Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Within a few days, we shall once again begin our annual 40-day retreat as members of Christ's Body, His Church. As we step forward to be signed with ashes on this coming Wednesday, February 25, we recommit ourselves to the holy discipline of Lent.
As you know, the season of Lent is intrinsically connected with Baptism, wherein we died with Christ to sin and death and rose with Him to new life (cf. Rom 6:3-4). This is why, during Lent, those desiring Baptism complete their preparations and those already baptized deepen their identity with Christ and their commitment of obedient faith to Him. At its core, Lent calls us to radical conversion of mind and heart and trust in the Lord's saving mercy.
In his Lenten message to us this year, our Holy Father puts before us the image of a child by choosing as his theme: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me”(Mt 18:5). Trust and dependence are clearly the basic traits of a child. Therefore, during this Lent, we should be guided by this attitude of child-like trust and dependence.
The three principal “works of Lent,” so clearly proclaimed in the gospel on Ash Wednesday, provide the basic elements of our Lenten discipline: prayer, penance and almsgiving. Our Holy Father reminds us in his message: “Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us set out with trust on our Lenten journey sustained by fervent prayer, penance and concern for those in need” (2004 Lenten Message, no. 4).
Through prayer, we reflect on the Word of God in the Scriptures, relive the mysteries in Christ's life and that of Mary His Mother in the Rosary, and trace His footsteps to death and resurrection in the Stations of the Cross. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we confess our sins to Christ and to the Church made visible by the ordained priest and receive absolution and a new beginning. In the Holy Eucharist, both sacrifice and sacrament, we are made one with the Lord Jesus and strengthened for our daily witness. Through penance and self-denial, we become more responsive to deepening conversion and to ongoing reparation for our sins. Through almsgiving or deeds of charity, we reveal to those in need the love of Christ in our hearts, a love that desires to reach out and strengthen them.
This Lent, our concern for others embraces in a particular way the children. Pope John Paul II writes, “In particular, may this Lent be a time of ever greater concern for the needs of children, in our own families and in society as a whole: for they are the future of humanity” (ibid.). Certainly, our almsgiving can assist underprivileged children as well as those suffering from war and violence, inadequate food and water and other forms of injustice. Through prayer and penance, we continue to atone for any harm done to children through sexual abuse, especially by clergy within the Church and by others in the wider society. Radical conversion and purification of heart will confirm us in our resolve to bring healing, restore trust and protect our children.
Yes, child-like trust and dependence must mark our Lenten retreat this year. Our Holy Father encourages us so beautifully: “By calling God 'Our Father', we will better realize that we are His children and feel that we are brothers and sisters of one another. Thus, it will be easier for us to open our hearts to the little ones, following the advice of Jesus: 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me' (Mt 18:5)” (ibid, no. 5).
Joining you in prayer, penance and almsgiving this Lent, I remain
Faithfully in Christ,
Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde
Bishop of Arlington
