Lenten Campaign 2025
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Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, issued a letter on Tuesday urging his flock to commit to the Lenten values of fasting, reconciliation, and prayer as they continue to cope with the ongoing conflicts in the region.
Lent this year, said Cardinal Pizzaballa, “can indeed become a jubilee, that is, a time of consolation and reconciliation for this land of ours.”
He made this observation in reference to the ongoing Jubilee 2025 celebrations of the entire Church.
The patriarch acknowledged that the "temptation of resignation is great” due to the ongoing conflict, but “we want to dare to hope, which is the daughter of faith.”
The cross of Christ, said Pizzaballa, is “the heart of Easter,” and he encouraged the faithful to meditate on Christ’s passion and to visit the sites where the events occurred, if they can.
“May the Crucified One shine in new light before our eyes, who here in this land, took our sin upon himself, even more.”
The Holy Land, said Pizzaballa, is “the place where the great hope of the Church and the world is born and founded: The violent words of rancor and hatred, the presumptuous speeches of conflict and recrimination cannot prevent God from speaking the word of reconciliation in Christ.”
Lent, noted Cardinal Pizzaballa, is an opportunity for the faithful to “listen, once again to the word of grace and forgiveness.”
This coming Easter is not just a memory of the resurrection of Christ, he said, but is a “living and present memorial of God’s grace.”
The graces and forgiveness that come from the cross, said the patriarch, “may seem like foolishness to the powerful and wise of this world and of our time.”
Yet, the Way of the Cross, said Cardinal Pizzaballa, calls for people of all ages and states of life to renew their way of thinking and their attitude.
“Only in this way can we hope for a future in peace,” he said.
“If we acknowledge and confess our sin, the evil we indulge in and which leads us astray from the way of the Lord, if we receive the grace of the sacrament which transforms us from enemies to friends and from sinners to the righteous, if we rediscover ourselves as forgiven, accepted and loved, then we will be more ready to accept, love and forgive the enemy too.”
Sacrament of Confession
The cardinal further encouraged the faithful to partake in the sacrament of reconciliation during Lent, and to engage in fasting and almsgiving.
“We become men and women of reconciliation and peace to the extent that we are also willing to give up even what is rightfully ours, so that love and forgiveness can shine as our way of life,” he said.
The patriarch noted that it “would be superfluous” to repeat the struggles that have plagued the Holy Land since the war began, but “we cannot fail to hear the desire, indeed the cry for reconciliation, emanating from so many people and situations that have been wounded, humiliated and offended by the violence and evil that has affected us.”
“In the duel between Death and Life the Lord of Life won and His victorious love has triumphed. Let us fight the good fight of faith with Him, in the sure hope that our Christian witness and our ministry of reconciliation will bear fruit!”
The physical land is not the only thing that has been devastated by violence, he said, adding there is a “devastation of the heart, of relationships, of people, that cries out to be rebuilt.”
“We Christians, who glory in the Cross of Christ, reconciled to God, are called to reconcile with one another and then spread words, gestures, and styles of reconciliation.”
