In his Lenten message delivered shortly before Ash Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV reflected on using the liturgical season as a chance to reorient the human heart toward God’s voice and highlighted the importance of listening and fasting in seeking out the Word of God.
“Every path towards conversion begins by allowing the word of God to touch our hearts and welcoming it with a docile spirit,” the Pope said Feb. 13, noting a relationship between hearing the word, accepting it, and allowing it to bring about a transformation.
He continued, “For this reason, the Lenten journey is a welcome opportunity to heed the voice of the Lord and renew our commitment to following Christ, accompanying him on the road to Jerusalem, where the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection will be fulfilled.”
Pope Leo encouraged the faithful to make room for God’s Word by practicing listening, saying that the act of listening demonstrates a wish to enter a relationship. He noted that God listens to His children, seeks to involve them, and desires to share His Heart through his Word.
“Because of this, listening to the word in the liturgy teaches us to listen to the truth of reality,” the Pontiff said. “In the midst of the many voices present in our personal lives and in society, Sacred Scripture helps us to recognize and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering.”
The Pope presented fasting as “a concrete way to prepare ourselves to receive the word of God,” saying that since the act involves the body, it “makes it easier to recognize what we ‘hunger’ for and what we deem necessary for our sustenance.” He added that fasting helps check appetites, redirects toward justice, and destroys complacency, allowing greater charity and responsibility toward others. Citing St. Augustine, he emphasized that fasting purifies desires and expands them, reorienting them toward “God and doing good.”
“However, in order to practice fasting in accordance with its evangelical character and avoid the temptation that leads to pride, it must be lived in faith and humility,” Pope Leo continued, adding that fasting must also be “grounded in communion with the Lord” and “include other forms of self-denial.”
“In this regard, I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor,” he said. “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.”
He urged the faithful to replace hatred with words of hope, peace, and kindness at work, in conversations or debates, on social media, and among friends and communities. Pope Leo also said that listening and fasting during Lent lend themselves to building community. Listening to the Word of God, “as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth, becomes part of our community life,” while fasting builds a “foundation for sincere repentance,” he said.
“Dear friends, let us ask for the grace of a Lent that leads us to greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us,” the Pope concluded. “Let us ask for the strength that comes from the type of fasting that also extends to our use of language, so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a greater space for the voice of others. 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.”