"The journey of Lent is an exodus, an exodus from slavery to freedom." Pope Francis

When the Israelites left their bondage in Egypt, they began the important journey, not only to physical freedom from slavery but spiritual freedom from the hardness of their hearts, sin. We are called into that same freedom from the bondage of sin to the grace of freedom in Christ. Even after forty years in the desert of purification, they were not yet perfect in their relationship with God. Even after our forty days in the Lenten journey, we will not yet be fully alive in Christ. But the sins we are to die to through our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, hopefully will not have the same impact on our lives after Easter. There will always be sins to be confronted in our lives. But hopefully we will be making progress from one Lent to the next, as we seek to enter into a deeper relationship with God.