The spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia will begin on March 9, the First Sunday of Lent, at 5:00 pm Rome time in the Paul VI Hall. They will continue until March 14 “in spiritual communion” with Pope Francis, who is hospitalized at the Gemelli Polyclinic.
The Holy See Press Office said Father Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the Pontifical Household, will lead the meditations on the theme “The hope of eternal life.”
The Resurrection: Hope and comfort
The invitation to the spiritual exercises, issued by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, emphasizes that Christ’s resurrection, which promises eternal life to all, is “the hope, essence, and summit of the Christian faith proclaimed by the Council of Nicaea.” This belief, the text continues, “has been for centuries a source of comfort and guidance for humanity, illuminating the ultimate meaning of existence.” Over time, however, “a sort of dust has settled on this promise, with a veil obscuring its deeper significance.”
In this “special Lent, celebrated in the Jubilee Year,” the statement continues, “we wish to contemplate eternal life not as something that will happen one day, but as a grace that already illuminates our existence.” The trials and sufferings that “continue to mark humanity’s journey,” the invitation concludes, are “only the shadow of a glory waiting to be revealed in us: the promise of eternity to which God has called us from the beginning.”
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