Pope says Lenten practices like fasting express faith, not burden

Published: 2006-02-27

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Lenten practices like fasting should be experienced as an expression of faith, not as a difficult burden, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope made his remarks at the Vatican Feb. 26, three days before he was to open the Lenten season with an Ash Wednesday liturgy in Rome. "During this period, one abstains from singing 'Alleluia,' and people are invited to practice appropriate forms of penitential sacrifice," he said. "The time of Lent should not be faced with an old spirit, as if it were a heavy and bothersome burden, but with the new spirit of one who has found in Jesus and in his mystery the meaning of life and understands that everything now refers to him," he said. The pope was preparing for his own Lenten retreat March 5-11. During that time, papal appointments are canceled and the pontiff joins Roman Curia officials twice a day to pray and listen to Lenten sermons.

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