Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent for the Christians especially Catholics. We thanked God that He has brought us to this day once again. We respect it, because it is a time of renewal for all of us. The time when we make sacrifice; the time we stay disciplined, the time we pray a lot and read a lot of the word of God. Of course, it is a time we do a lot of almsgiving. Therefore, lent is a time for personal and community renewal. This is the time to reflect on our past lives. It is a time we choose to determine to live according to the law of God. Love God above all and love your neighbours as yourself.
Pope Francis quoting St Paul in Galatians 6:9 says “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest”. So then, when you have the opportunity, let us do good to all.
Our renewal is based on reconciliation with God and with our neighbours; this will give the true and authentic meaning to our prayers, fasting and almsgiving. When you repent and do good work, you are sowing goodness in view of future harvest.
We must keep enriching our faith and good works by reading the word of God daily and prayerfully. I appeal and urge all to take family apostolate seriously and to summon courage to correct misgivings and mistakes made in the society. Families, society, religious bodies and politicians, let us work on our families and schools so as a society where peace, unity, and love will reign.
We asked the Lord to bless us, but we do not work for it. Let us work with God and we shall be successful. This period of lent is a time of change for all of us, not just Catholics or Christians, but all of us. That is the sacrifice we have to make in order to make this society move forward.
For our fasting, we need to reduce our food intake, a little in the morning, a little in the evening maybe, or a little in the afternoon too. For those who are over 60 you may choose to fast or not to fast. For those who are sick or on medication you don’t have to fast; pregnant women don’t have to fast; nursing mothers don’t have to fast, children below the age of sixteen, don’t have to fast. Our main duty at this time is to pray, fast and give alms.
I’m aware that many of you are giving alms throughout the year, many do it partially, many do it grudgingly and many don’t even do it at all. This is the time to summon courage and be determined to do good so that we may renew our society. When I renew myself and you renew yourself, we will be renewing the society. We need to do our work diligently, have the courage to fast, to pray and to give alms with love.
When we give, we should be able to feel it, otherwise if we give without feeling it; it means that we are just sharing excess of our property. Let us do things that will make others happy, not only to throw away what you don’t need.
We pray that during this time, God will accompany us with the Holy Spirit and may the Lord who has given us all that we have, encourage us to do good, to pray and to give alms.
May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Peaceful Season of Lent
2022 LENTEN MESSAGE OF ARCHBISHOP GABRIEL ‘LEKE ABEGUNRIN
