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March 6, 2025We begin the holy time of Lent with this Eucharistic celebration during which we receive the imposition of ashes on our heads, as a sign of penance and invocation to God for our conversion and our salvation.
The time of Lent is the time of conversion, it is the time of change; it is the time to correct our lives. Lent is the time of mercy and forgiveness. This time leads us to the joyful celebration of Easter, resurrection of Christ, victor over evil and death.
We celebrate this Lenten journey in a very special time. We are in fact in the Holy Year, the Jubilee of the Lord 2025 in which we are invited to be pilgrims of hope. The Lenten journey is precisely the journey of pilgrims. Let us leave the slavery of sin, our vices and move towards the full freedom of the children of God.
The first reading from the book of prophet Joel invites us to a profound repentance and not just formal or external. It invites us to tear not our clothes but our heart, purifying our deep intentions. Let us ask the Lord to be freed from our selfishness and open ourselves to the love of God.
Dear brothers and sisters: let us ask ourselves, are we truly on a path of sincere conversion? Do we really want to be freed from our slavery and our idols? Of course, the path of conversion lasts a lifetime, we never stop being forgiven because we are sinners. But the greatest danger is that of having a mediocre spiritual life, of no longer desiring the new life of the gospel and of resigning ourselves to a worldly life.
Dear faithful, I invite you to live the Lenten journey with sincerity. Let us find in our hearts the desire for God, the desire to follow Jesus. This Lenten journey must profoundly mark our lives as individual believers and as a Christian community, as the people of God on the journey towards the promised land.
In the Gospel, Jesus proposes three fundamental gestures that must guide us towards Holy Easter. These are not external gestures to be admired by others, but the profound expression of our heart wanting to be forgiven and to renew our decision to follow Jesus and live the Gospel.
First of all, almsgiving: it is a simple gesture of generosity in which we share something of ours with those in need and for the needs of the Church. I invite you to give something to those who are poorer. Another way to give alms is to give of your time to those who need company and closeness. Each of us can find a simple way to give alms.
Lent also invites us to pray. Praying is an act that expresses our hope in God. Without prayer our soul dries up. Prayer is the breath of the soul. Let us all commit ourselves to pray faithfully. Let us pray alone and pray in the family, let us pray with the whole community. Let us pray in our homes and pray in the church; let us faithfully participate in the Holy Mass, especially on Sunday. But I invite you to participate in the Eucharistic celebration also during the week, whenever possible. Lent is the time for more abundant prayer.
In this time of Lent, I invite you to make the pilgrimage of the jubilee, for instance going to the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in Ras Al Khaimah; it is the church of the jubilee, approach the sacrament of confession, receive the plenary indulgence for you and for your deceased loved ones, so that they can soon enjoy the eternal life in heaven.
I also ask you once again to pray every day for the Holy Father, Pope Francis, so that the Lord may support him in his illness and give him the health necessary for his mission.
Finally, the Gospel speaks to us about fasting. Again, not as an external gesture to show that we are good at fasting, but as an expression of our search for God, to rediscover our desire for God that we lose if we are always in abundance and feel quickly satisfied. In the Gospel, Jesus says woe to the satisfied, while blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice. Living the Lenten fast helps us to return to the feeling of thirst and hunger for God, for his grace, for his friendship.
Dear faithful, on this Lenten journey, let us put Jesus back at the center of our lives: he is our hope.
May Mary, Mother of Hope, support us on the journey of Holy Lent and help us to arrive at Easter with renewed and joyful hearts.
