“Those who walk the Lenten path are always on the path of conversion”. Pope Francis said this off the cuff during his Ash Wednesday audience today, explaining to a crowd of 10,000 faithful present in St Peter’s Square that “Lent lives on this dynamic: Christ precedes us with His exodus, and we cross the desert thanks to Him and behind Him”. “He is tempted for us – the Pontiff continued –, He conquered the Tempter for us, but we too, together with Him, have to face temptations and overcome them”. “He gives us the living water of His Spirit, and we have to draw from His spring and drink, in the Sacraments, in prayer, in Adoration. He is the light that conquers darkness, and we are called to keep alive the small flame that we received on the day of our Baptism”. In this sense, Lent is a “sacramental sign of our conversion, of our journey from slavery to freedom, which we have to renew time and again”. “Sure, it is a demanding journey, and rightly so, because love is demanding, but it is a journey full of hope”, Pope Francis remarked. “I would even say that the Lenten exodus is the journey that shapes hope itself”. “The effort to cross the desert – all the trials, temptations, illusions, mirages – all this contributes to shaping a strong and firm hope, like that of the Virgin Mary, who in the darkness of His Son’s passion and death continued to believe and hope in His resurrection, in the victory of God’s love”, Pope Francis said, referring to the Lenten journey that begins today. “With our hearts open to this horizon, let us enter Lent today”, he invited the faithful: “Let us feel part of the holy people of God; let us begin with joy this journey of hope today!”.