In his message for Lent, Pope Leo XIV urges Catholics to listen more closely to God and others – and to “disarm” their language by fasting from words that wound. Source: EWTN News.
The Lenten season begins this week with Ash Wednesday.
In the message, released on Friday, the Pope offers a simple definition of Lent as a time when the Church “invites us to place the mystery of God back in the centre of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life”.
He encourages Catholics to allow the word of God to touch their hearts with docility so that Lent may become “a welcome opportunity to heed the voice of the Lord and renew our commitment to following Christ”.
Turning to the traditional Lenten practice of fasting, the Pope describes abstaining from food as “an ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion”.
“Precisely because it involves the body, fasting makes it easier to recognise what we ‘hunger’ for and what we deem necessary for our sustenance,” he writes.
It helps believers to “identify and order our ‘appetites’, keeping our hunger and thirst for justice alive and freeing us from complacency.”
Quoting St Augustine, he notes that the human heart expands through desire for God. “Understood in this way, fasting not only permits us to govern our desire, purifying it and making it freer, but also to expand it, so that it is directed towards God and doing good.”
However, he stresses that fasting must be lived “in faith and humility” and grounded in communion with the Lord.
In this context, the Pope proposes a specific Lenten resolution: “A very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence – that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbour.”
“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,” he writes.
“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.”
FULL STORY
Pope proposes Lenten ‘fast’ from hurtful words (By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú, EWTN News)
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Pope’s Lenten message: Abstain from harsh words and rash judgement (Vatican Media)
