On the evening of Thursday 12 March 2026, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, delivered the sermon for the diocesan spiritual exercises at Verona Cathedral.

Drawing on the words from the Gospel of Matthew (6:6), he gave a reflection on Lent, presenting it as a choreography consisting of three steps, corresponding to the verbs in St Matthew’s verse: enter, shut the door, pray to your Father.

“Enter” represents the transition from externality to the interiority, through which we can embrace listening to the Word of God.

“Shut the door” is the act of courage with which we present ourselves before God in our poverty.

“Pray to your Father” is the invitation to surrender and entrust ourselves to the Father who loves us.

On the second evening of Friday 13 March, he addressed the theme of the fragility underlying family relationships through the parable in Luke 15:11–32, from which emerges the figure of a father who teaches his children the value of forgiveness and mercy, emphasising how this is also the mission of the whole Church.

Finally, on Saturday 14 March 2026, he brought this series of spiritual exercises to a close with an invitation to contemplate Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11), the place of bare truth before God, to remind us that we cannot live without the Eucharistic bread, which is the school of gift and love; that Jesus trusts so much that he even abandons himself to the mystery of God’s silence, knowing that God is capable of transforming all things; and that Jesus chooses only the power of the cross, of the gift, of the choice of the least, and of openness to brotherhood.

Bishop Domenico Pompili expressed his heartfelt thanks to Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça for his presence and his words: “May the Lord bless your work aimed at building bridges between faith and culture, between faith and education.”