“The Cross reveals the fullness of God’s Love,” says Lenten message of Pope Benedict
XVI.
(Tues.13 Feb.2007):-“The Cross reveals the fullness of God’s love, and Lent is a favourable time to learn to stay with Mother Mary and John the beloved disciple, at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus consummated for all humankind the sacrifice of his life.” Pope Benedict XVI said these words in his Lenten message for this year, the theme of which is : - “They shall look on Him, whom they have pierced”. The Pope’s Lenten message was released by Archbishop Josef Cordes – President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” at a Press Conference in Vatican’s Press Hall on Tuesday, 13 Feb. The Lenten message explains that it is in the mystery of the Cross that the uncontainable power of the heavenly Father’s mercy is revealed in all its fullness. In order to win back the love of his creature, God accepted to pay a very high price - the blood of His only begotten Son. Death, which for the first Adam, was an extreme sign of loneliness and powerlessness, was thus transformed in the supreme act of love and freedom of the new Adam.
The Pope’s Lenten message urges the faithful to look with trust at the pierced side of Jesus, from which flow blood and water. The Fathers of the Church considered these elements as symbols of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. In our Lenten journey, continues the Pope’s message, we are exhorted to open ourselves in trust and abandonment to the merciful embrace of the Father. Let us live Lent as a Eucharistic time, urges the Papal message, welcoming the love of Jesus and spreading it around us with every word and deed. Contemplating “Him, whom they have pierced” will move us to open our hearts to others, recognizing the wounds inflicted upon the dignity of the human person. It will move us in particular to fight every form of contempt for life and human exploitation and to alleviate the tragedies of loneliness and abandonment of so many people. Pope Benedict prayed that Lent be for every Christian a renewed experience of God’s love given to us in Christ, a love , that each day, we in turn, must “regive” to our neighbour, especially to the one who suffers most and is in need. Only in this way, shall we be able to participate fully in the joy of Easter, concludes the Pope’s Lenten message. The 40-day Lenten period for the Catholic Church begins on Ash Wed. 21st Feb and concludes on Easter Sunday 8th April .
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