Lent, a Time for Listening and Fasting
For his first Lent as our Holy Father, Pope Leo has followed the tradition of the popes for many years by issuing a Lenten message. His message this year is entitled Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion. The message is simple, but very powerful and gives us much to reflect upon at the beginning of the season of Lent, especially in the practices that we personally take up.
First, Pope Leo emphasizes the importance of listening to the word of God. He stresses that God “shares with us what is in his heart.” He does this personally through the Scriptures. Lent is a good time to listen carefully to God speaking to us in the Bible by reflecting upon the words that we hear at Mass or in our own personal reading of the Gospels. Every time we read the word of God and reflect upon it, we enter into a dialogue with God, who truly speaks to us in regard to the matters that are present in our lives today.
We live in a world that is filled with words spoken to us through instant communication. These words are aimed to communicate a particular message and are, many times, confusing and conflicting. Of all the words that are presented to us, none are more important than those of the Lord spoken to our hearts in the Scriptures. Lent offers us good time to spend in silence with the word of God and to listen to His voice.
Lent is also a very good time to listen to others. With all of the voices before us, and all of the noise that is present to us today, we are less prone to actually listen to others speaking. This can be especially true with members of our families or close friends who really do not communicate with us because we are not actually listening to them. Lent offers us the opportunity to open our hearts to others so that we can enter into true communication with them. Listening means that we let them speak before we express ourselves to them.
This silence lends itself very well to the second point of Pope Leo’s message for Lent, which is the importance of fasting. We can take up practices of fasting from certain foods or from certain things that we like to do. Pope Leo suggests that a good practice of fasting during the season of Lent is from critical and judgmental words regarding others. He says, “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. 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.”
Fasting from criticism and judgment can be more difficult than fasting from our favorite foods. Fasting from judgmental words offers us the silence to listen and to treat others with more kindness. As Pope Leo expresses, “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.”
In his Lenten message, Pope Leo finally expresses how listening and fasting are communal experiences. These are matters that we carry out together in order to build up our family in the Church. He says, “In this context, conversion refers, not only to one’s conscience, but also to the quality of our relationships and dialogue.” Lent is a time to appreciate this. We are a family that strives together to build up the Body of Christ.
The concluding words of our Holy Father’s Lenten message are excellent ones to keep before us at the beginning of this holy season of Lent: “Dear friends: Let us ask for the grace of a Lent that leads to a greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us. 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.”
May our Lent be one of listening and fasting to build up the City of God.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
February 20, 2026
