The preacher for the papal household, the newly created Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., Gives in his first sermon for Lent 2021 an overview of the season and reflects on the call of Jesus to repentance.
By Vatican News staff reporter
Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, created cardinal in the consistory of 28 November 2020 by Pope Francis, delivered his first sermon for Lent 2021 in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. The theme for this year’s regular reflections is “Who do you say I am?”, From the Gospel of Matthew.
For his introductory sermon, the Preacher to the papal household presented an overview of the time of fasting, focusing on the passage ‘Repent and Believe in the Gospel!’
Three moments of repentance
Repentance, or repentance, Cardinal Cantalamessa said, is referred to in the New Testament in “three different moments and contexts,” corresponding to different moments in our own lives.
The first is based on the words Jesus said at the beginning of his ministry: “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” According to Cardinal Cantalamessa, it does not have a moral meaning in the first place, but consists first of all of faith, faith, change in how we see our relationship with God.
The second call to repentance in the New Testament comes when Jesus invites his disciples to ‘turn around and become like children’. Here, “Jesus brings forth a true revolution,” and calls them – and us – “to shift the center of yourself, and to re-establish yourself on Christ.” To become like children, Cardinal Cantalamessa said, means to go back to the time when we first met Jesus.
Finally, in the book of Revelation, Jesus calls those who are not hot or cold to ‘be serious … and repent’. “The focus here,” Cardinal Cantalamessa said, is on conversion from mediocre and lukewarm to fiery. This is not our own work, he insisted, but rather the work of the Holy Spirit.
From lukewarm to fiery
Cardinal Cantalamessa recalls the experience of the disciples when they were filled with the Spirit at the first Feast of Pentecost. The fathers of the church described this experience with the image of ‘sober drunkenness’ – the disciples were not drunk with wine, as the people imagined them, but were spiritually drunk after receiving the Holy Spirit.
“How can we take up this ideal of sober drunkenness and embody it in the present situation in history and in the Church?” Ask Cardinal Cantalamessa. In addition to the usual means of the Eucharist and Scripture, the cardinal, referring to Saint Ambrose, points to a third, ‘extraordinary’ meaning, which is not institutional, but rather ‘re-experiencing the apostles on the day of Pentecost’.
One way this is happening, according to him, is in the ‘so-called’ Baptism in the Spirit ‘, which’ involves a renewal with a fresh awareness not only of baptism and confirmation, but also of the whole Christian life. the most important fruit is the discovery of what it means to have a ‘personal relationship’ with Jesus risen and alive. ‘
Cardinal Cantalamessa emphasizes the importance of a true conversion from lukewarm to fiery, and invites its listeners to pray for Mary’s intercession for this grace.
You can read the full text of Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa’s sermon on his website.