Pope says Lent is time to bring God back into our lives

(February 27, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday outlined the task of the forty-day Lenten period that began with Ash Wednesday last week, urging all to build their lives in and with the Lord against the temptation to remove him from human history. The Pope was speaking to a large crowd of pilgrims and faithful who had gathered in Rome’s St. Peter’s Square below his studio window to recite the weekly midday ‘Angelus’ prayer with him. Referring to Mark’s Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent, the pope explained the symbolism of the desert where Jesus’ stayed for 40 days tempted by Satan. “Man is never wholly free from the temptation... but with patience and true humility we become stronger than any enemy,” the Pope said. The desert may indicate the state of abandonment and loneliness, the "place" of man's weakness where there are no supports and certainties, where temptation becomes stronger. But it may also indicate a place of refuge and shelter where we can experience the presence of God in a special way. The Lord willingly suffered the attack of the tempter to defend us with his help and to teach us by his example. The Pope said that "temptation has always been present in human history to remove God, to order our lives and the world on our own, relying solely on our own abilities." The season of Lent is a time when with "patience" and "humility" we follow "the Lord every day, learning to build our life not outside of him or as if He did not exist, but in Him and with Him, because He is the source of true life". The season of Lent is a time to renew and strengthen our relationship with God through daily prayer, acts of penance and works of fraternal charity," the Pope added. Lent started with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 22 and will culminate into Easter, on April 8, the most solemn feast of Christians.