The third year of preparation for the year 2000 is dedicated throughout the Church to the twin theme of God the Father and the celebration of reconciliation. Pope John Paul II explains this chosen theme in the following terms: ,,The whole of the Christian life is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father, whose unconditional love for every human creature, and in particular for the 'prodigal son', we discover anew each day... (T)he sense of being on a 'journey to the Father1 should encourage everyone to undertake, by holding fast to Christ the Redeemer of man, a journey of authentic conversion. This includes both a 'negative' aspect, that of liberation from sin, and a 'positive' aspect, that of choosing (...) The call to conversion as the indispensable condition of Christian love is particularly important in contemporary society, where the very foundations of an ethically correct vision of human existence often seem to have been lost." (Tertio millenio adveniente, 49-50)