FR. MARK ADAME BAKARI, OFM**
* “Come back to me with all your heart, don’t let fear keep us apart.”
Lent always brings us back to what is essential. How easily the heart becomes crowded – with anxieties, attachments, ambitions, disappointments, resentments, even unhealed wounds. Beneath all the noise of life, beneath our many concerns and responsibilities, there is a quiet and gentle invitation from our Lord Jesus: Return to the heart! Return to the place where He speaks! Return to the place where love began! This is the journey of every follower of Christ.
Saint Francis of Assisi understood this deeply. When he knelt and intensely prayed before the crucifix of San Damiano, seeking God’s will (perhaps asking, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”), he was listening inwardly and attentively with a heart made quiet by humility. It was here that Francis heard Christ from the crucifix: Francis, go and repair my Church for it is falling to ruin. Conversion for Francis began with a listening heart that became open and ready to receive.
Our beloved patron Saint Anthony reminds us that the heart is not only a place of listening; it is a place of dwelling The Word of God longs to take flesh within us. The heart becomes like a manger where Christ is welcomed, received, and allowed to live.
In his Lenten message this year, Pope Leo XIV invites us to place God again at the center of our lives, so that our hearts are not consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life. Every path of conversion begins when we allow the Word of God to touch our hearts, when we make room for the Word through listening. The Pope says that if Lent is a time for listening, fasting is a concrete way to prepare ourselves to receive the Word of God. Fasting purifies our desires and reveals what we truly hunger for.
But fasting is not limited to food, Pope Leo suggests.
Fasting of the heart entails disarming our language: refraining from words that offend and hurt others, avoiding harsh words and rash judgment, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. The invitation is to “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.”
Dearly beloved brothers and sisters, Lent is not merely a season of giving things up; it is a season of making room, clearing space within our hearts so the Lord may live more fully in us.
Praying with you that this holy season be for us a true homecoming, a return to the heart and a turning of our hearts to God. Buon cammino quaresimale!
Joel 3:12-13 and Hosea 6:1 & 14:4 “both carry that same gentle but urgent call of love – returning not out of fear, but because God’s heart is waiting.”
*”Come back to me with all your heart, don’t let fear keep us apart” from the book of Hosea is not a direct quote. “It is the opening line of the popular Catholic hymn “Hosea” (or “Come Back to Me”) written by Father Gregory Norbet.”