Traditionally, the head of the Catholic Church sends a message to the faithful on the eve of Lent. In his message for Lent 2024, Pope Francis is inspired by the Exodus, this moment when the Hebrew people crossed the desert for 40 years. Lent, which lasts 40 days, is commonly referred to as a journey through the desert.
→ Download Pope Francis’ message for Lent 2024 “God leads us through the desert to freedom” (Pdf)
Commandments and freedom
At a time when religion is often perceived as a set of prohibitions and obligations, the sovereign pope reminds that the ten commandments were given to Moses during the crossing of the first desert “strong call to freedom”.
“God educates his people so that they come out of slavery and experience the transition from death to life”, writes Pope Francis. Thus, Lent is a way of freedom, as God freed his people from Egyptian slavery. “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Ex. 20, 2).
“See reality”
“For our Lent to be so concrete, the first step is to want to see reality”, writes Pope Francis. Like God in the Book of Exodus, “who sees and above all who listens”believers are invited to hear “cry out so many oppressed brothers and sisters”. “Does it shake us? asks papa Is he driving us?”
The head of the Catholic Church invites us to think about what makes us “insensitive” – “We have an inexplicable nostalgia for slavery”, He said. Asking what prevents us from seeing reality is the same as asking: what are we enslaved to?
The Pope highlights idolatry – the most serious sin in the Jewish tradition. To believe, for example, is that we can “do everything, be recognized by everyone, have an advantage over everyone”. Or “to hold on to money, to certain projects, to ideas, to goals, to one’s position, to tradition, even to certain people”…
Faced with this, the Pope recalls the three pillars of Lent : prayer, fasting, charity. They “not three independent exercises, but one movement of opening, of liberation: no more idols that burden us, no more attachments that close us.”
We are witnessing the third world war in pieces. Let’s risk thinking that we are not in agony, but on the contrary in childbirth; not at the end, but at the beginning of a great play. That takes courage
Take over his responsibilities
Like the Hebrew people in the desert, During Lent, Catholics are called to grow in freedom and be responsible. “The desert is a space where our freedom can mature into a personal decision not to fall back into slavery.”
The head of the Catholic Church believes in his own “duty” from “condemn the lack of hope”. He reiterates this message to young people during World Youth Day in Lisbon in August 2023: “At this turning point in history, the challenges are enormous, the groans are painful. We are witnessing the third world war in pieces. Let us take the risk of thinking that we are not in agony, but on the contrary in birth; no, not at the end, but at the beginning of a great play. It takes courage .”