Why
and How
Why to take the LENT
Only when one has a sincere
desire to grow in virtues Lent has any relevance. So before we think about
Lent let us examine ourselves if we have a serious concern about our
growth in holiness. Lent is to help us grow in our spiritual habits.
We see lent in the garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve to abstain from
certain fruits of the earth. Lest we die we need abstinence. We need
control over our behavior. We cannot indulge in everything to satisfy our
whims. The fruit was good to see and tasty for the tongue. Our senses are
to be restricted. We cannot indulge in everything that the senses tempt
us. Lent is to train ourselves in the habit of restraining us from doing
everything our senses tell us to do.
The desire for food caused Adam to break the law of God in human life. So
we need to re-train us to control our habit of choosing anything at
anytime. Man should learn to control his desire to eat . That comes in
observing a break in our eating habit so that we can start a new habit to
practice restriction in such behavior. If any behavior is to be unlearned,
one should break that habit to start new habits. Such periodic practice
will help to stop the unbecoming behavior and start the new and profitable
ones.
During lent we practice alms giving. We forsake food and feed the hungry.
We pray extra prayers and start leaning new prayer habits. We do more
prostration and learn to do so in our daily life for the rest of the year.
Lent is not to obey the rule , but it is a choice to re-orient our lives
to an ideal one.
So lent is not just to abstain from certain types of food, but it is to
train us to make decisions with prudence. According to the Bible the first
sin was in connection with food. Fasting is to deal with that primary sin
of indulging in food. It is true food is poison and poison is food, when
it is not used prudently and with discretion. Now a days it is much more
relevant and make sense that food is poison. Most of the diseases and even
the cause of premature death , is because of the eating habit of man. Lent
is teaching us to consider this fact and make new decisions about it.
The liturgical principle of ‘fast before a feast’ is another reason for
Lent. The ultimate Feast in the kingdom of God is the privilege of the
neophytes (after baptism ) is the participation in the Holy Communion. To
prepare for this the Church fasts along with the baptismal candidates. We
fast to enter into the Feast.
In our prayers we see that Fasting is the weapon to fight Satan. We see
that it is true in the life of our Lord. After His forty days of fast the
tempter approached Him , but the Lord defeated him . The tempter could not
make the Lord succumb to the attractive propositions he offered.
Abstinence and simplicity will limit our needs and wants. For example, if
I decided to abstain from meat, how can somebody give me meat and make me
do what he wants. We can resist temptations if we fast.
Fasting is to purify oneself from all kinds of impurities especially the
ones of the mind and soul. My experience with Fasting is that I feel more
spiritual thoughts and depth in sincerity and concentration in my prayers.
Many of us fast just to obey the rules of the church and hope that our
abstinence from food is pleasing to God. I think fasting is to help us and
strengthen us to learn to do good things and thereby we grow into the
holiness that our Lord expect of us. When Moses fasted his face became
glowing. We see a change in the person. That is what fasting is for – to
change the person- to make the individual glowing.
Now let us examine ourselves and
see why we fast.
May the Lord help us to grow into
the spiritual maturity as we observe this great Lent, which our Lord
taught us to do.
Why
and How
HOW TO
OBSERVE THE HOLY LENT.
We see the great and holy men and
our Lord observing Lent.
Moses
Moses observed Lent on Mount
Sinai.
He was alone on top of the
mountain, constantly in communion with God
He did not eat or drink.
He did not talk
No communication with any human
being, both men and women.
He spent time in solitude
It was for forty days and forty
nights- a long period of time.- No rush.
He was withdrawn from all worldly
activities.
He must have felt very
comfortable in the presence of his Lord
The people in the valley- his
children and all the Israelites were not bothering his thoughts.
Jesus
He went into the desert. He did
not do anything for his body.
He also went through everything
Moses went through.
Along with those experiences it
is written that the devil was testing him for forty days.(Lk. 4:1). When
the Lord did fail Satan left Him for a while. Lk.4:13
Satan tests you only when you
are vulnerable
All of Us
Read all our Lenten prayers. Then
one can see how one should observe Lent.
Abstain from food, and feed the
poor.
Practice compassionate behavior.
Pray seven times.
Prostrate at all prayers of the
hours.
Prostrate 40 times after the Noon
Prayer.
Abstain from loose and bad
conversation during the Lent to continue that after Lent.
Tradition says to abstain from
marital relationship.
Read the Bible and meditate.
Do intense self examination to
find out one’s own weaknesses and to start virtuous attitude in one’s own
personal life.
The Church has arranged a
Reconciliation Service on the first day of the Lent. This means, one
has to ask forgiveness from every one whom you have offended. Not only
that, one has to forgive those who have offended you. Before you fast, you
should Forgive.
At the time of the Mid Lent the
same Reconciliation Service is repeated.
Participate in the Holy Qurbana
on the Saturdays and Sundays of the Lent.
Confess your sins before a priest
as often as you need to do so .
The prayers say that just
abstaining from food only is not Lent. Without abstaining from evil
habits, careless behavior, mismanagement of Time and talent, our fasting
has no meaning. Honest and devoted genuine remorse for our sins are
expected of us. Fasting from food does not help you to grow in holiness if
we do not do the other things. None of these things are to be done out of
an idea of pleasing God. They are to be done to grow in becoming like
Jesus. Spend a lot of time with the Lord. Remember, we are dealing with
the omniscient Almighty Lord. We fast to cleanse our minds. We are to
practice to Love the Lord and our brethren. We are not trying to please
God by not eating a few pieces of meat.
Our Lenten Prayers are very
dynamic. Use those prayers. It will change you if you will pay attention.
Slow down the worldly activities and spend more time in practicing
spiritual discipline.
During the great Lent , except on
Wednesdays and Fridays, it is permitted to use fish and dairy products.
Always be mindful that you are
fasting. So practice spiritual activities, so that they will become easy
for you to continue even beyond Lent.
