Knitting a Conundrum

some more great words on fasting, this time from St. Peter Chrysologus (5th century bishop of Ravenna, Italy)

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practise mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry - what a wonderful phrase. This brings me back to a passage in Isaiah 58:

`Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?'

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

(Isaiah 58: 3-6 RSV)

Going through the motions is meaningless. Fasting as a ritual is meaningless unless we have the right spirit. Fasting reminds us of what we do not have, and in turn should remind us of what our brother does not have. If our brother is in need, and we don't care, what good is it if we are depriving ourselves?

If you look for kindness, show kindness. Jesus told us very clearly that there is a reciprocal relationship here: If we are not willing to forgive, we will not be forgiven. If we do not reach out to our brother in need, we are not doing what we ought to do to Jesus.

May this time of prayer and fasting waken in us the awareness of what Jesus has done for us, what we are doing for Jesus, and the reality of what it means to suffer and love, so that we can learn to "show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you" for the glory of God.

Labels: Following Jesus, Lenten meditations, Spiritual Growth