Come Your Kingdom!
February 8, 2016
To the members and friends of the Regnum Christi on the occasion of Lent during the Jubilee Year of Mercy
Dear friends:
When the Holy Father called for the Jubilee of Mercy, he invited us to live Lent as a powerful time to celebrate and experience God’s Mercy (cf.Misericordiae vultus, 17) and recommended that we allow ourselves to be challenged by the Word of God so that it transforms us into apostles who discover in their brothers, through deeds and words, the love that Jesus Christ has for them.
As is traditional in Regnum Christi, I address you to offer some reflections that may help you live more fully this penitential period of conversion and also to assure you of my prayers for you, your families, and communities.
The Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization has published some resources for this Jubilee Year, collected in the book Merciful Like the Father, which has been published in several languages. There I found some insights that will guide the ideas of this letter, especially in the section on the parables of mercy. Specifically, I want to focus on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), which will be proclaimed at the Mass on Thursday of the second week of Lent.
Time for Mercy
In this parable, Jesus highlights the contrast between the rich man, who dresses like a king and has abundant food, and Lazarus, who is practically clothed in his sores and receives neither crumbs from the rich man’s table nor any help. The first is a man with great skills, talents to grow his wealth, and establish relationships with people who can help him. The second is a poor man, who seems invisible to the rich man and those passing by.
The almost frenetic pace of life we sometimes lead can have a similar effect on our lives. Perhaps we are worried about many things. We live with constant challenges to maintain the difficult balance between our family, work, academic, and social lives. The thousand and one things to do to support a family and, in many cases, to make ends meet, can absorb all our attention and gradually make others and their needs invisible. We risk losing sight of even those closest to us whom we love—such as a spouse, children, a friend, a coworker, an employee. And what about a stranger who crosses our path every morning at the subway station or on the way to work or school? We can all be neighbors to them. Perhaps we are so caught up in our own affairs that we have no time for them.
The parable makes me think that God sees things very differently. Sacred Scripture does not reveal the name of the rich man, who took attention and time from many. In contrast, the Gospel calls the poor man ignored by important people by his name up to four times. Could this silence be an invitation for all of us to open our eyes to see the world as God sees it? Does the Lord want us to use this Lent to examine how we pay attention to our brothers so that we can truly convert and believe that everything we do for them is done for Him?
I believe that this Lent, the Lord invites us to set aside what encloses us within ourselves so that we can have time for mercy. The rich man in the Gospel wanted to be merciful when he no longer had time for it. Today, we have the opportunity to love better than before.
The Works of Mercy
In the papal bull for the Jubilee, the Pope invites us to reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Even in the plenary indulgence granted to us for our Jubilee Year, the Pope wanted to associate this grace with the practice of works of mercy. And he does so because he wishes to awaken our consciousness as apostles, which can sometimes be dormant in the face of the suffering of others, the poor, the rejected, the sick (cf.Misericordiae vultus, 15).
Who among us has not experienced the profound joy of serving our brothers: caring for a sick family member, advising a troubled person, comforting the sad, visiting a prisoner, feeding the hungry, clothing the cold, sharing the Gospel message? Through these actions, which always require us to forget ourselves, the Lord makes His Kingdom present in the world. He allows us all to recognize in those in need a brother who deserves our love and compassion, and sometimes even our capacity to forgive.
Perhaps the rich man in the parable also used his money for good things. However, he was so busy with his affairs that he did not directly involve himself in doing good to specific people. Thus, he became entangled in a thousand things that captivated his heart until he could no longer respond to the question the Lord asked Cain at the beginning of the story: “Where is your brother?” (Genesis 4:9).
A Legionary father recently told me that at the beginning of his ministry, he sometimes went with young people from Regnum Christi and pre-candidates from our vocational centers to a hospital for incurable patients to offer them the sacraments and some love and companionship. And he told me with some emotion that he realized that he was not helping “the sick,” but Don José, Francisco, and Mrs. María… They stopped being a concept and began to be persons, with very concrete stories, all in need of love. In a merciful heart, the stranger in need becomes a concrete person whom we can love and show the love that God has for them.
It seems to me that Jesus Christ expects that during this Lent, members of Regnum Christi can open their eyes to generously seize the concrete opportunities we have to love Christ in our brothers. And mainly in those close to us, such as family, school, or work; and also in those far from our daily life. We must be attentive and listen to the Holy Spirit, so that He suggests the appropriate action and the right words, and gives us the courage to put them into practice, especially if through this He takes us out of our worries and comfort zone.
This may require some sacrifices, such as reducing the time I dedicate to entertainment, talking on the phone, or social media. We need to find time to be more available for the concrete people God has placed beside us. Perhaps this will help us dare to “lose” this time with someone who feels lonely or believes that no one remembers her.
Forgiving and Asking for Forgiveness
Another important area during this Year of Mercy, which I mentioned when calling for our Jubilee, is the capacity to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. The rich man in the parable seems to regain his sight only after his death and recognizes Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, when he never wanted to see him while he was at his door. It is then that the rich man asks for mercy, but it is too late to obtain it.
With this parable, Jesus encourages us to make the most of our lives as a time to ask God for mercy and also to exercise it with our neighbor. He urges us not to wait until tomorrow to forgive or to ask for forgiveness. He does not want us to become accustomed to the wounds of our brothers suffering in body or spirit, so that they stop challenging us. He wants us active in love, which is expressed in forgiveness. He will teach us to say to the Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Perhaps the Lord wants us to use this Lent to remember if there is someone with whom we need to reconcile, to see if there is a wound that has not yet healed. Maybe this Year of Mercy is the right moment to take the first step toward forgiveness. How much joy we will give to the Heart of Christ with such a gesture! How much confidence we will have in finding mercy before the Lord if we also practice it actively!
We are in the Year of Mercy, and Jesus Christ wants us to experience it in our smallness, so that we can then radiate it in our environment. Hopefully, in a world that sometimes lives without time for mercy, we can contribute our little grain of sand and shout to our brothers that God’s Mercy never ends, that He never tires of forgiving, that He never forgets His children.
I ask the Most Holy Virgin, Mother of Mercy, to accompany us all on the journey of Lent. Count on my prayers.
P. Eduardo Robles-Gil, L.C.
N.B. Please do not forget to entrust the Holy Father and also those participating in evangelization missions this Holy Week. A missionary is, for many people, one of the brightest signs of God’s Mercy.
