Dear brothers and sisters,
We begin our annual pilgrimage of Lent in faith and hope with the penitential rite of the imposition
of ashes.The Church, our mother and teacher, invites us to open our hearts to God’s grace, so
that we can celebrate with great joy the paschal victory of Christ the Lord over sin and death,
which led Saint Paul to exclaim: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your
victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” ( 1 Cor 15:54-55).Indeed, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is the heart of our faith and the pledge of our hope in the Father’s great promise, already fulfilled in his beloved Son: life eternal (cf. Jn 10:28; 17:3). [1]
This Lent, as we share in the grace of the Jubilee Year, I would like to propose a few reflections on
what it means to journey together in hope, and on the summons to conversion that God in his
mercy addresses to all of us, as individuals and as a community.First of all, to journey. The Jubilee motto, “Pilgrims of Hope”, evokes the lengthy journey of the
people of Israel to the Promised Land, as recounted in the Book of Exodus. This arduous path
from slavery to freedom was willed and guided by the Lord, who loves his people and remains
ever faithful to them.It is hard to think of the biblical exodus without also thinking of those of our
brothers and sisters who in our own day are fleeing situations of misery and violence in search of
a better life for themselves and their loved ones.A first call to conversion thus comes from therealization that all of us are pilgrims in this life; each of us is invited to stop and ask how our lives reflect this fact. Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone?
Am I seeking ways to leave behind the occasions of sin and situations that degrade my dignity? It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to
sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we
can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father. This would be a good “examination
of conscience” for all of us wayfarers.Second, to journey together. The Church is called to walk together, to be synodal. [2] Christians
are called to walk at the side of others, and never as lone travellers. The Holy Spirit impels us not
to remain self-absorbed, but to leave ourselves behind and keep walking towards God and our
brothers and sisters. [3] Journeying together means consolidating the unity grounded in our
common dignity as children of God (cf. Gal 3:26-28).It means walking side-by-side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded. Let us all walk in the same direction, tending towards the same goal, attentive to one another in love and patience.
This Lent, God is asking us to examine whether in our lives, in our fami
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