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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 gaze fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved again and again. And when you come to confess your sins, believe firmly in his mercy that frees you from your guilt. Contemplate his blood poured out with such love and let yourself be purified by it. Thus you will be able to be reborn forever” (no. 123). The Passion of Jesus is not a past event; rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is always present, allowing us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer.
It is good to contemplate more deeply the Paschal Mystery 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” (Gal 2:20), in a sincere dialogue among friends. This is why prayer is so important during Lent. More than a duty, prayer is an expression of our need to respond to the love of God that always precedes and sustains us. Christians pray knowing that, although unworthy, we are still loved. Prayer can take various 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 fully to God and his will.
