Lent Day 21: The Great Feast

Having a reading of the feeding of the four thousand is intriguing during lent. There is so much talk of depriving oneself of food, fasting and observing lent that we forget about feeding the people. The disciples were not interested in feeding the crowd or they thought that it would be difficult to embark on something like that. The miracle was not just feeding the four thousand and even more with seven loaves and a few fish, but being sure that it was indeed possible.

In our culture we take many things for granted. We do not want to do a certain thing because it is difficult and calls for a little effort. The disciples had to think of the seven loaves and the little fish, they also had to figure out how to divide this little food. So, the solution for them was to let the people go. Churches and communities are also like this. They will think that the people who come will fend for themselves and go back from church and eat from their home. All this because, arranging snacks or food is an effort and is hard work.

This is also why many government institutions don’t have basic facilities. There won’t be drinking water, proper toilets, canteens and the like because the idea is that the public will fend for themselves and there is no need to provide these essential and basic facilities. Jesus thinks differently. Even though he didn’t have to give food, he thinks about it. He looks at fulfilling the basic human needs of those who came to listen to him. Even though they came out of their own wish, Jesus feels it is essential to provide for them.

In St. Mark 8: 6 it is said that, he takes the loaves “and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.” There is a great feast that Jesus initiates and calls us to initiate too. The coming together of a crowd also calls for their wellbeing and offering them food. Churches have to take this up with or without lent. Lent is a good time to think about this and start food programmes. It should not be limited to our church and community but to all who come. The Sikh gurudwaras with their Langars (community kitchen) are a beautiful example of this in today’s world. Christians cannot do without feasting. But feasting as excessive happiness should not just be the meaning we get. It is rather a meal given in a crowd which makes them justly happy and therefore in a festive mood.

Food also has a holiness aspect to it. It should not be wasted and disrespected. It becomes another sharing and fellowship. Food is indeed the way to the heart. We have a responsibility to serve food as it is an effort to alleviate hunger. Many in the crowd and in our church and community may not have the luxury of food. It is our way of life which makes us think the contrary. Many who come to churches may have fasted and are not necessarily going back to an assured plate of food. Jesus thought practically and was concerned about the people who did not have an idea about whether they would eat or not.

The Great Fast and Great Lent should go along with the Great Feast. A fast and lent without the feasting and the fellowship is far from the teaching of Jesus. Many poor people observe lent and such lents are much more difficult than observed by others. It is the responsibility of the haves to then provide to the have nots, just like Jesus did. May this lent remind us of this feasting, a feast and feasting for the poor and needy. Amen.

Anyone for a FAST lent?

Next week is mid lent commemorating the half way of the great lent. There are many in the church who have different sorts of lent. The first and last week of the great lent, the entire lent and half the lent. As the mid lent approaches we must also understand the real concept of the lent and also look at how it was seen in the early church.

What are some of the problems that face us during the lent? Reconciliation is supposed to be so important that we have a reconciliation service at the beginning and the end of lent. But how many of us reconcile with one another and everyone we know? Wouldn’t our church and society benefit from such a reconciliation? But we refuse to do that as reconciliation is the most difficult thing to do in our lives, more difficult than any fast, lent and diet restriction. In fact it is so difficult that we leave that out of the picture and do a big lent, feeling very self righteous in the process.

A fast like this is satisfying for our ego but does not bring about pretty much anything else. This is when we need to look at one of the advises of St.John Chrysostom. “Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by. In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations.”

So we are asked to bring every part of our body into the fast and not just the stomach. Our mind should think of positive life affirming things, our eyes should see proper sights, our ears should hear good about others, our mouth and lips should talk good things about others, our hands should do good, our stomach should fast with others in mind, our legs should go the extra mile and our feet should stand up for others. The FAST lent that we undertake should make us
F- Feast
A- And
S- Say
       The
T- Truth

What is a feast? A feast is to make what is available the best and happily have it instead of grumbling about what is not there. Even as we fast we must know that the poor have limited resources with them. For them a meal may be left over rice and fish curry without any fish. It could be the remains of the meal of someone else. There we cannot talk about the purity of the lent but we must give what we have to others. We are on lent so that others may have. We cannot impose our lent on others because sometimes our lent becomes the only opportunity in a year for them to eat properly. A feast is also a feast of the soul. So when the body fasts, the soul feasts. That is why the fast should not show on our face as our soul is feasting and happy.

