Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
During the Lenten season of penance, we as a Church unite ourselves to Jesus’ forty days of fasting in the desert and meditate upon His ultimate sacrifice on the Cross. Lent can be a somber time as we ponder and participate in Christ’s suffering, but we are not abandoning the joyful hope of this Jubilee Year for the next forty days. Because Lent draws our attention and our hearts ever closer to Christ and His Cross, it is especially a season of ever-deepening Hope.
Our hope as Christians comes from Christ’s sacrifice. The virtue of hope helps us desire and strive towards Heaven as our fullest happiness, and Heaven is only available to us because Christ entered our weakness and vanquished sin and death. Because Jesus has already experienced and defeated the worst of what life has to offer, our hope, from and in Him, carries us through the darkest of times.
The letter to the Hebrews describes that “we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.” The Gospels describe how Jesus encountered temptation during his desert fast: He was tempted by pleasure when the Devil offered Him bread, power when the Devil offered Him kingdoms, and pride when the Devil suggested that He abandon His God-given purpose. All our own temptations can be boiled down to these same things: pleasure, power, and pride. Jesus was presented with them all—and beat them all.
To spend Lent walking with Jesus in the desert is not just to hone our own self-discipline. It is also to accompany the Victor in this battle. Lent is a reminder that Christ has vanquished the Tempter for us, so indeed we have hope even in our struggle. When we inevitably face our own weakness this Lenten Season, we will see the need to place our hope in the God who has already assumed and defeated that weakness.
During Vespers (Evening Prayer) from Palm Sunday through Holy Thursday, the Church traditionally sings the “Vexilla regis,” a hymn dating back to the sixth century. This prayer proclaims: “Hail, O Cross, our only hope!” This line can be a motto for us during this Lent of the Jubilee Year of Hope. We praise and exalt the Cross by which God brought His estranged children to Himself. We honor the Cross that is our path to eternal happiness.
Jesus tells us in the Gospels to pick up our crosses daily and follow Him. Often this may feel like a slog, dragging our burdens behind us as we strive to live holy lives. Even so, picking up our daily cross is our means to daily hope. Lent, by giving us extra occasions for penance and participation in Christ’s Cross, gives us even more opportunities to receive God’s gift of hope.
No matter what obstacles we encounter, even the most tragic of sufferings and most powerful of temptations, we can have hope because Christ has carried that Cross and is carrying it with us now. By our Baptism, Jesus has welcomed us into His life and grace, and He incorporates our suffering into His own. We may or may not see the signs of His victory in this life, but we will certainly see them in the next.
Please know that I will be praying for you this Lent. I invite you to join me in honoring the Cross, our only undefeatable hope, as we pick it up daily and follow Jesus.
Devotedly yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Alfred A. Schlert
Bishop of Allentown
For the Church’s regulations on fasting and abstinence, please click here.
