This time, the Lord grants us, formerly again, a propitious time to prepare ourselves to celebrate with a renewed heart the great riddle of Jesus’ death and rejuvenation, the foundation of our particular and collaborative Christian life. We must continually return to this riddle in mind and heart, for it’ll continue to grow within us to the extent that we open ourselves to its spiritual power and respond with freedom and liberality.
Christian joy springs from hail and accepting the Good News of Jesus’ death and rejuvenation. This kerygma encapsulates the riddle of a love “ so real, so true, so concrete, that it invites us to a relationship of openness and fruitful dialogue ”( Christus Vivit, 117). Those who believe in this communication reject the taradiddle that our life is ours to do with as we please. Rather, life is born from the love of God the Father, from his desire to give us life in cornucopia( cf. Jn 1010). still, on the other hand, we hear to the tempting voice of the “ father of falsehoods ”( Jn 844), If.
In this Lent of 2020, I would like to partake with every Christian what I wrote to youthful people in the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit “ Keep your aspect
fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved again and again. And when you come to confess your sins, believe forcefully in his mercy that frees you from your guilt. Contemplate his blood poured out with similar love and let yourself be purified by it. therefore you’ll be suitable to be revived ever ”( no. 123). The Passion of Jesus is n’t a once event; rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s always present, allowing us to see and touch with faith the meat of Christ in those who suffer.
It’s good to contemplate more deeply the Paschal riddle through which God’s mercy has been granted to us. Indeed, the experience of mercy is only possible in a face- to- face relationship with the crucified and risen Lord, “ who loved me and gave himself for me ”( girl 220), in a sincere dialogue among musketeers. This is why prayer is so important during Lent. further than a duty, prayer is an expression of our need to respond to the love of God that always precedes and sustains us. Christians supplicate knowing that, although unworthy, we’re still loved. Prayer can take colorful forms, but what truly matters in God’s eyes is that it penetrates deep within us and weakens our hardness of heart, so that we may convert ever more completely to God and his will.
In this propitious time, let us allow ourselves to be led like Israel into the desert( cf. Hos 214), so
that we may eventually hear the voice of our partner and let it reverberate ever more deeply
within us. The further we commit ourselves to his word, the further we will witness the mercy he
freely grants us. Let us not let this time of grace pass in vain, in the absurd vision that we can
control the timing and means of our conversion to him





