Drawing From The Source Of Love

In his 1994 Message for Lent, Saint John Paul II challenged the Church to make the Lenten season one of conversion and growth:

The Lenten Season is the acceptable time which the Lord gives us that we might take up anew our journey of conversion, grow in faith, hope and love, enter more fully into the Covenant willed by God and experience a season of grace and reconciliation.

His challenge is one that asks us to turn back to that relationship we were made for—to return “to the God from whom we have turned away.” The sainted pointiff invites all Chrstians to change their lives in this way, and so better orient themselves for receiving God’s grace and giving themselves as “leaven which gives rise in the heart of the human family…”

There can be no conversion—no turning back—without cultivating a life of prayer in one’s life and in the life of one’s family. Without prayer, one’s gifts can be misguided, lifeless, and hallow. As John Paul II wrote:

In their individual and community prayer [families] receive the Holy Spirit who comes to make all things new in them and through them, opening the hearts of the faithful to concern for all. Drawing from the source of love, all are enabled to transmit this love by their life and their actions.

The Holy Spirit gives purpose to our fasting, and He brings life to our almsgiving. He inspires us to grow in our relationship with God, and He strengthens us to lift up those who are suffering.

We can not make our Lent mean something. It is God who must do that! So let us turn to Him in prayer, and allow Him to guide our Lenten journeys.

For more on Lenten prayer in the family, see the Saint John Paul II National Shrine website.