The Retreat Begins....

From this morning's Angelus:

The Lenten season, which started with Ash Wednesday, is “a good time for a thorough evaluation of one’s life in reflection, prayer and penitence”, the pope said today....

Turning to the gospel of the day, which is about Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, “where he overcame the temptations of Satan” (cfr Mk 1:12-13), the pope exhorted Christians to follow “their Teacher and Lord… to face together with Him ‘the struggle against the spirit of evil’.” He said: “The desert is rather an eloquent metaphor of the human condition.” The pope also recalled the experience of the people of Israel who, after liberation from Egypt, spent 40 years in the desert. “During that long journey, the Jews experienced all the forcefulness and insistence of the tempter, who urged them to lose faith in the Lord and to turn back; but, at the same time, thanks to the mediation of Moses, they learned to listen to the voice of God, who was calling them to become his holy people.”

“In order to fully attain life in freedom,” he added, “the test brought by freedom itself, that is, temptation, must be overcome. Only free from the slavery of deceit and sin, can the human being, thanks to the obedience of faith which opens him to the truth, discover the full sense of his existence and reach peace, love and joy.”

The Lenten Spiritual Exercises for the Pope and the Curia begin at 1800 Rome time (noon ET) tonight, so expect a very slow news week from Oltretevere.

As previously mentioned, the preacher for the retreat is Cardinal Marco Cé, the retired Patriarch of Venice. Cé has chosen as his theme "Walking with Jesus Toward Easter, Led by Mark the Evangelist Mark."

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