The Call of the Fast

Gospel: Matthew 9: 14-15

What are we about when we engage in fasting? For many it is a pursuit of the ego.  Some fast for some stoic pursuit of endurance or discipline.  Others do so in order to show others how much they can sacrifice.  Another set of people fast as a dieting exercise in order to lose weight and look better.  All of these may be perfectly fine in certain contexts, but as a religious practice they are inadequate to the task of authentic spiritual growth.

A fast is undertaken for the sake of others.  We give up things so that we might have more to give to others who are in need.  We who are privileged have way more than we need in terms of food, clothing, and other things.  We rob from the poor when we have these things in excess.  It is necessary for us to fast in order to provide for the poor, to identify with them in some small way, and to work toward lives of greater simplicity so that others may have what the need.  

Authentic religious fasting is directed to the care of others.  It is a work of mercy, not one of self-interest.  Fasting is about healing other people as well as the social stratum.  It is about liberating others from poverty, and ourselves from materialism and consumerism.  It is about nourishing others in body, mind, and spirit.  Let this Lent be for us about this intention, and to put away the motives of the ego that often accompany the fast. 

The Call of the Cross

Gospel: Luke 9: 22-25

In today's Gospel portion Jesus tells us two things. First, that he must suffer and be executed by the political and religious leaders of the day before then rising from the dead.  Second, that we who make the choice to follow Jesus must also take up our cross and suffer at the hands of political and religious leaders.  The same path that Jesus followed we too must traverse if we are to rise and find our way to the reign of God.

It is a religion of the evil one that makes Christianity into a religion of religious and political power that wields violence against untold numbers of people, that creates a false idol of a nation.  It is a sham Christianity that preaches comfort and ease, one where the episcopal mansion, the pastor's private jet, and the vast expanses of church campuses are the hallmarks of the new religion, coming at the expense of those we malign: the poor and marginalized, the immigrant, refugee, and migrant.  

The call of Jesus to follow him is a call to the cross, to a life of self-sacrifice lived in extending mercy and loving-kindness to others by going about healing, liberating, and nourishing people in direct encounter with them.  The religion of Jesus is to live among those in need, not to be in gated communities of privilege.  The call of Jesus leads us to Calvary, not to the spa.  It leads us to minister to the poor and needy, not serve as chaplains to empire and worldly power.  

The Call of Lent

Gospel: Matthew 6: 1-6; 16-18

Another Lent begins.  Another Ash Wednesday is upon us where in the modern age we go to receive ashes and post pictures of ourselves with ash on forehead for social media.  It is as if we had not heard the Gospel for today's Mass.  Did we not hear the words about avoiding doing things in order to be seen and receive attention?  As with so many things Jesus tells us to do, this is just one more that is set aside because we know better.  

But if we are serious about Lent, about the fast and the putting on of ashes to repent of sin, then the words of Jesus must be taken seriously.  We need not create a spectacle of ourselves in our work of repentance.  People will know we have repented only when our lives have changed and we act differently than we did previously.  If we are extending mercy to others, performing deeds of loving kindness in the care of others, then the fruit of repentance will be evident in those deeds and not in performative acts of the ego.

Another Lent, another opportunity to make progress in the spiritual life through prayer, penance, and acts of mercy.  The only way to do these deeds authentically is to do them humbly, quietly, and with no fanfare.  Perform deeds of mercy the world does not care about: visit the sick and elderly in hospitals and care facilities; visit the imprisoned with prison ministry; provide welcome to immigrants, refugees, and migrants.  And don't post it on social media.  Don't tell anyone.  Just do it.