St. John Chrysostom says again “Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: "If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves." You did not thrust your teeth into the flesh (of your neighbor) but you thrusted bad talk in his soul; you wounded it by spreading disfame, causing unestimatable damage both to yourself, to him, and to many others. If you cannot go without eating all day because of an ailment of the body, beloved one, no logical man will be able to criticize you for that. Besides, we have a Lord who is meek and loving (philanthropic) and who does not ask for anything beyond our power. Because he neither requires the abstinence from foods, neither that the fast take place for the simple sake of fasting, neither is its aim that we remain with empty stomachs, but that we fast to offer our entire selves to the dedication of spiritual things, having distanced ourselves from secular things.”

Our fast according to this should make our soul reach out to our brothers and sisters and not consume them by eating their souls up! The church father advises us to not eat each other! During lent is that what we end up doing or do we share with those who are in need? All through the year the poor are eaten up by others. Isn’t it time now for them to have what otherwise is always ours? FEAST AND SAY the TRUTH is being happy with what we are doing but ultimately realizing that our responsibility lies in doing good for others. This we can do only if we realize that we are also responsible in the hungry not having food and the poor not being helped. This is the essence of lent. We must fast to accept and say the truth. In St. John 8:31-32 Jesus says “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” We are sometimes blindly bound to our lent that we do not see how we should transform ourselves and help others. Our lent should make us see the truth and it should set us free. Let us FAST. Let us Feast And Say the Truth. Amen.

For such a time as this: Learn from women how to observe lent

One of the most significant things in the church which many a time is kept under wraps is that women in the church fast and pray more than men. Even though priests give the call to fast and lent, it is women in the church who give heed to the call more sincerely. This they do despite the usual responsibilities of house work, child rearing and jobs. It is therefore surprising that during lent we do not consider women as a model for lent.

Yesterday being International Women’s day, it was celebrated all over the world with messages praising women. What I noticed in whats app and facebook though was that these congratulatory messages were followed by messages which indirectly and directly demeaned women. It was as if to suggest that a majority of the men were just being politically correct for women’s day and they did not say it from the heart.

Religion has a lot to do with the plight of women in our society. If the religion that you and I are a part of does not respect women, then there are high chances that you and I will follow suit. That is why it is important for us to see if there is any connection between women and lent. It is because we can accept women during the entire Lenten period and continue to do that, being strengthened by the lent we observed.

Nursing mothers and women who take care of all the house hold work need more nutrition and yet they take up the burden of saving the household primarily because the good fortune of the house is linked with the woman and because by themselves they are more responsible than men when it comes to matters of the house. It is because of this that we have to take a look at women in the bible who fasted. Every lent we always hear that fasting or lent is because Jesus fasted, Moses fasted and Elijah fasted. Women never come into the picture. Why so? Lent is a God given opportunity to realise that we have knowingly and unknowingly ignored women who were, are and should be an integral part of any lent we observe.

One of the strong examples that we have is of Esther. Mordecai informs her of the impending danger and the seeming end of their community. He sends her a message that she cannot keep quiet in such a time as this. He says in Esther 4:14 “Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” The future of her community is on the shoulder of Esther. Mordecai knows that Esther is the last straw of hope. Now what happens to Esther is the interesting part. She does not say no or that she would think about it. In an almost transformative trance she replies to Mordecai in verse 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” Ah, what a bold statement from a young woman? She chooses to be proactive in such a time as this and declares a fast for the entire community knowing the responsibility of their lives rests on her. It is also typical of men as to how Mordecai puts the responsibility on Esther even though he is the more seasoned and experienced campaigner. Esther like all women does not shrink from the responsibility but takes it on.

