Pope Francis urged the
faithful in his weekly general audience marking the start of
Lent, the 40-day period leading up to Easter, to avoid "verbal
violence".
Speaking on Ash Wednesday, Francis remarked on the fact that,
for many of us, it is not easy to be in silence as we live in an
environment that is "polluted by too much verbal violence," by
so many "offensive and harmful words" which are amplified by the
internet.
"Lent is a time to disconnect from cell phones and connect to
the Gospel," he said, recalling that when he was a child there
was no television, but his family would make a point of not
listening to the radio.
"It is the time to give up useless words, chatter, rumors,
gossip, and talk and to speak directly to the Lord," he said, it
is a time in which to dedicated ourselves to an ecology of the
heart.
In a world in which we often struggle to distinguish the
voice of the Lord, Jesus calls us into the desert and invites us
to listen to what matters, Pope Francis explained. And he
recalled that when the devil tempted Him, Jesus replied "One
does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God."
Thus the desert, represented by the journey of Lent, he
continued, is a place of life, a place in which to dialogue in
silence with the Lord who gives us life.
The Pope also reflected on how an important part of our
Lenten desert experience is the practice of fasting, which
trains us to recognize, in simplicity of heart, how often our
lives are spent in empty and superficial pursuits.
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