In his first reflection for the Season of Lent, Pope Leo says, “Every path towards conversion begins by allowing the word of God to touch our hearts and welcoming it with a docile spirit. There is a relationship between the word, our acceptance of it and the transformation it brings about.” We enter Lent, either taking up new practices or restarting former ones that we have let slip away. We don’t do it just for the sake of doing something different for 40 days only to go right back to our old habits, but for some type of change to happen within us, a transformation. Pope Leo specifically asks us to take up the habit of the word of God. He doesn’t use the term lectio divina, but that is what we Benedictines do with scripture.
He calls us to “make room for the word through listening.” Pope Leo might as well have quoted the first verse of the Rule of Benedict – “Listen carefully, my child, to the Master’s instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart.” We have to make room for the word in our mind and heart. I know I have plenty of clutter making it challenging for God’s word to find space in me. I often have noise in the background instead of maintaining a quiet atmosphere, or I’m continually reading someone’s else reflections on scripture instead of sitting alone to ponder and let God’s voice come through. I can keep my mind and body busy with tasks and not sit down, be still and allow myself to rest in God’s word. Listening to the word without making any room for it allows it to come and quickly go from our mind and heart.
Pope Leo continues, “Our God is one who seeks to involve us. Even today he shares with us what is in his heart. Because of this, listening to the word in the liturgy teaches us to listen to the truth of reality.” I ask, are we letting the Word of God be the message we hear each day? Or, are we letting what we read or hear on the internet, television, or social media become “the truth of reality”? I don’t mean to say that there isn’t good and credible information on these platforms. There are, but if we let all of it drown out God’s word, that is detrimental for our spiritual health. Are we letting the word of God, as we listen to it during the Liturgy of the Hours, in our private prayer, in the Mass, nourish us?
Lastly, Pope Leo says that the act of fasting is a concrete way to prepare ourselves to receive the word of God. Abstinence allows us to identify what we need and allow conversion to take place. If we are always indulging on food, drink, or media, we won’t be able to know what we truly need. Pope Leo invites us to an underappreciated form of abstinence that doesn’t involve food or drink: refraining from words that offend and hurt others. “Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, 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.” We know that our words can hurt those we live and work with. Let us strive to change our speech to words of hope and peace.
May your Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving provide you with the opportunity to grow in your relationship with God. Make room for the word of God and allow it to transform you.
