Fighting against evil, against every form of selfishness and hate, and dying to oneself to live in God, is the ascetic journey that every disciple of Jesus is called to make with humility and patience, with generosity and perseverance.
We might say that this inner attitude also helps us to highlight more clearly what response Christians should give to the violence that is threatening peace in the world. It should certainly not be revenge, nor hatred, nor even flight into a false spiritualism.
The response of those who follow Christ is rather to take the path chosen by the One who, in the face of the evils of his time and of all times, embraced the Cross with determination, following the longer but more effective path of love.
Pope Benedict XVI
Ash Wednesday
1 March 2006