“Through the desert, God leads us to freedom” was the motto of our Pope Francis for Lent 2024.
To leave slavery, and on the way let ourselves be led by God, learning from our mistakes; a life full of events and people we meet, or who accompany us in our daily Nazareth.
The Lord calls us in this Lent 2025 not to escape from the realities of the world, of which we are a part. To leave the bubble of our ideas, our certainties… The Lord wants us to be happy, not to be winners; dedicated, and not victims; attentive to others, not bodyguards of ourselves; children of the light, not dazzled by anything.
During Lent, God can push us to review our life as human beings in a wounded world, as believers in Jesus (members of the Church) and as brother within our fraternity.
In our world
In difficult situations, which we believe to be impossible to resolve, we discover our helplessness and even our anger at the grave injustices suffered by humanity. Or, on the contrary, we approach the situations with peace. “He lifts the poor from the garbage” (1 Sam 2:8), was written 1,100 years before Christ.It is very difficult for us to look to the future of humanity with optimism. Polarization, as a resource of the powerful, of the god of money, reaches politics, culture, the Church, the world of work, all areas. They want us to be nervous, tense, without thinking or analyzing reality.
How do I help the poor people around me to rise from the rubbish? How do I find myself in the rubbish of my own home, of my interior? Do I find strength in my faith, in myself, in my trust in others, in my trust in God?
In our Church
Children of the light is not just a very beautiful expression. As baptized people and as priests we are called to be children and witnesses of the Light. “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness” (1 Thess 5:5), but sometimes hopes fade, as do the reasons for being happy sharing the light that we carry within us and the light of the Gospel. It is possible that there is weariness or disillusionment in our lives. The light of Jesus, the Risen One, never goes out.
How do I position myself in the Church, with the calls from the Synod, with the hope of a renewed Church? What light do I receive from the Church, my diocese, my parish? Do I have any lamp that is no longer useful, that does not give light in my life? Do I put out the light of others?
In our fraternity
Fraternity is the human space to express ourselves as we are, without disguises.
It is not a group of single friends who meet. Fraternity helps us to live a spirituality and a practice based on the intuitions of Charles de FOUCAULD: contemplation, action, work, dedication to the poorest, Nazareth style in personal and pastoral life, shared life in meetings, in the review of life, worship and desert. “Have the same mind toward one another” (Rom 12,16a) Fraternity is a human wealth shared among priests called to evangelize. Our fraternity is not a religious congregation, and much less a robotic style of belonging to a group in the charism of Charles de FOUCAULD.
What do I find in my fraternity to be faithful to Jesus’ call? Is fraternal encounter a priority for me? Based on my life and my realities, what do I contribute, what do I give? Do I know how to listen to my brothers, do I care for them, how do I help? Fraternity is plural: how do I live the differences between one another? How has fraternity changed me internally as a man and as a priest?
Aurelio SANZ BAEZA,
fraternity of Murcia
PDF: Proposal a LIVE REVIEW. Lent 2025, Aurelio SANZ BAEZA en