Lent 2010
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Pope's Lent message:
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| Conversion to Christ gives people the strength to break the bonds of selfishness and work for justice in the world, Pope Benedict XVI said in his message for Lent 2010. |
| "The Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love," the pope said in the message released Feb. 4 at the Vatican. |
| Latin-rite Catholics begin Lent Feb. 17 while most Eastern-rite Catholics begin the penitential season Feb. 15. |
| The theme of the pope's message was "The Justice of God Has Been Manifested through Faith in Jesus Christ." |
| The common understanding of "justice," the pope said, is to give each person his or her due. |
| But because people are created in God's image, they not only need food, water, shelter and jobs; they need God and they need love, he said. |
| The greatest sign of God's love is the gift of salvation in Christ. When people accept that gift, the pope said, they recognize that they are dependent on God. |
| "Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one's own need - the need of others and God, the need of his forgiveness and his friendship," the pope wrote. |
| Read the Pope's full message |
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