Dr. Helen Titilola OLOJEDE

Beyond fasting, Pope Leo also calls us to listen during this Lent. He calls us to reflect on the importance of creating space for the word through attentive listening, where a genuine readiness to listen is often the first sign that we are open to entering into a meaningful relationship with another. When God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, he showed that listening is central to his very nature: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry” (Ex 3:7). By hearing the cry of the oppressed, the drama of liberation begins, as the Lord calls Moses and sends him to lead his people out of the slavery that had reduced them.

 

Our God continually seeks to draw us into participation with him and even now shares what is in his heart. For this reason, listening to the word proclaimed in the liturgy forms us to listen more deeply to the truth present in the world around us. Amid the many competing voices in our personal lives and in society, Sacred Scripture enables us to recognise and respond to the cries of those who suffer and are in distress. To cultivate this inner disposition of listening, we must allow God to teach us to listen in the way he listens. We must also acknowledge that “the condition of the poor is a cry that, throughout human history, constantly challenges our lives, societies, political and economic systems, and, not least, the Church.”[1]

 

Pope Leo urges us to make our parishes, families, ecclesial groups, and religious communities embark on a common Lenten journey in which attentiveness to the word of God, as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth, becomes part of our shared life, and fasting serves as the basis for genuine repentance. Within this framework, conversion concerns both the individual conscience and the quality of our relationships and our capacity for dialogue. It involves allowing ourselves to be confronted by reality and discerning what truly shapes our desires, both within our Church communities and in relation to humanity’s longing for justice and reconciliation.

 

Dear friends, let us pray for the grace to live a Lent that deepens our attentiveness to God and to the most vulnerable among us. Let us also seek the strength that comes from a form of fasting that extends even to our speech, so that harmful words may decrease and greater room may be made for the voices of others. May we strive to make our communities places where the cry of the suffering is welcomed, and where listening opens the way to liberation, inspiring us to contribute generously to the building of a civilisation of love.