With Pope Leo in attendance, Capuchin friar Father Roberto Pasolini, the preacher of the Papal Household, on March 6 gave the first of his Lenten Sermons, addressing the theme of conversion and following Christ “on the path of humility.”
According to Vatican News, the sermons will take place every Friday until March 27 and focus on the theme: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Conversion to the Gospel according to Saint Francis.”
Fr. Pasolini opened his sermon by touching on the ongoing violence in the modern world and how focusing on developing humility is not a frivolous endeavor in the face of it.
“In the days that are once again marked by pain and violence, to speak of smallness might seem to be an abstract discourse, almost a spiritual luxury,” Fr. Pasolini said. “In reality, it is a practical responsibility, linked to the destiny of the world."
Peace, before diplomatic agreements or political strategies, requires the courage to be small and humble, he continued, according to Vatican News. And humility, he added, requires a conversion of the heart back to God.
"Evangelical conversion," the preacher said, "is first and foremost God’s initiative, in which man is called to participate in full freedom." It happens "in the most intimate point of our nature, where the image of God impressed upon us waits to be reawakened."
When St. Francis of Assisi converted, he spoke about doing penance and a “change of sensitivity” that swept away "the bitterness of a life filled with many things but still empty of its essential value,” Fr. Pasolini said.
Conversion also requires recognizing sin as evil rather than explaining it away as a small weakness, the preacher continued.
“If every sin becomes just a symptom," he said, man risks losing “the greatness of human freedom and its responsibility.
Further, since original sin was a rejection of humility, the virtue of humility is also essential to conversion, according to the Capuchin friar. It requires being childlike: "The little ones, with their fragility, awaken mercy," Fr. Pasolini said, "which is perhaps the most precious energy in the world."
Finally, conversion is ongoing.
“To convert,” he said, “means to continually begin again this movement of the heart, through which our poverty opens itself to God’s grace.”