From masks to faces” “

Ash Wednesday (9 February) marks the opening of Lent, which will see all the churches engaged in various activities and projects, a large part of them with the aim of helping modern man to rediscover the values of prayer, renunciation and sharing. Below we present some of these proposals. BELGIUM: PRAYER, FASTING AND SHARING. “Carnival is a time of masks, in which we laugh at the ‘human comedy’; Lent is a time of faces, in which we try to strip off those masks that are glued to our skin and rediscover ‘the child’ that is hidden inside each one of us”, write the bishops of Belgium in their message for Lent. The Belgian bishops appeal to their faithful to embark on a “triple process of prayer, fasting and sharing” during Lent. “Praying is far more than reciting prayers – say the bishops –; praying means taking the time to place oneself in the presence of God. Lent reminds us of the need for man to find the time for what is important and what takes precedence in his life. Trying to find a moment to say ‘stop’ and place oneself in the presence of God is not a luxury, but a question of spiritual survival”. In this regard the bishops suggest “personal prayer as well as collective prayer, in the parish and in the family”. But they also urge “recourse to the sacrament of Reconciliation and to the Eucharist”. Referring to fasting, the bishops invite Catholics, during Lent, “to make a specific commitment, renouncing a small pleasure, such as a glass of wine, or chocolates, or going to the cinema, or shopping, speaking less and listening more”. It is but a short step from renunciation to sharing: “sharing means deferring to others, dedicating time and energy to the lonely, or sharing one’s own resources with those most in need”. Austria: IN DEFENCE OF LIFE. A pastoral letter on the defence of life has been written by Archbishop Alois Kothgasser of Salzburg for Lent 2005. With the title “New threats to human life”, the letter tackles the problems caused by the new prospects of scientific and technological progress, which are giving rise to “new forms of attacks on human dignity such as abortion and euthanasia”. In countering all this, “the Church must give a voice to those who don’t have any. She must strenuously reaffirm the value of human life and its inviolability. In a period in which the inviolable rights of the persons are being solemnly affirmed and the value of life publicly enunciated, in practice the same right to life, in birth and in death, is repudiated and repressed. These attacks constitute a fundamental threat to the whole culture of human rights”. According to Kothgasser, “abortion and euthanasia are crimes: no human law can arrogate to itself the right to declare them legal. As Christians we have the duty to discover and oppose the tendencies contrary to children. The Church and society will also be judged by their attitude to children, born or unborn”. The letter underlines the “signs of hope in the commitment to life: families, organizations and movements committed to the defence of life and the ‘new sensibility’ of public opinion in large part contrary to war and to the death penalty. We cannot – concludes Monsignor Kothgasser – abort our future. We must build it together”. ITALY: BETWEEN LOVE AND FEAR. Five fears experienced by the young today and five examples of love experienced as an antidote to them: on the opposition between them is based “Between Love and Fear”, a virtual journey for Lent that will begin on 9 February, Ash Wednesday, and continue for all five Sundays of Lent. Proposed by the website www.gmg2005.it, the official portal of World Youth Day in Cologne, promoted by the national Service for youth ministry of the Italian episcopate in collaboration with www.giovani.org site of the Forum of Italian Catholic Youth Clubs, this Lenten journey is routed through five fears experienced by young people today: the fear of the future, of loneliness, of death, of the loss of our loved ones and of the judgement of others, and the experience of five Saints, expression of love in practice that is the antidote to them. The five saints are the models entrusted by the Pope to the youth of the world in preparation for WYD in Cologne: St. Albert the Great, St. Boniface, St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), St. Ursula and the Blessed Father Kolping. “We are used in Christian life to coupling as antithetical terms love and hate, whereas in this Lent we will try to consider the Gospel under the dichotomy love and fear”, says Father Marco Sanavio, webmaster of the site, “by placing the emphasis on the fact that often Christ’s proposal of love is blocked, distorted or even rejected by the fear of those to whom it is addressed”. The reflections of the Lenten journey are daily. They can be found on the website www.gmg2005.it but will be sent by e-mail to those who request it, simply by sending an empty mail to the address: quaresima-subscribe@yahoogroups.com