Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this Jubilee year we begin Lent by listening together once again to the proclamation which, through the mouth of the Apostle Paul, fills this special time with hope: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19, second reading of the Ash Wednesday Mass).

Allow me to share with you some short reflections.

1. The Cross of Christ

This is the heart of Easter, this is the place where the great hope of the Church and the world is born and founded: The violent words of rancor and hatred, the presumptuous speeches of conflict and recrimination cannot prevent God from speaking the word of reconciliation in Christ: Ave Crux, spes unica!

May Lent, the sacramental sign of our reconciliation, be a new opportunity for us, a renewed gift of the Spirit who leads us into the desert with Christ so that together with him, we can listen, once again to the word of grace and forgiveness. Easter, which we will celebrate in forty days, is in fact not simply the memory of a past event, but the living and present memorial of God’s grace, which reconciles us with himself in the Cross of Christ and makes us new creatures. Through the power of God, we see a reversal of human criteria in the cross of Christ: from vengeance to forgiveness. It is the paschal transformation of death into life, it is the evangelical overcoming of condemnation through forgiveness: “He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor. 5:15.17).

We need this new word, the word of the Cross, which may seem like foolishness to the powerful and wise of this world and of our time. It is the only word that can reopen paths of hope and peace, by overturning worldly criteria. The Way of the Cross, along which we learn with difficulty, but with joy, the new logic of gift and forgiveness, calls for men and women, young and old, families and children, who are ready to walk it, by renewing their way of thinking and their attitude. Only in this way can we hope for a future in peace.

Therefore, I would like all of us, individuals and communities, to find space and time during these holy days to contemplate the Cross of Christ, to read and meditate on the Passion narratives, to participate in the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross and, for those who have the possibility, visit the places marked by the Lord’s passage to Calvary and the Sepulcher: may the Crucified One shine in new light before our eyes, who here in this land, took our sin upon himself, even more: “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Continue reading the whole message here