A time of renewal

The season of Lent opens on Ash Wednesday and continues until the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. The universally recognised symbol of the opening of Lent is the accepting of ashes as a sign of our willingness to do penance for sin. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting (the amount of food) and abstinence (the type of food, i.e. abstaining from meat).

Lent is a time of grace which leads to personal and communal renewal. Personal renewal must deal with our individual life story. Communal renewal can apply to many levels. I recommend for Lent 2010 that the communal dimension of renewal concentrate on the many aspects of the first priority of the Archdiocesan Synod: Christian Family Become What You Are.

I invite the Archdiocese to accept the season of Lent, starting from Ash Wednesday, as a gift of the Lord and to persevere in the process of conversion and renewal throughout Lent. Only then can Easter be celebrated for what it is: an event of victory, freedom and joy.

+ Edward J. Gilbert CSsR.

Archbishop of Port of Spain