Pope Francis: In Lent, compare your life to a migrant’s

The Pope called this a way to grow in empathy and discover God’s call to compassion.

“It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathise with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father,” the Pope wrote.

The message, with a signature date of February 6, before the Pope was hospitalised on February 14 for treatment of double pneumonia, was released by the Vatican on February 25.

Reflecting on the theme “Let us journey together in hope”, the Pope said that Lent is a time to confront both personal and collective struggles with faith and compassion.

Comparing the Lenten journey to the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, he recalled “our brothers and sisters who in our own day are fleeing situations of misery and violence in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones”.

“A first call to conversion thus comes from the realisation that all of us are pilgrims in this life,” he wrote.

“Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilised by fear and hopelessness, or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone?”

Pope Francis also emphasised the importance of journeying together, saying Christians are called to walk “side by side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded”.

Christians, he said, should reflect on whether they are open to others or focused only on their own needs.

The Pope called on Christians to journey together in hope toward Easter, living out the central message of the Jubilee Year: “Hope does not disappoint.”

FULL STORY

This Lent, compare your life to a migrant’s, pope says – OSV News (By Justin McLellan/CNS)

POPE’S LENT MESSAGE 2025

Lent 2025: Let us journey together in hope | Francis Vatican.va