{"id":609245,"date":"2026-02-23T00:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/609245\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:32:18","slug":"lenten-retreat-preacher-opens-spiritual-exercises-in-the-vatican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/609245\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenten Retreat Preacher opens Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Lenten Spiritual Exercises for Pope Leo XIV, Cardinals residing in Rome, and heads of Dicasteries open on Sunday afternoon with the meditation of Trappist Bishop Erik Varden on the theme of \u201cEntering Lent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>By Deborah Castellano Lubov<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Spiritual Exercises for Lent in the Vatican began Sunday, February 22, at 5 p.m. in the Pauline Chapel, in the presence of Pope Leo XIV, Cardinals residing in Rome, and heads of Dicasteries.<\/p>\n<p>The annual Lenten Exercises will be preached by Bishop Erik Varden, on the theme \u201cIlluminated by a Hidden Glory.\u201d\u00a0The Cistercian of the Strict Observance (Trappists) has served as Bishop of Trondheim in Norway since 2019.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, he delivered his first reflection on the theme \u201cEntering Lent,\u201d publishing <a href=\"https:\/\/coramfratribus.com\/life-illumined\/entering-lent\/\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a summary of the discourse on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From Monday, February 23, until its conclusion on February 27, Bishop Varden will preach two meditations each day, one at 9:00 a.m., preceded by Mid-Morning Prayer, and at 5:00 p.m., followed by Eucharistic Adoration and Vespers.<\/p>\n<p>Two meditations on Saint Bernard are scheduled: \u201cSaint Bernard, the Idealist\u201d and \u201cSaint Bernard, the Realist,\u201d scheduled for the afternoon of February 26.\u00a0Other themes include: God\u2019s help; Becoming free; The splendor of truth; A thousand will fall; \u201cI will glorify Him\u201d; The angels of God; On consideration; concluding with the final meditation focused on \u201cCommunicating hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his remarks at the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises on Sunday, Bishop Varden stresses that\u00a0Lent confronts us with essentials: &#8220;it takes us, materially and symbolically, into a space stripped of superfluities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He notes that things apt to distract us, even things wholesome in themselves, are removed for a season, and reiterates how we are to embrace an abstinence of the senses.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, the Preacher underscores that Christians are to battle against vices and harmful passions, but to pursue and be people of peace.<\/p>\n<p>Before concluding, Bishop Varden cites St Bernard of Clairvaux as a model, who understood &#8220;what it means to live by grace as we fight evil, foster good, uphold truth, and follow the exodus path from unfreedom towards the land of promise&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He summons us,&#8221; the Preacher concludes, &#8220;to loving and clear-headed discipleship.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lenten Spiritual Exercises for Pope Leo XIV, Cardinals residing in Rome, and heads of Dicasteries open on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":609246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[261698,255502,50,3417,3419,103],"class_list":["post-609245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-esercizi-spirituali","tag-lent","tag-news","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-vatican","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116117133615798276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}