A Lent of Hope!

Lent does not specifically mean hope except this year when all teams from around the world prepare for Easter in the hope of tasting the victory of God’s love over the forces of evil. Let us remember that the Cross of Jesus did not bring death but life, and, that resurrection is the great sign of its victory. It opens wide the doors of the Kingdom and we can walk together as God's people towards the kingdom of love, peace and joy!

Our intercessory prayer for the world's salvation will be even more intense thanks to the dynamism of our hope. Let us not forget to pray for the victims of misfortune and for the persecuted Christians here and there in the world. Let us also not forget to go up to the end of our prayer for the conversion of the executioners! Peace will be obtained only when an end is brought to the infernal cycle of vengeance!

I also share with you a new reason for hope since my return from Gabon, Equatorial Africa. I could see the magnificent efforts of the Rosary Teams which have spread from the capital Libreville up to the other regions of the country. One last mission is scheduled in 2015 to go to Oyeme which is the only diocese that has no Rosary Team yet. The Teams now exist in the other five dioceses. Mary wants us to visit the rural population and the peripheries and to remember that she is the one who welcomes everybody!

May all the teams in the world remember the poor and isolated, and the despised of the great capitals! For we are all missionaries. I salute the Rosary Teams of Gabon who stimulate us all in the name of the hope that is in us!

Good Lent and Good Hope!