Cardinal George explores the question

We pray these Lenten days for those to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. In the early years of the Church, it seems that those being baptized turned west, toward the setting sun and the place of gathering darkness, and there repudiated Satan and all his works. Then they turned east, toward the place of the rising sun, professed their faith and saluted Jesus Christ as Lord, like soldiers abandoning a tyrant’s army for that of a liberator. The obedience of faith is central to the life of a disciple of Christ, who became Lord in obeying the Father, even unto death on the cross (Good Friday liturgy). To obey Christ is to become like him who obeyed. To disobey Christ is to betray the Lord who gives us life as his disciples.

These Lenten days are given us in order to free us from the slavery of sin, to repent our betrayals, to renew our allegiance to Christ and make reparation for the damage done by our wrongdoing. This process of conversion, which should lead us to the confessional, begins with the acknowledgement that we have betrayed the Lord. Judas could not face his betrayal; Peter did so with enormous anguish of heart. That anguish is ours when we face our own sins; it is ours as well when we face the sins of others in the Church.