An Augustinian perspective on the journey of Israel and our own conversion, enriched by the papal call to listen to the poor and disarm our language.
Lent is much more than a period in the liturgical calendar; it is a “pedagogy of grace” that Mother Church offers us to reorient our existence. For us, as the Augustinian Recollect family, this season resonates with particular force: it is the call to undertake the longest and most difficult journey, the journey toward one’s own heart.
- Biblical Roots: From the Desert of Israel to the Desert of Jesus
The theology of Lent has its roots in salvation history, specifically in the experience of the people of Israel. The number 40 is not a random figure in Sacred Scripture; it represents a time of trial, purification, and preparation for a divine encounter.
The Book of Exodus recounts how Israel walked 40 years through the desert (Ex 16:35). It was a time of stripping away, where the people had to learn that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Dt 8:3). The desert is the place where there are no human securities; there, Israel had to choose between returning to the slavery of Egypt (where there were onions, but no freedom) or trusting in God’s promise.
Jesus recapitulates this history in his own flesh. Before beginning his public ministry, the Spirit drives him into the desert for 40 days (Mt 4:1-11). Unlike Israel, which often fell into idolatry and grumbling, Jesus remains faithful. He transforms the desert of temptation into the place of victory of divine sonship.
- Lent in Augustinian and Pontifical Key: The “Redire” and Listening
Saint Augustine, our father, offers us an essential key for living this season: interiority. In his work De vera religione, Augustine launches the famous exhortation: “Noli foras ire, in teipsum redi” (Do not go outside, return to yourself). For an Augustinian Recollect, Lent is a time of recollection. We live scattered, fragmented by noise, worries, and disordered attachments that Augustine called concupiscence.
We are also called to this interiority by the message of Pope Leo XIV for this Lent 2026. The Holy Father emphasizes that we cannot return to the heart if we do not cultivate a deep listening toward God and, consequently, toward the cry of the poor and vulnerable. Lent is the opportune time to gather the pieces of our soul and unify them in the love of God, a love that compels us not to be indifferent to the needs of our most disadvantaged brothers and sisters.
- The Fast That Disarms: From Body to Word
Augustine understood Christian life as a peregrinatio (pilgrimage). We are not permanent residents of this age, but travelers toward the Homeland. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are not ends in themselves, but tools to lighten our baggage. As he would say in Sermon 210: “The fasting of the body is a help, but the fasting of the heart is the virtue.” It is of no use for the body to go hungry if the soul swells with pride.
In perfect harmony with this “fasting of the heart,” the Pope launches a prophetic challenge from the Holy See: disarm our language. The true fast in this Lent consists in abstaining from words that wound, from destructive judgments, and from the polarization that divides our communities. To fast is to cultivate kindness and use our words to heal, console, and build peace.
- Toward a Communal Conversion
Finally, the Constitution of our Order reminds us that we do not walk alone. The desert experience is lived in community. Israel marched as a people; we walk as Church and as Province. In this liturgical season, charity becomes the thermometer of our penance. As Saint Augustine says: “The measure of love is to love without measure.”
May this Lent 2026 be for the entire Province of Candelaria a time of grace. May we pass from dispersion to unity, from noise to inhabited silence, and from the slavery of our personal “Egypts” to the freedom of the children of God.
Bibliographic References:
- Jerusalem Bible (1998). Desclée de Brouwer.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (Sections 540, 1438).
- Saint Augustine. Confessions (Book X). BAC.
- Saint Augustine. De vera religione (39, 72). BAC.
- Order of Augustinian Recollects. Constitutions (Rome, 2012).
