This Lent has, so far, been one of the most difficult and scary in memory for our family, our community, and our world.  When Lent began, the pandemic was on its way but still largely unknown.  As Denise and I thought of a Lenten resolve, we wanted something beyond giving up wine or food.  We settled on daily readings, done together and aloud, from Saint John Paul II’s 1994 book Crossing the Threshold of Hope.  We tried to time our readings to complete the book by Easter.  And so, on the morning of Good Friday, as we remembered the Day that Changed the World, we found ourselves at the chapter entitled “Be Not Afraid.”  We had great difficulty completing the chapter without breaking down.  Here are a few quotes from that chapter for you to consider as you complete your Lenten journey.

When, on October 22, 1978, I said the words “Be not afraid!” in St. Peter’s square, I could not fully know how far they would take me and the entire Church. …  In a certain sense it was an exhortation addressed to all people, an exhortation to conquer fear in the present world situation, as much in the East as in the West, as much in the North as in the South.

Why should we have no fear?  Because man has been redeemed by God.  When pronouncing these words in St. Peter’s square, I already knew that my first encyclical and my entire papacy would be tied to the truth of the Redemption.  In the Redemption we find the most profound basis for the words “Be not afraid!”: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (cf. Jn 3:16).  This Son is always present in the history of humanity as Redeemer.  The Redemption pervades all of human history, even before Christ, and prepares its eschatological future.  It is the light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (cf. Jn 1:5).  The power of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection is greater than any evil which man could or should fear.

At the end of the second millennium, we need, perhaps more than ever, the words of the Risen Christ: “Be not afraid!” … Peoples and nations of the entire world need to hear these words.  Their conscience needs to grow in the certainty that Someone exists who holds in His hands the destiny of this passing world;  Someone who holds the keys to death and the netherworld (cf. Rev 1:18).  Someone who is the Alpha and the Omega of human history (cf. Rev 22:13).  And this Someone is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) – Love that became man, Love crucified and risen, Love unceasingly present among men.  It is Eucharistic Love.  It is the infinite source of communion.  He alone can give the ultimate assurance when He says “Be not afraid!”

There is every reason for the truth of the Cross to be called the Good News.

Like to end this with a rendition of a favorite Holy Week song, enjoy!

Canticle of the Free (1)