By Malin Jordan
The B.C. Catholic

As Ash Wednesday approaches this week, the season of Lent is upon us. This year Pope Benedict XVI released a message to the faithful about this rich liturgical season.

Called "You were buried with Christ in Baptism," the letter conveys a profound message from the Holy Father and, at nine pages, offers wonderful insights into Lent. (The entire message can be found in this Op-Ed section.)

The document describes the usual purpose of the Lenten season, that it is one of preparation and purification through prayer, almsgiving, fasting and abstinence, and penitence.

But what is intriguing about the Holy Father's message is that he seems to be calling the faithful to be baptized.

"Baptism is not a rite from the past, but the encounter with Christ, which informs the entire existence of the baptized, imparting divine life and calling for sincere conversion."

He adds that the Church has always associated baptism with Easter. "This sacrament realizes the great mystery in which man dies to sin, is made a sharer in the new life of the risen Christ, and receives the same Spirit of God Who raised Jesus from the dead."

In the message the Pope also writes, "the Lenten journey reveals our condition as human beings here on earth," reinforcing his message of the journey of life in baptism.

But the Holy Father also calls the faithful "to retrace the steps of Christian initiation." He says the Church, through the Sunday Gospel readings, calls catechumens to prepare to be reborn through baptism. And it calls the baptized to take "new and decisive steps" as followers of Christ to come into a "fuller giving" of themselves to Him.

But what does the Bishop of Rome intend by this message? Or what exactly is he asking of the faithful? I understand what it means for catechumens, but how do the already baptized take these new steps? Is the Holy Father calling for the baptized to line up at the Easter Vigil behind the catechumens?

I doubt it. But I think he's asking for renewal - renewal in homes, churches, schools, communities, and lives. Renewal of baptism and what it calls the baptized to do and be in life. Renewal through the 40-day Lenten journey as it reflects the longer journey through life and faith.

By paying particular attention to our "self-centred relationship with the world" in his Lenten message, the Holy Father reinforces this idea of an ever-present need for renewal.

"By immersing ourselves into the death and resurrection of Christ through the sacrament of baptism, we are moved to free our hearts every day from the burden of material things." This materialism impoverishes us, he adds, preventing us from participating in that renewal.

Through this renewal he calls us to reaffirm our commitment and profess again our beliefs, writing, "Without the light of faith, the entire universe finishes shut within a tomb devoid of any future, any hope."

I believe the Pope's notion here of a faith renewal is his call to shine that light into the darkness of the tomb.

And maybe that is his overall request of the faithful this year. Be that light this Lenten season as we gives alms. Be that light as we pray. Be that light as we fast. Be that light as we are penitent. Be that light of hope that comes from a renewal of baptism. Be that light as we die to our old life and rise to embrace a new one.

He concludes, "Easter leads us to rediscover our baptism ... let us renew our acceptance of the grace that God bestowed upon us at that moment, so it may illuminate and guide our actions."

The B.C. Catholic will have a list of penitential services throughout the archdiocese, listed by deanery, in the April 4 edition.