If we look at the rhythms of nature, we see seasons
of dying and coming to life, of growth and resting. In days long
gone, when our ancestors were closer to nature, they changed their
daily routine with the seasons. The short days and long nights
of winter meant less work and more sleep; the days of summer meant
longer hours of work and shorter hours of sleep. Our bodies need
lows and highs in order to remain healthy. Even the week provides
a time for work and a time for rest and recreation. Our bodies
and energies cannot function at full speed all the time. Times
of high energy must to be followed by times of conservation and
restoration in order to face another period or spurt of energy
and to remain healthy. We all look forward to vacations when we
can regenerate, change our routine, get away from the ordinary
work of life and play.
If we are sensitive to the rhythms of nature and
our body, then perhaps we can appreciate and understand the rhythms
of the liturgical year with their times of intense celebration
and their return to ordinary existence. This is especially true
of the Lenten-Easter Cycle. Very often Lent becomes the time of
intense activity in the parish and in our lives and Easter becomes
the time the recuperation. In reality it should be the other way
around. Lent is the time of reflection, preparation, of rest before
the spurt of growth, celebration and exultation.
Perhaps this can give new meaning to the fasting,
prayer and almsgiving of Lent. While there is no doubt that these
three words are used a lot during Lent, do we really embrace them
and know what they mean? We give up things for Lent, but is it
really fasting? What does fasting really mean? In many Old World
countries fasting involved giving up dairy products. The abstinence
from meat was part of this, but it rarely concerned the poor for
their diets seldom could afford the luxury of meat--poultry or
beef. The abstinence from meat was more a practice of the rich.
For the average person in a farming community the giving up of
dairy products was the normal routine of Lent. Thus on the Tuesday
before Ash Wednesday the house was cleansed of all dairy products.
This led to the custom of Shrove or Pancake Tuesday, and thus
the custom of joyfully hunting and eating eggs on Easter Sunday.
Why did people give up dairy products? Most likely because Lent
was spring time in Europe and Asia, the time leading up to regeneration.
The eggs were not eaten so that new chicks could be born; milk
(and, therefore, cheese) was not available because it was needed
for the calves and kid-goats; animals could not be slaughtered
for meat because they were needed to feed and care for their young.
In other words all creation was being renewed or storing up energy
and supplies for regeneration.
Lent is the time for our regeneration and renewal
to celebrate the 50 days of Easter. We fast so that we can celebrate.
We refrain from some activities in order to take them up with
renewed vigour. In other words we do not fast in order to punish
ourselves; we do not fast because we are bad. We do fast in order
to bring forth new life. We do sacrifice in order that others
may have life. While we are invited to be renewed and to give
up sin, we should not confuse giving up sin with giving up meat
or candy or deserts or anything else. So Lent is a time to relax
a little. To give up some of our busyness and hurriedness in order
to slow down and be more objective about life. It is the time
to go on a diet so we can celebrate later. It is the time to think
and reflect and pray about God's goodness. It is the time to let
life well up inside so that it can burst forth and abound with
renewed energy later.
Lent is not just about ourselves. We must of course
begin with self, but we do not end there. Lent is the time for
us to give and share life with others. The purpose of our slimming
down, fasting, praying, giving money to the poor and abstaining
is to give and share life with others. What we do not expend on
ourselves we spend on others. In other words, prayer fasting and
almsgiving have a goal, they are not practised for their own sake.
Thus Lent has two important goals: to renew what
we already have and to bring about new birth. The renewal through
prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the themes of the weekdays
of Lent. The new birth through baptism is the focus of the Sundays
of Lent and their readings. The new birth calls us to support
those preparing for baptism, confirmation and eucharist. The prayer,
fasting and almsgiving calls us to appreciate the wealth we have,
both physical and spiritual, and to share it with others. Because
busy people tend to forget what is important at home, our relationships
with family and God, Lent invites us to slow down and regain our
perspective of what is truly important. If we were told that we
would die in a month, what activity would we give up and what
would suddenly become important to us. This is what Lent asks
us to do. With Christ we have died, now what is truly life-giving
for us? What is the resurrection in our lives?
Sin does not always mean that we are bad people, or that we do terrible things. Sin means missing the mark or importance of something. The sin of our day may be that our priorities are not in right order. The things that should be important to us and our families are not: the details have become more important than the purpose of life. Lent invites us to reassess our priorities and discover the joy of life that surrounds us.
© John G. Hibbard, 1997