanity of Christ' which permeated their actions

This is so, because Christ's humanity is the sign and instrument that God has given us of his love and condescension, by assuming human littleness and limitation.

The Pope goes on to say: "They too felt incapable and limited at some point, 'skinny little women', as Teresa of Jesus would say, in the face of a business that was beyond them". From where did they draw - Francis asks - the strength to carry out their vocation and the mission statement that was entrusted to them, if not from the love of God that filled their hearts? "Like Thérèse of Lisieux, they were able to fully realise their vocation, 'their little way, their project of life. A path accessible to all, that of ordinary holiness". What is meant here by "ordinary holiness" is explained below. In the first place: a holiness characterised, as is always the case in some way, by the strength that comes from uniting trust in God's love with the humility of one who knows himself to be humanly insignificant. 

Secondly, the Pope outlines what he calls "the feminine holiness that makes the Church and the world fruitful". First of all, he underlines the basis of this holiness, which has to do with an aspect of today's sensibility in relation to women: "The present sensibility of the world calls for the restoration to women of the dignity and intrinsic value with which they have been endowed by the Creator"

Characteristics of "female sanctity

Thirdly, the example of the lives of these saints highlights some elements that design, with clear manifestations on the anthropological and social level, that femininity so necessary in the Church and in the world: 1) "Strength to face difficulties"; 2) "Capacity for the concrete"; 3) "natural disposition to be propositional for the sake of what is most beautiful and human, according to God's plan", and 4) "clairvoyant - prophetic - vision of the world and of history that has made them sowers of hope and builders of the future". Undoubtedly four lights to outline the vocation and mission statement of Christian women also in our time.

Fourth, in relation to the Church and its mission statement. He stresses that "their dedication to the service of humanity was accompanied by a great love for the Church and for the 'Sweet Christ on Earth', as Catherine of Siena liked to call the Pope"; together with this, "they felt co-responsible for remedying the sins and miseries of their time, and contributed to the mission statement of evangelisation from a full ecclesial harmony and communion".

These characteristics (strength based on the dignity and value of women, concrete attention to the person, attention to the beauty of what is truly human, and a far-sighted and hopeful vision) are conditions of correspondence to God's grace, which accompanied these saints in their love and service to the Church and the world. They are seeds and also fruits of a divine sowing, holiness, which always bears abundant fruit.

Lent: sowing and reaping the harvest of goodness

In connection with this sowing of holiness we can see the Pope's motto for Lent, in the words of St Paul: "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for if we do not lose heart, we shall reap the rewards in due season. Therefore, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all" (Gal 6:9-10a)

In his message for Lent 2022 (made public on 11-XI-2021) he explains that Lent is a propitious time(kairos) for sowing good. This, according to St. Augustine, is an image of our earthly existence. In it, greed and pride often prevail, the desire to have, to accumulate and to consume (cf. Lk 12, 16-21). 

And "Lent invites us to conversion, to change our mentality, so that the truth and beauty of our life is not so much in possessing as in giving, not so much in accumulating as in sowing good and sharing".

In this sowing, the first farmer is God himself, who with generosity "continues to pour into humanity seeds of good"(Fratelli tutti, 54). 

During Lent," the Pope points out , " we are called to respond to God's gift by welcoming his 'living and effective' Word" (Heb 4:12). 

Listening, core topic to welcome the seed

How is this sowing to be accepted?Assiduous listening to the Word of God makes us mature a docility which disposes us to accept his work in us (cf. James 1, 21), which makes our life fruitful". Indeed, because God speaks to us in the reading of the Sacred Scripture, in the celebration of the liturgy, in prayer staff and in spiritual direction, and even in everyday events, if we know how to listen to him. 

Moreover, we too are farmers, sowers and reapers. We are "God's co-workers" (1 Cor 3:9), if we use the present tense well (cf. Eph 5:16) to sow "by doing good". Francis warns us that this call to sow good must not be seen as a burden, but as a grace with which the Creator wants us to be actively united to his fruitful magnanimity.

There is a close connection between sowing and reaping, as St. Paul says: "To a stingy sower a stingy harvest, to a bountiful sower a bountiful harvest" (2 Cor 9:6). 

The harvest of good works

But what is the harvest? "The first fruit of the good we sow is in ourselves and in our daily relationships, even in the smallest gestures of kindness". The good tree bears good fruit, and no "generous fatigue" is lost (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 279). To sow is "tounleash processes whose fruits will be gathered by others, in the hope of the secret forces of the good that is sown"(Fratelli tutti, 196).

