We had a discussion recently about this Lenten season. One of the traditional characteristics of the season is that some people choose to fast in some form or another. Fasting is something I personally have done in various seasons of my life. I usually choose to fast from something edible or drinkable that I enjoy eating or drinking. When I miss that thing, when I must do without that thing, I am reminded of those things my Lord gave up for me.
Last year, after my hospitalization, fasting was rather pointless. Nothing tasted right. I could drink and eat anything I wanted and I really didn’t want it. I was thankful for life and very much aware of the nearness of God.
This year, we’ve been so busy with other things that the Lenten season began without me really taking much notice. I’m just not too sure I have a lot of heartburn over it either.
There is a pilgrimage that is made in Europe. It is typically a Catholic pilgrimage but some of our colleagues have talked about making it as a manner of sharing life with people, spending time with people and having a platform from which to discuss spiritual things. This year one of the local TV stations has had a “roving reporter” sort of thing and a young man has been hiking from Belgium to Compostela, Spain. It has been interesting to watch his weekly reports.
The reporter recently encountered a Dominican monk who originally spoke to him in Spanish. The monk sounded so much like my nephew, Jake, that I knew his Spanish was American Spanish! He is 72. After being a “Beatnik”, he studied the Bible and decided to become a Dominican monk. He works now in southern California among the Mexican refugees.
As the young Belgian interviewed this American Dominican, the monk told of the three vows that Dominicans take: poverty, celibacy and obedience. He said that by far obedience was the hardest.
That brought our discussion back to the idea of fasting. It’s not the giving up but rather the doing that is sometimes the harder thing. We need to re-focus. Set our eyes on the goal that God has set before us. Not what we think He wants us to leave behind but what He wants us to achieve.
