Only by journeying through Lent can we celebrate Easter
The times the Church gives us to live and grow in our faith aren’t tied to our memories and traditions of the past, but they must be connected with our present reality, allowing us to continue celebrating and living the mysteries of our faith.
How can we celebrate Easter if we do not journey through Lent? We cannot leave to others the fasting, the penance and the sharing in charity. We cannot fail to remember a living and suffering Jesus, walking towards the cross. We cannot forget the call of a merciful God, who invites us to conversion, reconciliation and to a commitment of love. If we do not follow this path, how can we reach Easter?
For this reason it is necessary for our faith life to follow the journey to conversion, which is nothing different than returning to God. To follow this road we must put off the old self with its habits and put on the new self, like new beings of divine mercy. To follow this journey we must discover in our everyday living, in our relationships with other people, with God and within ourselves, the attitudes that undermine and damage our lives.
To follow this road we must examine our relationships with our families, the members of our Church and our society. We must keep in mind that we cannot justify ourselves in a world that yields to death, corruption, and injustice; which overlooks values and lacks fraternity. We must keep in mind all these evils so that we can start transforming them from within our hearts, with our faith and with our actions.
Every person and community should strive to journey through Lent and work to return to the Church, to prayer, to God’s Word; and to experience their own baptism, so that they may renew their commitment as children of God, as Christians and as members of the Church.
Our journey through Lent will allow us to reach Easter, and Christ’s triumph will allow us to live the happiness of being part of the People of God, being witnesses and sharing the Good News of Salvation.
- Father Fernando Torres