But the truest harvest is the eschatological harvest, that of the last day. This refers not only to the moment of one's death, but also later, after the final judgement, to the resurrection of our body (cf. 1 Cor 15:42-44). If we have been united to Him by love, we will rise to eternal life, full of light and joy (cf. Jn 5:29).

The obstacles to all this can be summed up as "the temptation to withdraw into our own individualistic selfishness and take refuge in indifference to the suffering of others". And the solution? To ask for faith and hope, because in this way we will not grow weary of doing good (cf. Gal 6:9). 

In concrete terms, the Pope proposes: not to tire of praying (with the pandemic we have realised that we need others and above all God); not to tire of eradicating evil from our lives (through fasting and confessing our sins in the sacrament of Penance) and to practice more real encounters and not only "virtual" ones; not to tire of doing good to others, especially to those close to us: the needy, the sick, the lonely. In this way, if we do not lose heart, we will reap an abundant harvest. 

Prayer and commitment educational in favour of peace

On the occasion of a meeting of the Gravissimum educationis foundation, the Pope addressed a speech (dated 18-III-2022), alluding to the topic which brought them together: Educating for democracy in a fragmented world

Praying for peace

Francis begins by alluding to the war that is close at hand, in Europe. And he asks what each of us is doing: "Do I pray? Do I fast? Do I do penance? Or do I live carelessly, as we usually do in distant wars? And he evokes two fundamental principles: "A war is always - always! - the defeat of humanity"; we are all defeated, because "in some way we are responsible"

Democracy promotion is a topical and debated topic topic . But it is not often approached from the point of view of Education. This approach, however, belongs in a special way to the tradition of the Church, and, observes Peter's successor, "is the only one capable of producing results in the long term deadline".

Drawing on the parable of the murderous farmers (cf. Mt 21:33-43,45-46), who were blinded by their desire for possession, the Pope dwelt on two degenerations of democracy: totalitarianism and secularism. 

Totalitarianism and secularism

A state is totalitarian, he pointed out, in the words of John Paul II, when "it tends to absorb the nation, society, the family, religious communities and the people themselves"(Centesimus annus, 45). With this ideological oppression, "the totalitarian state empties the fundamental rights of the individual and of society of their value, to the point of suppressing freedom"

Secularism - living as if God did not exist - is inhuman, especially when such living is conscious and voluntary on the part of society: "Humanism that excludes God is an inhuman humanism", said Benedict XVI(Caritas in veritate, 78). 

The Pope points out that "radical secularism, which is also ideological, deforms the democratic spirit in a more subtle and crafty way: by eliminating the transcendent dimension, it gradually weakens and annuls any openness to dialogue". And so, by denying the existence of an ultimate truth, human ideas and beliefs can easily be exploited for the purposes of power. 

Here, Francis observes, is the difference, small but substantial, between a "healthy secularism" and a "poisoned secularism". (One could speak of a healthy secularism, as distinct from a combative and anti-religious secularism ) "When the secular becomes an ideology, it becomes secularism, and this poisons relationships and even democracies".

Relaunching the Global Compact educational

The transformative power of Education is rising up against these degenerations. Experiences in this direction are already fruitful. He puts them into concrete terms in three proposals.

1) To nurture young people's thirst for democracy. The aim, he points out, is to help them to appreciate the democratic system, which, although it is always perfectible, is to protect the participation of citizens (cf. Centesimus annus, 46), as well as freedom of choice, action and expression. In doing so, they are encouraged financial aid to reject uniformity and to appreciate universality. 

2) Teach young people that the common good is mixed with love. The common good cannot simply be defended by military force. For in this way it is destroyed, fomenting injustice and violence, and leaving much rubble: "Only love can save the human family".In this ", Francis observes, " we are living the worst example ofthis close to us".

3) Educate young people to live authority as service. We are all called to serve, exercising a certain authority, in the family, on work and in social life (cf. Message launching the Pact educational, 12-IX-2019). On the other hand: "When authority goes beyond the rights of society, of individuals, it becomes authoritarianism and ends in dictatorship". Authority is a very balanced thing, but - he adds - it is a beautiful thing that we must learn and teach young people so that they learn to manage it.

Francis wants to use this opportunity to relaunch the Pact educational (to encourage young people to work for the global common good), which he wanted to start when the pandemic broke out. 

"In the context provoked by the war in Ukraine - the Bishop of Rome now observes - thevalue of this Pact educational, for promote universal brotherhood in the one human family, based on love, stands out even more"

That's right. Education, as well as holiness - to which it contributes so much - and Lent - which is an exercise in self-education - are all worthwhile and effective sowings in the face of so many personal and social conflicts.