Reconciliation: Pope’s Lenten Message calls faithful to reconcile to God

Pope Francis has called on the faithful to go back to the Lord especially as they reflect on the passion, death and resurrection of Christ this season of Lent.

“In this Lent of 2020, I would like to share with every Christian what I wrote to young people in the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit: “Keep your eyes fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved over and over again,” the Pope said in his Lenten Message.

“And when you go to confess your sins, believe firmly in his mercy which frees you of your guilt. Contemplate his blood poured out with such great love, and let yourself be cleansed by it. In this way, you can be reborn ever anew” (No. 123). Jesus’ Pasch is not a past event; rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ever present, enabling us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer,” he added.

The Pope also invites everyone to contemplate more deeply the paschal mystery through which God’s mercy has been bestowed upon them.

“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’ (Gal 2:20), in a heartfelt dialogue between friends,” Pope Francis said, adding that prayer is important in Lent.

“Even more than a duty, prayer is an expression of our need to respond to God’s love which always precedes and sustains us. Christians pray in the knowledge that, although unworthy, we are still loved,” the pope said.

“Prayer can take any number of different forms, but what truly matters in God’s eyes is that it penetrates deep within us and chips away at our hardness of heart, in order to convert us ever more fully to God and to his will,” he added.

The pope said that this offer for conversion from the Lord should never be taken for granted.

“This new opportunity ought to awaken in us a sense of gratitude and stir us from our sloth. Despite the sometimes tragic presence of evil in our lives, and in the life of the Church and the world, this opportunity to change our course expresses God’s unwavering will not to interrupt his dialogue of salvation with us,” the pope said.