In his first sermon for Lent 2021, the Preacher of the Papal House, the newly created Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., Gives an overview of the season and reflects on Jesus’ call to repentance.
By Vatican News staff reporter
Capuchin priest Raniero Cantalamessa, who was made cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of November 28, 2020, delivered his first sermon for Lent 2021 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. The theme of this year’s Lenten reflections is “Who do you say I am?”, Taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew.
For his introductory sermon, the Preacher of the Papal House offered an overview of the time of Lent, focusing on the passage “Repent and believe in the Gospel!”
Three moments of conversion
Repentance, or conversion, said Cardinal Cantalamessa, is mentioned in “three different times and contexts” in the New Testament, corresponding to different moments in our own lives.
The first is based on the words spoken by Jesus at the beginning of His ministry: “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” This does not have a primarily moral sense, according to Cardinal Cantalamessa, but consists first of all of having faith, of believing, of changing the way we see our relationship with God.
The New Testament’s second call to conversion occurs when Jesus invites His disciples to “turn and become like children.” Here, “Jesus presents a genuine revolution”, calling them – and us – “to shift the center of yourself and focus again on Christ”. Becoming like children, Cardinal Cantalamessa said, means going back to the time when we really met Jesus.
Finally, in the book of Revelation, Jesus calls those who are neither hot nor cold to “be sincere … and repent.” “The focus here,” said Cardinal Cantalamessa, is the conversion of mediocre and warm to fervent. This is not our job, he insisted, but the work of the Holy Spirit.
From being warm to being fervent
Cardinal Cantalamessa recalled the experience of the disciples when they were filled with the Spirit at the first Pentecost. The Fathers of the Church described this experience with the image of a “sober drunkenness” – the disciples were not drunk with wine, as the people imagined, but instead, having received the Holy Spirit, they were spiritually drunk.
“How can we assume this ideal of sober intoxication and incorporate it into the situation present in history and in the Church?” Asked Cardinal Cantalamessa. In addition to the ordinary means of the Eucharist and the Scriptures, the Cardinal, quoting Saint Ambrose, points to a third, “extraordinary” means, which is not institutional, but involves “reliving the experience of the apostles on the day of Pentecost”.
One of the ways in which this occurs, he said, is in the “called ‘Baptism in the Spirit’”, which involves “a renewal with a new awareness not only of Baptism and Confirmation, but also of the whole Christian life … the fruit more important is the discovery of what it means to have a ‘personal relationship’ with the risen and alive Jesus ”.
Cardinal Cantalamessa stressed the importance of “a true conversion from warm to fervent, inviting his listeners to pray for Mary’s intercession for this grace.
You can read the full text of Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa’s Sermon on his Internet network location.