In a message signed before he was hospitalised, Pope Francis has urged Christians to examine their consciences this Lent by comparing their daily lives to the hardships faced by migrants. Source: CNS.
“It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathise with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father,” the Pope wrote in his message for Lent 2025.
The message was released by the Vatican yesterday.
Lent begins next week on Ash Wednesday, March 5.
Reflecting on the theme “Let us journey together in hope”, the Pope said that Lent was a time to confront both personal and collective struggles with faith and compassion.
Comparing the Lenten journey to the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, he said, “Our brothers and sisters who in our own day are fleeing situations of misery and violence in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.”
“A first call to conversion thus comes from the realisation that all of us are pilgrims in this life,” the Pope wrote. “Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilised by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone?”
Pope Francis also emphasised the importance of journeying together, saying Christians are called to walk “side by side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded.”
Christians, he said, should reflect on whether they are open to others or focused only on their own needs.
The Pope called on Christians to journey together in hope toward Easter, living out the central message of the Jubilee Year: “Hope does not disappoint.”
FULL STORY
This Lent, compare your life to a migrant’s, Pope says (By Justin McLellan, CNS)
