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Using the opportunity of every Lent, Bishop Jerome Mileta of Sibenik used to send a Lenten pastoral letter to all his priests and believers. One of such letters - from 1931 - is titled "On Christian Strength". In his letters, he often uses biblical texts from the Old and New Testament. Even though he is not an exegete, he handles biblical terms excellently: applying events and concepts of biblical passages to the daily life of believers. The historical context outlines the communist regime spreading in the former Yugoslavia. Each of the bishop's letters is actually an encouragement to continue following the path of faith - and this path is realized in the light of biblical messages. In the Lenten letter titled "On Christian Strength", Mileta warns about the state of modern man who stopped living the life of the Church. And - what is arguably even worse - he no longer identifies with the Church. Mileta sees Lent as an opportunity for spiritual improvement of his believers. The bishop of Sibenik finds the lack of Christian strength as the cause of this spiritual condition 1900 years after the resurrection of Jesus. He compares the barren state of modern man to the lack of roots from Luke's parable of the grain (Lk 8:13). He reminds his believers that Christians are called to strength by the power of the cross and encourages them with passages from New Testament about remaining strong: Mt 11:12; 1 Cor 16:13; 1 Pt 5:8 9. The loss of Christian strength leads to the greatest evil - such as suicides. Mileta compares the situation of the modern man to the walk of the Chosen People through the desert or to the situation of Job. In those two cases, the Hebrews’ faith in the Only God, the Savior was tested, he argued and looked for the cure for the suicidal plague. He believed in his people - carrying the Christian strength deep inside them. For Mileta, the symbol of Christian strength is the "strong woman" from the book of Proverbs 31:10. She becomes the embodiment of all women - especially mothers who pass their faith on to their children. more...