For all of us then, the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a
favourable time to overcome
our existential alienation by listening to Gods word and by
practising the works of mercy.
In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in
our brothers and sisters who
need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited; in the spiritual
works of mercy counsel,
instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer we touch more
directly our own
sinfulness. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never
be separated. By
touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering,
sinners can receive the gift of
realising that they too are poor and in need.
(Pope Francis Message for Lent, 2016)
May Lent of 2016 begin under the sign of mercy, as desired by
our Holy Father, the Pope.
This period of preparation for celebrating the Resurrection of
Jesus Misericordiae vultus -
should be for each one of us a time of prayer and penance, as
recommended us by our Rule
(ch. VII) which helps us in our purification and should be a
path leading to a community
which lives at one with Our Lords desire: Ut sint unum like the
Most Holy Trinity, a
community of full love, one with others and with those who are
faraway and even with
those who hate us.
My brothers and friends, if we cannot make an effort of this
sort, who are we? Maybe not
even Christians hoping to become saints! If we are not bathed in
and through MERCY what
sort of association are we? And Mercy needs to be lived, in the
first place, within our
communities, with our brothers and with their faults which are
also ours.
In a very special way we should read chapter VII of our Rule in
conjunction with the Papal
Bull Misericordiae vultus.
Like a true MILES I ask myself this question: do all of us the
members of the MSM know
the 14 Works of Mercy, and practise them in a daily and concrete
way, insofar as we are an
association of the faithful and a community engaged in this
world? Not so much
individually, but as a coherent group? Is the MSM visible, or
are we hiding ourselves with
fear or worse indifference, because the MSM is not a secret
society of people who like
wearing a habit and walking in processions with it on? We cannot
forget that living in
association is a right for all the baptised and that we have a
duty to exercise this right,
involving as it does making an effort to live as builders of
community, whose members,
united in life and death, serve our mother, the Holy Church.
The MSMs visibility should be based on prayer and action (never
forgetting that, in a certain
way, we too are children of St Benedict!)
This period of Lent, during the YEAR OF MERCY, invites and even
OBLIGES us to ensure that,
through our fraternal life in the MSM, the Works of Mercy are
lived in a visible way by the
whole Community. This is also a requirement of our Rule!
Our essential aim is the sanctification of each one of us and
the sanctification of the world
through and in Gods mercy.
As Master, first servant of the MSM, I invite you all (brothers,
sisters and friends) to turn this
very rich liturgical period into a time of more intense prayer,
and penance as well. May I
repeat: lets read chapter VII of our Rule in a prayerful
way.
Let us pray that all of us brothers, sisters and friends of the
MSM follow our pilgrim path
as we seek to enlarge the frontiers of Gods Kingdom on earth
with mercy in our hearts and
our actions. In fact, as our Pope wants, we would like our MSM
to become an oasis of
mercy, radiating mercy towards this poor world so full of
mirages which should make us
think about which activities and specific aims will be the way
ahead. In our charism, lack of
action is a sin.
May Our Lady, Queen of Mercy, turn towards us poor sinners with
Her eyes of mercy, giving
us Her hand and guiding us towards Jesus. May each one of us
become merciful like the
Father.
Amen
Braga, Ash Wednesday, 2016-02-10
The Master
First Servant of the MSM
Carlos Aguiar Gomes
(Miles pauper peccator)
