Pope Leo begins his message for Lent by observing that this holy season is an invitation to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, for we easily become “consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life.”
This recentering involves a conversion that “begins by allowing the word of God to touch our hearts” and by actively taking time to welcome the transformation it invites. Lent does not need to be any more complicated than this: being willing to take time to listen to God, and enter into a relationship with the mystery of God.
There are many voices that make claims on our attention. But, as we learn in the scene in which God reveals himself to Moses, God speaks not in order to tell us something, but to enter into a relationship with us by which he teaches us to listen the way God listens: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry” (Ex 3:7).
In a word, God speaks to us in order to involve us, so that we may “recognize and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering. … Even today he shares with us what is in his heart.” So Lent, as a season to place the mystery of God at the center of our lives, is a time to “allow God to teach us how to listen as he does,” challenging each of us, the church, all of society, and political and economic systems to listen to the cry of the poor.
Fasting is key to developing this kind of listening, for, by putting us in touch with the hungers we recognize as necessary for our existence, we connect with those who hunger for justice and all they need to sustain their lives.
The Holy Father also advises us about the need for a fasting that goes beyond abstaining from food and drink as a means of connecting us to others. It is a fasting that involves the words we can use to hurt others. “Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgment, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace,” the pope urges.
Lastly, Pope Leo reminds us that there is a communal dimension to listening to the Word of God that opens us to hearing the voices of those in need. “Let us strive to make our communities places where the cry of those who suffer finds welcome, and listening opens paths towards liberation, making us ready and eager to contribute to building a civilization of love.”
Lent is a season for us to return to making the mystery of God the center of our lives, which means learning to listen as God listens. In short, Lent is about becoming real, lest the voices in society that claim to define human life in terms of worldly concerns and goals distract us. It is about listening as God listens, hearing the cry of those who are oppressed, who suffer injustice and poverty. It is a listening that “means allowing ourselves to be challenged by reality and recognizing what truly guides our desires — both within our ecclesial communities and as regards humanity’s thirst for justice and reconciliation.”