Malanje, 16 February, 2024 / 8:54 pm (ACI Africa).
There is much “more” to the Lenten Season than the “simple preparation” for the celebration of Easter, Archbishop Luzizila Kiala of the Catholic Archdiocese of Malanje in Angola has said.
Speaking at Holy Mass for the opening of the National Meeting of Liturgy Coordinators in Angola, Archbishop Kiala emphasized the need to practice “new life in the spirit” during the Lenten Season.
“More than a simple preparation for Easter, Lent is a rehearsal for new life in the spirit; a time to break with all the expressions of evil that exist in us, burying the old man; a time to open ourselves to the ever-new life that springs from the cross,” he said.
The Angolan Catholic Archbishop went on to describe the period of Lent as “a time to repent of our sins and to change something about ourselves so that we can be better and live closer to God.”
“Christians should therefore withdraw for reflection and to draw closer to God; this search includes prayer, almsgiving, charity and fasting,” Archbishop Kiala said during the Friday, February 16 Eucharistic celebration at the chapel of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) in the Archdiocese of Luanda.
