It’s that time of year again, when the Catholic pundits tell the faithful what will be the best way to get closer to God this Lent.
Among the myriad suggestions there are always those who recommend that you do not “give up” anything for Lent (I won’t mention anyone by name). Rather, the faithful are encouraged to just go “do something” for God.
I get it, everyone wants to come up with something new and exciting to add to the discussion. We’ll ignore the fact that in a religion that has been around two millennia, there is literally nothing new under the sun.
Anyway, it might make sense if this was an either/or scenario, but it isn’t. Our faith is in many ways a both/and proposition, especially during Lent when we are encouraged to prayer, fasting and alms-giving.
Our faith is built upon sacrifice, though. Anyone who is even nominally Catholic has probably been told at one time to “offer it up” when going through some type of trial.
Jesus himself sacrificed every earthly attachment. By the time he was nailed to the cross in the ultimate sacrifice–his life–he had nothing else left.
Those closest to him betrayed and abandoned him. He was publicly flogged, forced to wear a crown of thorns and then heckled and spat on as he carried his cross up to Calvary. He would not eat or drink following the Last Supper. They even cast lots for the clothes off his back.
Jesus did many things, including healing the sick, multiplying the loaves and fishes, raising Lazarus from the dead, praying, preaching, and all the rest. But the most important thing was his sacrifice on the cross.
So why has Lent now become a time to do a little more while giving up nothing?
Catholicism has historically recognized the reality that we are simultaneously spiritual and physical creatures. For over a thousand years, Catholics worshiped at Mass with all the “smells and bells”, enjoyed feast days for saints and special holy days, and of course followed the command to “go forth and multiply” as God’s ‘wink-wink, nudge-nudge’ to enjoy the carnal pleasures of married life. Admittedly, this balanced approach sometimes tilted too much towards mortification, but nevertheless the faith offered both times of feast and times of fasting.
Something went terribly awry in the twentieth century, however. Many will rightly blame the changes following Vatican II, but the proliferation of feel-good Christianity has also left its mark on the American spiritual experience.
Modern Christian denominations certainly recognize the bodily needs of their congregation and offer things like cushy auditorium seating, contemporary music, and other creature comforts during worship. Those things are not wrong, but the emphasis on comfort spills into their theology as well.
Many churches simply doing challenge the faithful in their sin. This is true of the Catholic church as well. A modern Catholic will seldom, if ever, hear a homily preaching against fornication, pornography, homosexuality, abortion, or any other so-called third rail issue. Rather, they’re more likely to hear some version of “you need a little work, but you’re a good person” which has no impact on those mired in serious sin.
So as the faithful are made comfortable in their bodily needs and not challenged spiritually, it makes sense that the idea of mortification seems like an anachronism.
But our modern world is in need of sacrifice now more than ever. We live in a time where the greatest health threat is obesity, where just about anything you crave can be delivered to your doorstep. All but the poorest in America have a TV, year-round climate control, indoor plumbing, access to basic medical care, with the rest of us having so much more. When we are this comfortable, it is easy to forget why we need God. It also gives us an unhealthy attachment to those things as we’re rarely challenged to do without those things naturally.
Breaking attachment to worldly things is the most necessary and fruitful part of Lent. I’ve seen this in my own life as I always give up sweets and recreational use of Facebook. I’ll usually add saying a daily Rosary and this year I’ll say a Divine Mercy chaplet for the souls in purgatory. While the prayer is vital and the Facebook fast reclaims some of my spare time, there’s something viscerally jarring about something as simple as not being able to put sugar in my morning coffee. I have to tell myself ‘no’ right away and that first decision I make will be about God, not myself. In fact, I have to get used to saying ‘no’ to myself many times a day as I automatically pick up my phone to scroll through Facebook or decide what I’m having for lunch. Although they’re small things, they come up so many times a day that I am forced to think about God several times a day (I eat a lot).
We must condition ourselves for sacrifice through self-denial. It is difficult to give up the small pleasures for the sake of God (if it were easy nobody on the internet would have to tell you its okay not to), but it is necessary. If you think there’s no harm in indulging every appetite, observe a child who has never been told ‘no’ and see how insufferable he is. We adults express it differently, but we are just as in danger of being enslaved by our passions as that child. I wholeheartedly include myself in that camp as I try to break my own sugar addiction every year.
Should you refrain from taking the advice to do something extra for God or your fellow man? Of course not. I encourage you to do all of those extra things that make Lent fruitful for you. Pray, give alms but please don’t forget the fasting. Jesus gave us everything he had until he had nothing left, the least we can do is give up chocolate.
