Lent is gift of Joy, says visiting Jesuit Superior General

Prayer, contemplation, meditation and worship bring about our reconciliation with God.

Fr Arturo Sosa, Jesuit Superior General, celebrating Eucharist on first day of Lent at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune.

Pune:  Jesuit Superior General Father Arturo Sosa, who is on a visit to India, stressed the urgency of reconciliation with God, humanity and nature during his Ash Wednesday Mass in Pune.

“We need urgently to reconcile ourselves with God, fellow human beings and with nature,” Father Sosa said on March 6 while celebrating the Eucharist on the first day of the season of Lent at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV) seminary.

Father Sosa maintained that the season of Lent is a gift of joy.

Two words here are striking: gift and joy. Lent is God's gift to us, and it brings us great joy. The joy of returning to God — the God who fills us with joy, restores us and reconciles us with Himself, with all His children, and with all His creatures, he said.

He added that Jesus proposes very precise and practical steps to realize this reconciliation. The three steps are: prayer, fasting and alms-giving.”

The global head of Jesuits, also the JDV Chancellor, wanted the 1,100 staff and students of the seminary to engage with the three steps and “strive for the triple reconciliation — with God, with others, and with nature.”

Prayer, contemplation, meditation and worship bring about our reconciliation with God.

Alms-giving makes us aware of the poor--the millions struggling to “survive in our selfish world,” he said. Alms-giving means “not only giving what we have but…it also is self-giving. It reconciles us with all of humankind,” the Jesuit said.

Fasting creates an awareness of God's generosity through the gifts of nature. “Fasting could help us to be reconciled with mother earth (creation) and with all God's creatures,” Father Sosa added.

The president of JDV Father Selva Rathinam welcomed Father Sosa explaining the service of the major seminary.

The JDV has 800 students and 33 professors in its faculties of Philosophy and Theology. The students represent 82 dioceses and 83 different religious congregations.

Father Francis Gonsalves, Dean of theology faculty, introduced the superior general.

Jesuit’s South Asian provincial and JDV vice-chancellor Father George Pattery and Papal Seminary Rector Father Bhausaheb Sansares joined others to felicitate Father Sosa.

Two of his General Assistants--Father Lisbert D’Souza and Father Vernon D’Cunha---and Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, Delegate for the International Houses in Rome, are accompanying Father Sosa.

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