In the words of the Holy Father:“Contemporary culture seems to have lost the sense of good and evil, yet there is a real need to reaffirm that good does exist and will prevail, because God is “generous and acts generously” (Ps 119:68). The good is whatever gives, protects and promotes life, brotherhood and communion.”
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In fact, get rid of "Evil" and you have also gotten rid of "Good." I mean, if there is no such thing as anything bad, than nothing is good either. Like, tell me nobody is ugly, and then try to differentiate the beautiful from the rest; it just doesn't work.
The point of Lent, according to the Pope, is to re-learn "responsibility towards our brothers and sisters." It wasn't long ago that the Holy Father talked about re-learning something else too; something he termed "fraternal correction." Here he is speaking about the same type of love for those around us:
“The verb which introduces our exhortation tells us to look at others, first of all at Jesus, to be concerned for one another, and not to remain isolated and indifferent to the fate of our brothers and sisters. All too often, however, our attitude is just the opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a respect for “privacy”. Today too, the Lord’s voice summons all of us to be concerned for one another. Even today God asks us to be “guardians” of our brothers and sisters (Gen 4:9), to establish relationships based on mutual consideration and attentiveness to the well-being, the integral well-being of others. The great commandment of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God.”
This Lent, instead of inventing our own interpretations to the meaning of Lent, let's brainstorm about ways to put the Holy Father's insights into practice: At home, at work, at school ... anywhere, in fact, where there are friends in need.
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