THE LENTEN MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER FOR 2011

The fact that, in most cases, Baptism is received in infancy highlights how it is a gift of God: no one earns eternal life through their own efforts. The mercy of God, which cancels sin and, at the same time, allows us to experience in our lives 'the mind of Christ Jesus', is given to men and women freely.

Hence, Baptism is not a rite from the past, but the encounter with Christ, throughout the whole life of the baptised person, giving divine life and calling for sincere conversion; begun and supported by Grace, it permits us to reach the adult stature of Christ.

Baptism is very much connected to Lent. In fact, the Church has always associated the Easter Vigil with the celebration of Baptism. ... This free gift must always be rekindled in each one of us, and Lent offers us a path to Easter: a school of faith and Christian life. This Lent can never be repeated.

In order to undertake more seriously our journey towards Easter and prepare ourselves to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord - the most joyous and solemn feast of the year - what could be more appropriate than allowing ourselves to be guided by the Word of God? For this reason, the Church, in the Gospel texts of the Sundays of Lent, leads us to a particularly intense encounter with the Lord, calling us to retrace the steps of our Christian initiation in Baptism. During Lent let us listen more carefully to the Word of God.

The Lenten journey finds its fulfilment in the solemn days of Holy Week, especially in the great vigil of the Holy Night: renewing our baptismal promises, we reaffirm that Christ is the Lord of our life, that life which God bestowed upon us when we were reborn of 'water and Holy Spirit', and we profess again our firm commitment to respond to the action of the Grace in order to be His disciples.

By immersing ourselves into the death and resurrection of Christ through our Baptism, we free our hearts every day from the burden of material things, from a self-centred relationship with the 'world' that impoverishes us and prevents us from being available and open to God and our neighbour. ... Through the traditional practices of fasting, almsgiving and prayer, Lent teaches us how to live the love of Christ in an ever more radical way.

Fasting takes on a profoundly religious significance for the Christian: by rendering our table poorer, we learn to overcome selfishness in order to live in the spirit of gift and love; by bearing some form of deprivation - and not just what is in excess - we learn to look away from our 'ego', to rediscover that God close to us and to recognise Him in the face of so many brothers and sisters.

For Christians, fasting, far from being depressing, opens us ever more to God and to the needs of others, thus allowing love of God to become also love of our neighbour.

In our journey, we are often faced with the temptation of gathering material things and the love of money both of which undermine God's primacy in our lives. As we so often see in our world, the greed of possession leads to violence, exploitation and death; for this, the Church, especially during the Lenten period, reminds us to practice almsgiving - which is the capacity to share. The idolatry of goods, on the other hand, not only causes us to drift away from others, but diminishes man, making him unhappy, deceiving him, deluding him without fulfilling its promises, since it puts materialistic goods in the place of God, the only source of life.

The practice of almsgiving is a reminder of God's primacy and turns our attention towards others, so that we may rediscover how good our Father is, and receive His mercy.

During the entire Lenten period, the Church offers us God's Word with particular abundance. By taking the Word into our hearts in order to live it every day, we learn a precious and irreplaceable form of prayer. ... Prayer also allows us to gain a new concept of time: in fact, time simply directs our steps towards a horizon without a future. Instead, when we pray, we find time for God, to understand that His 'words will not pass away', to enter into that intimate communion with Him 'that no one shall take from you', opening us to the hope that does not disappoint, eternal life.

Lent is a favourable time to recognise our weakness and to accept, through an honest look at of our life, the renewing Grace of the Sacrament of Penance, and walk resolutely towards Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, through the personal encounter with our Redeemer and through fasting, almsgiving and prayer, the journey of conversion towards Easter leads us to rediscover our Baptism. This Lent, let us renew our acceptance of the Grace that God bestowed upon us in Baptism, so that it may enlighten and guide all our actions.

We are Baptised, so we are called to follow Christ every day in an ever more generous and authentic manner.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI