Although he was advanced in years and did not have to fast anymore, he fasted from the first day of Lent. The Holy Father did not eat meat or cold cuts – recalls Archbishop Mokrzycki. – Neither for breakfast nor for dinner. We were fasting along with him. But I remember that at first his symbolic fast was a surprise to me. I thought right away that the power of love for Christ was measured with such gestures. Throughout Lent, the Holy Father prepared for Easter. Many times, he said it was a holy time. And, that the Church sets out on the path in Lent time. This path leads to Passover day. And we – together with Christ – go through the desert. In his Messages for Lent, the Holy Father explained that for a Christian, crossing the desert is “a direct experience of our own smallness toward God.” And, at the same time “a deeper awareness of the presence of poor brothers.” Besides, this is what the Pope called us to do during Lent. He did it very emphatically, so our Lenten conversion will be done through “a concrete gesture of love shown to man in need.” He reminded us that we should see Christ in every weak, poor, needy, a one who needs to see Christ – says Archbishop Mokrzycki. “He recalled the words that Christ addresses us: “I was poor, I was abandoned, and you accepted me.” The Holy Father said what he did himself. He never passed by someone who needed help.
With the permission of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “A place for everybody”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013
