Pax Christi International Co-Presidents' reflection on the beginning of Lent and Ramadan

With Ash Wednesday, today begins the Lent season, a time to dedicate to prayer and reflection. We enter this spirit through the reflections prepared by Sister Wamuyu Wachira and Bishop Colin Bagaforo, Co-Presidents of Pax Christi International.

As we await Holy Easter, we are called, like Jesus, to live a period of preparation, learning the value of silence and small daily sacrifices offered as commitment, so that we may approach the true joy of the Resurrection with humility.

Choosing to walk this path, Sister Wamuyu reminds us, means moving forward with faith and hope, bringing a message of peace even when everything around us seems uncertain, like the apostles who fished all night without catching anything.

Above all, Lent teaches us to listen to the prayers of our neighbour, sharing the beauty of fraternity. In this sense, it is significant that this year the beginning of Lent coincides with the start of Ramadan for our brothers and sisters of the Muslim faith.

Christianity and Islam, Bishop Colin reminds us, teach us a mutual dialogue of peace. Therefore, our faith cannot be separated from care for creation and its inhabitants. Pope Francis, in Laudato Si', reminds us that the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are one. The Qur'an teaches that humanity is called to be khalifa, steward of God's creation.

As part your Lenten observances, please consider a gift to Pax Christi International so we live and work for a Just Peace. Your support enables our efforts to educate for peace, tend to the world's wounds, and advocate for the poor and creation. We are so grateful for your past generosity, and thank you for considering a gift this Lent!

May this time of shared prayer make us, through listening and generosity, living witnesses of Just Peace, to be celebrated together in joy!

Read the reflections here:
https://paxchristi.net/pax-christi-international-co-presidents-reflection-on-the-beginning-of-lent-and-ramadan/