Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Lent, which begins today, is
"a time of change, of conversion", a time that pushes us "to
assume our responsibilities, a time for mature decisions", to "set ourselves
in motion, to
meet the Lord at the end times. " The
40 days that separate us from Easter were the theme of reflection that Benedict
XVI offered to eight thousand people attended the general audience at the Vatican.
The Pope's words also referred to the "condition
of the pilgrim Church in the "desert" of the world and history ", for which, as for Jesus, there is the "temptation of the
devil", who offered to Christ "another path, far from God's plan, because it passes through power,
success, dominion". But even
if "the sky above us is obscured by the clouds of egoism, misunderstanding
and deception", the period in the desert "can
become a period of grace, because God can bring forth the living water that
refreshes and restores even from the hardest rock".
Benedict XVI recalled that
"quadragesima" , the forty days of Lent was the time when
those who had heard the Christian message "began, step by step, the
process of conversion", the "process of conversion to faith to
be accomplished gradually, through inner change ", which would lead
catechumens towards baptism.
Over
time, this journey of conversion was proposed to all faithful, "and those
who had turned away from God, and those who lived in full communion with the
Church." Everyone
knew that "the time before Easter is a time of change, of
conversion." And
"the participation of the whole community in the
different steps of the Lenten path emphasizes an important dimension of
Christian spirituality: redemption is not available to only a few, but to all,
through the death and resurrection of Christ."
The duration of
Lent, 40 days, refers to a symbolic number in both the Old and New Testament:
"a figure that expresses a period of waiting, purification, return to the
Lord." "This number does not represent an exact chronological time, divided
by the sum of the days. Rather it indicates a patient perseverance, a long
trial, a sufficient period to see the works of God, a time within which we must
make up our minds and to decide to accept our own responsibilities without
additional references."
The Pope
indicated, among other things, that "the number first
appears in the story of Noah,
the just man", who spends 40 days in the ark after the flood and 40,
before sighting land. Similarly,
the 40 days "Moses spent on Mount
Siani in the presence of the Lord to receive
the law" and the years of the journey of the people of Israel to the
Promised Land. And
again the 40 years of peace that Israel knew under the Judges and
those of the reigns of Saul and David.
In
the New Testament, " Jesus,
before beginning of his public life, retires to the desert for forty days
without food or drink he nourishes himself on the Word of God, which he uses as
a weapon to conquer the devil " and " Forty are the days during which the risen
Jesus instructs his disciples, before ascending to heaven and sending the Holy
Spirit ".
"A spiritual context is described by this
recurring number forty, one that remains current and valid, and the Church,
precisely through the days of Lent, intends to maintain its enduring value and
make us aware of its efficacy. The Christian liturgy of Lent is intended to
facilitate a journey of spiritual renewal in the light of this long biblical
experience and especially to learn how to imitate Jesus, who in the forty days
spent in the desert taught how to overcome temptation with the Word of God"
