Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In every age, the Church is given a shepherd whose spirituality responds to the particular wounds and hopes of the time. Our current Holy Father, Pope Leo, has emerged as a pope deeply attuned to the spiritual restlessness of the modern world. His message is not marked by grand gestures or dramatic pronouncements, but by a steady and insistent call to rediscover God’s nearness. At the heart of Pope Leo’s spirituality is a conviction both ancient and urgently needed: God is present, active, and accessible in the ordinary texture of human life.
Pope Leo often speaks of faith as something lived, before it is debated. He resists a Christianity reduced to slogans or abstractions, insisting instead that belief must shape how we pray, work, suffer, and hope. His teaching reflects a concern that many today know about God but do not know how to live with God. In response, Pope Leo has emphasized interior conversion—quiet attentiveness to God’s presence—as the foundation for renewal in the Church and the world.
This emphasis has shaped his broader message to the global community. Pope Leo consistently reminds political leaders, economic systems, and social institutions that progress without moral grounding eventually fractures human dignity. He speaks clearly about the sacredness of human life, the responsibility to care for the poor, and the danger of allowing efficiency and power to eclipse compassion. Yet his tone is notably pastoral. Rather than condemning the modern world outright, he calls it back to its deeper vocation: to recognize the human person as created, loved, and sustained by God.
What distinguishes Pope Leo is the way he integrates contemplation and action. He does not present prayer and engagement with the world as competing priorities. Instead, he insists that authentic action flows from prayer. Without a lived awareness of God’s presence, even the most well-intentioned efforts risk becoming driven by ego, fear, or ideology. This is where Pope Leo’s spirituality finds a striking harmony with a much humbler voice from the Church’s past: Brother Lawrence.
Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite lay brother of the seventeenth century, is best known for his small but enduring work, The Practice of the Presence of God. His message was simple and radical: holiness is not found primarily in extraordinary acts, but in doing ordinary things with great love and conscious attention to God. Whether scrubbing floors or preparing meals, Brother Lawrence sought to remain quietly aware that he was in God’s presence.
Pope Leo often echoes this same insight in contemporary language. He challenges the faithful to resist compartmentalizing their lives—placing God in church while excluding Him from work, relationships, and daily responsibilities. Like Brother Lawrence, Pope Leo teaches that prayer is not confined to words, but becomes a posture of the heart. Living in God’s presence means allowing faith to permeate even the most routine moments of the day.
Together, Pope Leo and Brother Lawrence offer a compelling spiritual vision for our time. Pope Leo addresses nations, institutions, and cultures, urging them to remember the moral and spiritual foundations without which society cannot endure. Brother Lawrence reminds each individual believer that transformation begins quietly, within the soul, through fidelity in small things. One speaks from the Chair of Peter; the other from a monastery kitchen. Yet both proclaim the same truth: God desires intimacy with humanity.
For us as a parish community, this message is both consoling and challenging. It assures us that God is not distant or indifferent. At the same time, it asks something of us—to slow down, to become attentive, and to allow our faith to shape not only what we believe, but how we live. Pope Leo’s spirituality invites us to rediscover a sacred attentiveness in a distracted world, and Brother Lawrence shows us that this attentiveness is possible, even amid the demands of everyday life.
To practice the presence of God, as our Holy Father continually urges, is not to retreat from the world, but to engage it with deeper purpose. In doing so, we learn anew that God is already with us—calling us to live, serve, and love with greater trust and quiet joy.
God bless,
Fr. Tom Lanza
Pastor, St. Matthias Parish & School