We must continually return to this mystery in both mind and heart, for it will grow within us to the extent that we open ourselves to its spiritual power and respond with freedom and generosity.
Christian joy flows from hearing and embracing the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This kerygma encapsulates the mystery of a love “so real, so true, so concrete, that it invites us into a relationship of openness and fruitful dialogue” (Christus Vivit, 117).
Those who believe in this message reject the lie that life is entirely theirs to do with as they please. Instead, life springs from the love of God the Father, from His desire to give us life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). If, on the other hand, we listen to the seductive voice of the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44), we risk plunging into the abyss of meaninglessness and experiencing a kind of hell on earth—as too many tragic events in personal and collective human experience sadly attest.
During this 2020 Lent, I would like to share with every Christian what I wrote to young people in the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit:
“Keep your gaze fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved over and over again. And when you go to confess your sins, believe firmly in His mercy which sets you free from guilt. Contemplate His blood poured out with such great love, and allow yourself to be cleansed by it. In this way, you can be reborn forever” (no. 123).
The Easter of Jesus is not a past event. Rather, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it remains ever present, allowing us to see and touch in faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer.
It is good to reflect more deeply on the Paschal mystery, through which God’s mercy has been bestowed upon us. Indeed, the experience of mercy is only possible in a face-to-face relationship with the crucified and risen Lord, “who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20), in a sincere dialogue between friends. This is why prayer is so important during Lent.
More than a duty, prayer is an expression of our need to respond to God’s love, which always precedes and sustains us. Christians pray with the awareness that, though unworthy, we are still loved. Prayer can take many forms, but what truly matters in God’s eyes is that it penetrates the depths of our being and softens our hardened hearts, converting us ever more fully to God and His will.
In this favorable season, let us allow ourselves to be led, like Israel, into the desert (cf. Hos 2:14), so that we may finally hear the voice of our Bridegroom and allow it to resonate ever more deeply within us.
The more we immerse ourselves in His Word, the more we will experience the mercy He freely grants us. Let us not waste this season of grace, clinging to the illusion that we control the timing and manner of our conversion.
3. God’s Passionate Desire to Dialogue with His Children
We should never take for granted that the Lord offers us, once again, a favorable time for conversion. This new opportunity should awaken in us a sense of gratitude and shake us from our spiritual lethargy.
Despite the presence—often tragic—of evil in our lives, in the Church, and in the world, this opportunity for a new direction is an expression of God’s unwavering will not to abandon His saving dialogue with us.
In Jesus crucified—who knew no sin but became sin for our sake (cf. 2 Cor 5:21)—this saving will led the Father to place the burden of our sins on His Son, thus setting, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “God against Himself” (Deus Caritas Est, 12). Because God also loves His enemies (cf. Mt 5:43–48).
The dialogue that God wants to have with each of us through the Paschal mystery of His Son has nothing to do with empty chatter, like that attributed to the ancient Athenians, who “spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” (Acts 17:21).
Such chatter—driven by hollow, superficial curiosity—characterizes worldliness in every age. In our time, it can also manifest as the misuse of modern media.
4. A Treasure to Share, Not to Keep for Ourselves
Placing the Paschal mystery at the center of our lives means having compassion for the wounds of the crucified Christ, present in the many innocent victims of war, in assaults on life—from the unborn to the elderly—and in all forms of violence.
These wounds are also present in environmental disasters, in the unequal distribution of the world’s resources, in human trafficking in all its forms, and in the unbridled pursuit of wealth, which amounts to a form of idolatry.
