Part IV
Fasting continued
The second type of fasting involves refraining from those things that are detrimental or destructive to oneself or others, anything that prevents us or others from engaging fully in the gift of life and its call to flourish. It may manifest as thoughts, words, actions or inactions. It may be something that in and of itself is not bad but is for some an obstacle to well-being and spiritual growth.
In his book Addiction and Grace, Gerald May maintains that “virtually anything in life can become an object of attachment” that becomes the gateway to addiction. Addictions, May asserts, “exist wherever persons are internally compelled to give energy to things that are not their true desires.” In a list compiled from the feedback of participants in workshops he offered, May identifies 106 “attraction addictions” that include the likes of being good, being right, candy, causes, exercise, golf, humor, money, performance, pets, popularity, self-image, soft drinks, television, winning, work, and worthiness.
Or, what needs to be abstained from might be a thought or behavior or action that is universally uncharitable, contemptible, unjust, or devastating and needs to be named and rooted out. Here, in varying degrees of destructiveness, the list might include such things as deceit, gossip, bullying, betrayal, rejection, cruelty, avarice, hedonism, hubris, stealing, sexual violence, racial bigotry, hate crimes, human trafficking, and desecrating the earth.
In either case, the prerequisite to this type of fast is prayerful honesty so that personal and/or communal hindrances to the Christ-life can be faced responsibly, struggled with bravely, relinquished willingly, and if need be, replaced creatively with a life-giving alternative.
Our basic examen of whether or not something is appropriate and beneficial is if it truly enlivens – does it enhance or impede authentic living? Does it serve or threaten the most vulnerable among us? Does it ennoble or diminish the human spirit and the earth community? Does it increase or impair genuine love. And does it cultivate and encourage intimacy and communion with God?
The Christ-ening Call
It is important to remember that the season of Lent is referred to as the Period of Purification and Enlightenment and that this fast is intended to activate and support the movement from the former to the latter. Lent is an intensive and reflective time of retreat for those who have been preparing to receive the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist) which they will participate in at the Easter Vigil. As the community of faith accompanies the elect to Easter, we too participate in this season of retreat, a time for self-scrutiny and communal reflection, the naming of faults and the amendment of life, and the renewal of our baptism – our dying with and rising in Christ.
It has become too easy to overlook the powerful implications in the alternative name for baptism – “Christening.” The movement from purification to enlightenment, from attachment to freedom, from small mindedness to large heartedness, from deadly indifference to liberating love as supported by the interrelated practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, is to the end of cultivating and offering the world “other Christs.” And we shouldn’t fall all over ourselves convincing people that what we mean by that is not people with Messiah complexes but rather Christ-ened persons and communities who love kindly, act justly, and walk humbly with God.
The Fast that Empties and Fills
Although there is good reason for refraining from the good or pleasurable from time to time and good fruit that can come as a result of it, my sense is that this second type of fasting is even more beneficial and necessary to the well-being of individual persons, human communities, the commonweal of all the living beings of the earth, and the glory of God. It is important to listen and look deeply during these 40+ days, to boldly take stock of our lives, and to name and abstain from that which we are overly or unhealthily attached and which diverts our energy, attention, and love from the One who is the Life of life.
In this type of fast, we give up whatever stands in the way of living a full, healthy, integrated, compassionate and holy life. If we are addicted to sweets or alcohol or computer games or pornography, if we’re inclined toward the need to be in control, if we have made a daily custom of cynicism or judgment or gossip or anger, if we are obsessed with what others think of us or preoccupied with status or material gain, if we are guilty bystanders or party to sexism, homophobia, racism, or destruction of the earth however well-disguised or rooted in ignorance, we are urged by the love of God to make the commitment to fast from these behaviors and in a spirit of prayer to take a long, compassionate look at the deeper truths about ourselves that these compulsions, attachments and patterns seek to hide. It’s not a perfect science. It’s a sweaty struggle.
Instead of filling ourselves with that which is neither good for us or for others, we can dare to create a space where God can be present and heal.
As a community of faith, we can commit ourselves to incarnating corporate behavior that reflects the vision and principles of the Gospel and that flies in the face of many chosen attachments of the dominant culture which so often lead to harm of persons, communities, and the natural world, especially the least heard, seen, and valued who are therefore the most vulnerable. Personally and communally, we can commit ourselves to reflect on and fast from any ways we are complicit in perpetuating the social evils of our day.
One Thing for Love
Finally, instead of being paralyzed by the overwhelming magnitude of EVERYTHING, we can encourage one another to be resolved to do SOMETHING. Instead of growing immune to the HUGE things, maybe we can do ONE thing, even one seemingly small thing, but one thing for love, one conscious, intentional, daily act that shows our allegiance to the radical ethic and subversive way of God who has no room for hunger, no patience for poverty or the desacralization of the planet, no tolerance for intolerance, no place for discrimination or racism, no space for sexism, no use for religious or racial bigotry, no affection for violence or war.
Maybe we can’t undo the HUGE thing, not tonight, not this Lent, or this year. But maybe we can speak a “No” and live a “No” to the conditions that make these life-denying realities possible: indifference, laziness, prejudice, deceit, fear, greed, selfishness, the abuse of power, the need to be right, the inability to listen, the unwillingness to dialogue, to name but a few.
Tonight, tomorrow, let us agree to say one “No!” and to replace it with one “Yes!” “No!” to something that deadens. “Yes!” to something that enlivens—which is love.
~djm