LENT

All of us called to live an ecological conversion ... and all of us called to live as brothers and sisters! 

Lent, a time of Hope. It is a time to take a step back and reflect on our lives and the world we live in.

The Journey of Hope leads us to modify our priorities, to change our relationship with nature, the balance of which is threatened, and our perception of those whose lives are becoming increasingly fragile. 

This season reminds us of the need to unite our brothers and sisters in order to live today the Hope of Easter: "Man's inner peace depends to a large extent on the preservation of the ecology and the common good" (Laudato Si' § 233).

Five years after Laudato Si', Pope Francis signed on October 3, 2020 a second social encyclical Fratelli tutti - All brothers and sisters ; these two texts being like two sides of the same coin.

With Francis of Assisi, he proposes to us "a way of life to the taste of the Gospel" (FT n°1). Already in Laudato Si' the pope called to recognize "that a true ecological approach is always transformed into a social approach that includes justice in discussions on the environment, to listen both to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" (LS n°49).

He invites us, together with Fratelli tutti, to "create a 'we' that lives in the common house" (FT n. 17). And the way to build this 'we' is that of "an open fraternity that allows us to recognise, value and love each person regardless of their physical proximity, wherever they were born or live"(FT n°1).

Prayer to the Creator

Lord and Father of mankind,

you who created all human beings

with the same dignity,

breathes a fraternal spirit into our hearts.

Inspire in us a dream of meeting, of dialogue,

of justice and peace.

Help us to create healthier societies

and a more dignified world,

without hunger, without poverty, without violence, without wars.

May our hearts open

to all the peoples and nations of the earth,

to recognise goodness and beauty

that you have sown in everyone

to build bonds of unity, common projects,

shared expectations.

Amen!

(Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti)