My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
What does Lent mean today? Giving up chocolate and frequenting fish fries? Pope Francis has said that “Lent is a favorable time for personal and community renewal, as it leads us to the paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” In fact, the spiritual renewal that is proposed to us during this holy season is nothing less than a synodal experience that involves the whole Church in prayerful listening to God’s Word and in a profound interior discernment of God’s will for us.
On Ash Wednesday the Church listens to St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, where he teaches:
Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Our salvation is not at some distant time in the future. Now is the day of salvation, and we are called to journey together now on the road that leads to the paschal mystery of our Redeemer’s passion, death and resurrection.
As Church, we are reclaiming the ancient idea that we are a synodal community, a gathering of God’s people who travel together following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving strengthen our desire to be in communion with God and to live not for ourselves but for the sisters and brothers who travel with us.
Synodality is a way of being Church as well as a Lenten virtue. It is not an end in itself, but a means of achieving a future goal—in this case, the joy of Easter. No one is saved alone. We journey together, respecting one another’s differences, listening and learning from each other’s shared hopes and dreams, and consoling and encouraging our fellow travelers because, as Pope Francis reminds us, we’re all in this together. We are all One in Christ. We share each other’s sufferings and frustrations, and we rejoice in the joy and hope that lies ahead at the culmination of our Lenten journey.
My brothers and sisters, please join me in making this Lent “an acceptable time” for recognizing that we truly are a synodal Church guided by the Holy Spirit. I urge you to join me in asking for all the gifts of the Spirit—especially piety, knowledge, fortitude, counsel and understanding—so that we can persevere in preparing for the joy of Easter.
“Behold, now is the day of salvation.” May our Lenten observance strengthen us for the synodal journey that we must travel together—today and always—as God’s one and holy people.
Sincerely yours in Christ the Redeemer,
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R
Archbishop of Newark
What is Lent?
A selection from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) description of the Church’s Liturgical Year and Calendar
Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It’s a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ’s will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were also baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.
Many know of the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but we are also called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. Contemplate the meaning and origins of the Lenten fasting tradition in this reflection. In addition, the giving of alms is one way to share God’s gifts—not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446).
In Lent, the baptized are called to renew their baptismal commitment as others prepare to be baptized through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, a period of learning and discernment for individuals who have declared their desire to become Catholics.
A Message from Pope Francis: Words of Challenge and Hope
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A selection from the 2021 Lenten Message of Pope Francis “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem” (Mt 20:18) Lent: a Time for Renewing Faith, Hope and Love
Lent is a favorable time for personal and community renewal, as it leads us to the paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For our Lenten journey in 2022, we will do well to reflect on Saint Paul’s exhortation to the Galatians: “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. So then, while we have the opportunity (kairós), let us do good to all” (Gal 6:9-10).
In these words, the Apostle evokes the image of sowing and reaping, so dear to Jesus (cf. Mt 13). Saint Paul speaks to us of a kairós: an opportune time for sowing goodness in view of a future harvest. What is this “opportune time” for us? Lent is certainly such an opportune time, but so is our entire existence, of which Lent is in some way an image. [1] All too often in our lives, greed, pride, and the desire to possess, accumulate and consume have the upper hand, as we see from the story of the foolish man in the Gospel parable, who thought his life was safe and secure because of the abundant grain and goods he had stored in his barns (cf. Lk 12:16-21). Lent invites us to conversion, to a change in mindset, so that life’s truth and beauty may be found not so much in possessing as in giving, not so much in accumulating as in sowing and sharing goodness….
Christ’s resurrection enlivens earthly hopes with the “great hope” of eternal life, planting the seed of salvation in our present time (cf. BENEDICT XVI, Spe Salvi, 3; 7). Bitter disappointment at shattered dreams, deep concern for the challenges ahead and discouragement at the poverty of our resources, can make us tempted to seek refuge in self-centeredness and indifference to the suffering of others. Indeed, even our best resources have their limitations: “Youths grow tired and weary, the young stumble and fall” (Is 40:30). Yet God “gives strength to the weary, he strengthens the powerless… Those who hope in the Lord will regain their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; though they run they will not grow weary, though they walk they will never tire» (Is 40:29, 31). The Lenten season calls us to place our faith and hope in the Lord (cf. 1 Pet 1:21) since only if we fix our gaze on the risen Christ (cf. Heb 12:2) will we be able to respond to the Apostle’s appeal, “Let us never grow tired of doing good” (Gal 6:9)….
In these days of deep uncertainty about the future, let us keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you” (Is 43:1). In our charity, may we speak words of reassurance and help others to realize that God loves them as sons and daughters.
“Only a gaze transformed by charity can enable the dignity of others to be recognized and, as a consequence, the poor to be acknowledged and valued in their dignity, respected in their identity and culture, and thus truly integrated into society” (Fratelli Tutti, 187).
Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving. The call to experience Lent as a journey of conversion, prayer and sharing of our goods helps us – as communities and as individuals – to revive the faith that comes from the living Christ, the hope inspired by the breath of the Holy Spirit and the love flowing from the merciful heart of the Father.
May Mary, Mother of the Savior, ever faithful at the foot of the cross and in the heart of the Church, sustain us with her loving presence. May the blessing of the risen Lord accompany all of us on our journey toward the light of Easter.
My Prayer for You
During this synodal Lenten journey, please join me in praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the words of St. Alphonsus de’ Liguori:
Holy Spirit, divine Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the Father and God the Son. I adore You and unite myself to the adoration You receive from the angels and saints. I give You my heart, and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the grace which You never cease to bestow on me.
O Giver of all supernatural gifts, who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with such immense favors, I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love and to grant me the gift of holy fear, so that it may act on me as a check to prevent me from falling back into my past sins, for which I beg pardon.
Grant me the gift of piety, so that I may serve You for the future with increased fervor, follow with more promptness Your holy inspirations, and observe your divine precepts with greater fidelity.
Grant me the gift of knowledge, so that I may know the things of God and, enlightened by Your holy teaching, may walk, without deviation, in the path of eternal salvation.
Grant me the gift of fortitude, so that I may overcome courageously all the assaults of the devil and all the dangers of this world, which threaten the salvation of my soul.
Grant me the gift of counsel, so that I may choose what is more conducive to my spiritual advancement and may discover the wiles and snares of the tempter.
Grant me the gift of understanding, so that I may apprehend the divine mysteries and by contemplation of heavenly things detach my thoughts and affections from the vain things of this miserable world.
Grant me the gift of wisdom, so that I may rightly direct all my actions, referring them to God as my last end; so that, having loved Him and served Him in this life, I may have the happiness of possessing Him eternally in the next. Amen.