Spokesman of the Polish Episcopate: Lent is about moving from sin and enslavement to a life of truth and love
Lent is about moving from sin and enslavement to a life of truth and love, about the transformation of our hearts – said the Spokesman of the Polish Bishops' Conference Fr Leszek Gęsiak SJ on Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent.
https://episkopat.pl/doc/225214.Rzecznik-KEP-W-Wielkim-Poscie-chodzi-o-przejscie-od-grzechu-i
The Spokesman of the Polish Episcopate pointed out that Lent is a time when, by meditating on the passion and death of Christ the Lord, we prepare ourselves for the culminating events of the liturgical year contained in the Paschal Triduum. “It is about preparing ourselves spiritually to experience the greatest mystery of our faith: the resurrection of Jesus Christ for these forty days, which we are given from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday” – Fr Gęsiak stressed.
The Spokesman pointed out that the Lenten devotions offered to us by the Church, such as the Way of the Cross or Bitter Lamentations, as well as Lenten retreats, are meant to stimulate us to undertake the path of inner conversion. “+Conversion+ comes from the Greek word metanoia and means a change of mind. So conversion is about taking the path of repentance in order to be able to put our lives in order, the choices we make, to be open to God's grace that will work in us and direct us towards the things of God” – he explained.
Fr Gęsiak noted that on this path of conversion, the Church gives us three means by which we can gain a distance from the everyday things that occupy our minds and hearts, in order to draw closer to God and open ourselves to spiritual matters. These are: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. “Prayer puts us in God's presence, fasting allows us to sharpen our spiritual insight, while almsgiving opens us to the other person” – he assessed.
“So Lent is about moving from sin and enslavement to a life of truth and love, about the transformation of our hearts, and therefore about opening ourselves to God and to the other person” – indicated the Spokesman of the Polish Bishops' Conference. He added that the Jubilee Year is intended to help us in this. The Jubilee churches established in each diocese are unique places where one can receive the sacrament of penance and reconciliation and obtain a plenary indulgence.
Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
