Reflect and prepare

'Dear brothers and sisters, during Lent,
aided by the Word of God,
let us reflect upon how important it is
that each community accompany with loving understanding
those who grow old.

'Moreover, one must become accustomed
to thinking confidently about the mystery of death,
so that the definitive encounter with God
occur in a climate of interior peace, in the awareness
that He "who knit me in my mother's womb" (cf. Psalm 139:13b)
and who willed us "in his image and likeness" (cf. Gen. 1:26)
will receive us.'

John Paul II
from his Message for Lent 2005