” “May Lent "be a time of reflection and intensive prayer in which we let ourselves be guided by God’s Word". May it be "a time of fasting, penance and watch over ourselves, convinced that the fight against sin never ends, because temptation is an everyday’s fact and delusion is everyone’s experience". And may it be, "through alms-giving, an opportunity for the sincere sharing of the gifts received with our brothers and care for the needs of the pooor and forsaken". These are the guidelines given by Benedict XVI to make the most of the forty days of Lent, which open today with Ash Wednesday Mass. The Pope spoke of that today, during the Wednesday catechesis in Saint Peter’s Square before approximately 12 thousand devotees as he went into the details of the Lenten journey as a "walk of reflection and prayer with all the Christians of the world to move spiritually towards the Calvary, while meditating on the focal mysteries of faith". Benedict XVI explained the meanings of the "austere and symbolic gesture" of the laying of the ash and the two formulas to go with it: “Remember you are dust, and dust you will turn to” (cf Gn 3,19) and “Convert yourselves and believe in the Gospel” (Mc 1,15). The former recalls "the human condition, placed under the sign of transience and limitation, and mean to make us place all our hopes in God only", said the Pope, while the latter is "an invitation to have a firm and trustful adherence to the Gospel as the foundation of our personal and community renewal". (to be continued)” “
