On Friday, March 7th, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who is the preacher of the pontifical household, gave the third in his series of Lenten meditations for the Holy Father and the Roman Curia. The theme for his series of meditations is the Word of God.

The third message is entitled "Welcome the Word: The Word of God As a Way of Personal Sanctification". In his meditation, Fr. Cantalemessa reflected on three steps that can be followed to allow the Word of God to transform us--"welcoming the word, meditating on the word, putting the word into practice." Here is an excerpt from Fr. Cantalemessa's meditation:

The soul that looks into the mirror of the word learns to know "how he is," he learns to know himself, he sees his deformities in the image of God and in the image of Christ. "I do not seek my own glory," Jesus says (John 8:50): well, the mirror is in front of you and immediately you see how far you are from Jesus. "Blessed are the poor in spirit": The mirror is again in front of you and immediately you see that you are full of attachments and full of superfluous things. "Charity is patient": You realize how impatient, envious and self-interested you are.

More than "searching the Scriptures" (cf. John 5:39), it is a matter of letting oneself be searched by the Scriptures. The word of God, the Letter to the Hebrews says, "penetrates even to the point of division of the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is able to discern sentiments and thoughts of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12-13). The best prayer for beginning the moment of contemplation is repeating with the Psalmist: "You search me, O God, and you know my hear, you probe me and know my thoughts: You see if I my way is crooked and you guide me along the way of life" (Psalm 139).

But in the mirror of the word, we do not only see ourselves; we see the face of God; better, we see the heart of God. Scripture, St. Gregory the Great says, is "is a letter of Almighty God to his creature; in it one learns to know the heart of God in the words of God."[9] Jesus' saying even holds for God: "From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34); God has spoken to us, in Scripture, of that which fills his heart and that which fills his heart is love.

In this way the contemplation of the word procures the two pieces of knowledge that are the most important for advancing along the road of true wisdom: self-knowledge and knowledge of God. "That I might know myself and know you" -- "noverim me, noverim te" -- St. Augustine said to God. "That I might know myself to humble myself and that I might know you to love you."

Zenit provides a synopsis of his meditation, and you can read the entire meditation on Fr. Cantalemessa's Web site.

There is a also a link to Fr. Cantalamessa's Third Meditation for Lent in the Resources for Lent section of the Web site.