The missionary scope of Lent

We feel the missionary significance of Lent, not to distract us from working on ourselves, but to open it up to many anxious and well-meaning people who are seeking ways to authentically renew their lives, with a view to the Kingdom of God and his justice. The rite of ashes acts as a "severe reminder of the Truth." This gesture surprises modern man, but the ashes remind us of "the weight of a world on fire, of entire cities destroyed by war. They symbolize the ashes of international law and justice among peoples, the ashes of entire ecosystems and harmony among people, the ashes of critical thinking and ancient local wisdom, the ashes of that sense of the Sacred that dwells in every creature. Through the ashes, the Church invites the faithful to "call death by its name," to "bear its signs," but then to "bear witness to the Resurrection": this means not stopping at the ashes but rising up and rebuilding. Then, "the Easter Triduum will release all its beauty and meaning. It will do so by committing us, through penance, to the passage from death to life, from powerlessness to the possibilities of God.