Scaling the Mountain

On this Ash Wednesday, the Church embarks on the liturgical season of Lent. During these 40 days of fasting in preparation for Easter, Pope Benedict XVI calls us to meditate on the relationship between faith and charity. In his Lenten Message, he writes:

Lent invites us, through the traditional practices of the Christian life, to nourish our faith by careful and extended listening to the word of God and by receiving the sacraments, and at the same time to grow in charity and in love for God and neighbor, not least through the specific practices of fasting, penance and almsgiving.

One way to nourish our faith is by reflecting on the final earthly journey of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. We face His Passion and Death every time we gaze upon the Crucifix, but during the penitential season of Lent, it is fitting that we become more familiar with the loving sacrifice Jesus made for us during His final test.

We will meditate on the Stations of the Cross here on Open Wide the Doors throughout these next 40 Days, following the steps of Blessed John Paul II in the Holy Year 2000.  Reflecting on Our Lord’s Passion will nourish our faith and give us the strength to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light…” (Rom 13: 12). In his Lenten message, Pope Benedict says:

The Christian life consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love.

Lets us scale the mountain together, then, so that we may bear the love and strength drawn from Our God.