Zagreb, (IKA) – For the Archdiocese of Zagreb, the Lenten season has been filled this year with special contents connected with new evangelization, specifically the City Missions initiative. As bearers of the Good News, there were encounters and pilgrimages involving young people, engaged couples, catechists and educators, athletes, veterans, medical personnel and catechumens in the Zagreb cathedral, writes Cardinal Bozanić in his Easter message. There were also meetings with nuns and artists. After Lent, there are plans for meetings with journalists and media professionals.
“This year’s Lenten journey was powerfully interwoven with prayer and liturgical celebrations, with emphasis on penitential liturgy and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, i.e., Holy Confession. Great devotion by the faithful to the Way of the Cross was evident. During Lent, this devotion had a special characteristic in the parishes because we found ourselves before the Cross of Stepinac, a Christian symbol that speaks of the credibility of the life of a believer, bishop and martyr, to whom the life of our Church was closely connected,” said the cardinal.
The new evangelization wants to bring joy to our neighbor. It wants to proclaim hope to him and be an expression of God’s love as manifested in the Crucified and Risen Christ. “He who has encountered Christ and entrusted his life to him can speak appropriately about him but at the same time can easily recognize when to proclaim the Word and when to remain silent.”
Cardinal Bozanić reminisced about the experience of the encounter with Pope Benedict XVI in Zagreb. “It was the Easter season. It was a time when our hearts burned. In the celebrations that we happily recollect, there was an inspired silence during the adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on Ban Josip Jelačić Square. … This is one of the most difficult experiences for people of today. In our depths, we find the anxiety of loneliness and the necessity for us to answer certain questions by ourselves.”
The Archbishop also recalled in his Easter message how “in October of last year, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated the Year of Faith. It will be placed within the broader context of the new evangelization, the center of which remains in our encounter with the Risen Christ. This encounter is given to us in the most sublime manner in the Eucharist. The Eucharist brings us the transforming power of the Resurrection. It breaks the chains of the present, not fleeing from it.”
At the end of his message, Cardinal Bozanić urged everyone to remember those who had inspired them with goodness and conveyed their faith in Christ to them. “Include them in your prayers. Approach the celebration of God’s presence that forgives. Dare to examine your lives by the light of the Resurrection in the Sacrament of Holy Confession (Reconciliation) and rejoice in new life in the Eucharist.”