The Message of the Holy Father for Lent 2018 was published under the title: «Because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold” (Mt 24:12)». The Message was presented to the press on February 6.
“But the Church, our Mother and Teacher, along with the often bitter medicine of the truth, offers us in the Lenten season the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting” says the Holy Father in one of the central parts of the Message.
“By devoting more time to prayer – explains the Holy Father - we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and he wants us to live life well”.
“Almsgiving- he adds - sets us free from greed and helps us to regard our neighbour as a brother or sister. What I possess is never mine alone. How I would like almsgiving to become a genuine style of life for each of us! How I would like us, as Christians, to follow the example of the Apostles and see in the sharing of our possessions a tangible witness of the communion that is ours in the Church!”
Finally, fasting, that “weakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an important opportunity for growth. On the one hand, it allows us to experience what the destitute and the starving have to endure. On the other hand, it expresses our own spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God”.
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