All of us have heard over and over again that Lent is the period in the calendar of the Church in which we dedicate ourselves to personal transformation. Unfortunately year after year we have tried but the evidence of personal transformation remains very slight. Indeed many of us have given up hope of ever being transformed. To be people of transformation however, both of ourselves and others, we must be people of hope.
The Gospel passage given to us this week for our reflexion is a Gospel story that is very well known to all of us. We know it as a story of an ungrateful son and a very generous father. That is true and all of us can relate to experiences like that. We all know stories of ungrateful children and of extremely generous parents.
To understand the word Conclave and what is its significance in the election of a Pope, we should first take a look at a couple bible passages. The first one is Peter's profession of faith, when Jesus asked his disciples the questions, "who do people say that I am?" then, "who do you say I am?" To the second question Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Then Jesus made the proclamation, "you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the underworld shall never prevail against it." Jesus continues, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." (Matthew 16: 13 - 20)
Serene and Constructive' Ambience
