Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent

“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” How’s your listening coming this Lent? It would be a sad mistake to get so caught up with “Lenten practices” that we missed what God wanted to say and do in us along the way.

The two main elements of Lent are the recalling of baptism or the preparation for it and penance. (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 109) With these two elements in mind, the Church has carefully crafted its Lenten liturgy and guidance to help us arrive at Easter, ready to attain the joys of the resurrection. To benefit from this fully, though, we must be listening. Listening to the liturgy and the guidance, but, more fundamentally, to the subtle things God has to say to us through them. In the midst of whatever concrete way we’ve resolved to embrace prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we ought to make sure our minds and hearts are open to God’s movement.

With prayer, particularly during Lent if we’re trying to add something to our normal routine, it can so often feel like a burdensome to-do that just gets added to the list. Though valuable in themselves, litanies, novenas, even Rosaries and chaplets, can actually add to the noise and stress of life if we aren’t approaching them with prayerful listening. So instead of running through many devotions, it could be more fruitful to simply sit with one or two, meditating on the words, the desires and intentions, allowing God to whisper what He wants us to hear in it today. Lenten prayer is a wonderful opportunity to meet regularly with a good Friend. A Friend who died for us in order to bring us into a relationship with Himself. For this, then, we ought to listen. Each day won’t be breathtaking and amazing. Some prayer times will likely feel dry and endless, as the rest of the day’s to-dos keep trying to interrupt. But if we mindfully try to listen, some days will be glorious. And, more importantly, God will be quietly working through it all, whether He clues us in or not.

Fasting, too, can be done with listening in mind. In fact, according to Thomas Aquinas, listening better is one of the three main reasons for fasting. We fast to check the desires of the flesh, to make satisfaction for sin, and also “that the mind may arise more freely to the contemplation of heavenly things.” (STh II-II, q 147, a1) This means that our fasting, our being a bit less sated in daily life, enables us to respond more quickly to God’s promptings. Or at least it should. If our fasting is bringing us down into grumpiness or irritability, something is going wrong. Fasting, by its nature, helps us to raise our thoughts as it makes us humble and contrite, and clears the clouds from our minds. In order to make sure our fasting is fulfilling its great potential, though, we can once again be intentional about where our mind is going in the midst of it. When we forego a piece of chocolate, we could just leave it at that. It would certainly check our fleshly desires and be a penance, but God wants more than our chocolate. He wants our hearts. So in that very same act of giving something up, we can turn to Him in our hunger. We can bring God our desire and invite Him to fill it. “God, I wanted to eat that (or watch that, or read that), but I won’t. Give me yourself instead.” This places us in a posture of listening. Now He can speak, and our hearts will be ready to hear.

Finally, listening has a part to play in almsgiving, as well. Almsgiving can aid in listening much in the same way that fasting can. As we give something to alleviate the need of another, we can do that specifically for the love of God and with Him in mind, which directs our attention to Him and makes us more attentive to His promptings. On the other end of giving alms, though, it should also flow from a listening heart. There is likely one specific person or group of people that the Lord would like to love through us. Or there may be something that He would like us to let go of and entrust to the hands of another. In giving alms, we should ask God what He wants us to give and whom He wants us to give it to. This can be an effective way of loosening our own chains, as it comes with the direct consolation of loving another in the process. In this way, almsgiving is most fruitful after having listened.

During Lent, we can easily get caught up in doing the practices and miss what God would like to be doing in the process. This week, though, the Father begs us. “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Perhaps now is a good time to refocus our minds and examine the manner in which we’re carrying out our resolutions. In this grace-filled time, God has so much He wants to say. Are you listening?