Esther’s fast which lasts three days is a sign for us on how to fast and lent. We must see the signs of our time and we must know the dangers lurking. When communities are in danger and when people can be killed, communities should come together in fasting and prayer. Our fasts and lent today have no consequences. But Esther’s call to fasting shows us that our fasts and lent can indeed have consequences, and good ones at that.

This lent, let us look at the fast of Esther and create our own fasts for justice and peace. When the refugee crisis and wars in the Middle East and other parts of the world rage on with no solution in sight, let us get together like Esther’s community and fast for a solution. Esther shows us the power of fasting. It has the strength to overcome evil and bring about justice. It is interesting for us after Women’s day and knowing how diligently women fast in the church, that Esther and other women like her in the bible offer us a credible model of fasting and lent. It is also important for men during lent and after women’s day to see how thinking like women can bring about a more meaningful fast and lent in which the responsibility and the future of the community become important life and death issues. Amen.

Shall we try an anger fast this lent?

Lent helps to cleanse our soul and make us better people. But when people talk of the struggles that they face in life, anger is one of the top most things that come out. There are many people who say that he/she is a good person but can’t control their anger. It is interesting to note that many people who have diet restrictions and fasting end up being angrier than others. It could also be due to the frustration of not being able to eat properly or even the fluctuation of blood sugar levels. Whatever it is, anger in men and women becomes one significant thing that people can change during lent but it is easier said than done. It should also be noted that channelizing anger rather than completely doing away with anger perhaps is a better model. Can an anger fast then be a meaningful fast for us during lent?

Whichever ladder of the hierarchy we belong to, anger should not be a part of our repertoire. A priest should not get angry at his congregation, a father and mother at their child/children, siblings to one another, friend to another friend and colleague to colleague. There is no justification for anger as it is unsettling for our body and soul. Thomas Aquinas wrote that anger can become a mortal sin if “through the fierceness” of the anger a person “falls away from the love of God and his neighbor.” Getting angry at someone is not a solution to a problem and neither can it be justified citing seniority and more experience. The more one has seen the world, the more one should be able to channelize one’s anger as we can’t justify getting angry at God’s creation because it is like getting angry with God.

Ephesians 4:26 says “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” Our fasting and lent should teach us and reform us to deal with our anger. Some of us fast till noon, some afternoon and some evening. But what use will it be if we can’t channelize our anger properly? We justify anger because we do not see it as part of morality and morality is what concerns us the most than anything else. James 1:19-20 says “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” We jump at something we hear and don’t even think for a moment or say a small prayer. It is the spur of the moment and then we can’t take back what we said.

Anger mostly only instills fear in others and we are not justified in instilling fear in others as that would lead to forcing people into things. Nothing forced will last in life. We sometimes get angry at one word or one action. Proper prayer will give us the strength to be patient and understanding. One explanation of diet restriction for lent is that ordinary food makes us calm and patient. But this may not be the case always because people can be bitter with the fact that they are on a lent or that they are doing this for someone. This may not help. Anger will not get us anywhere. Matthew 5:22 says “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment…” Lent is a hope for a better tomorrow. By getting angry and judging others we are falling into judgment ourselves. This does not in any way fulfill the reason for lent. The Psalmist puts it more directly in Psalm 37:8-9, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret- it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”

Aristotle said something very thought provoking and it is “To become angry is easy. To be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not easy.” Even when we say that lent is a good time to do away with anger or channelize anger properly there are two things that should qualify that. In a house it could mean that the wife can never get angry because she will have the burden of being patient and keeping quiet to prevent a tensed situation. This may lead to the explanation by a husband that his wife did not allow him to observe a true lent because she did not understand his anger and keep quiet and instead got angry herself leading to a reaction from him. Anger sometimes has to be talked out between family and friends as otherwise it will come out at an unexpected time. This is a danger that we ignore. Husband and wife or partners should use lent as a time to talk about frustrations, dreams, unaccomplished things, misunderstandings and plans. This will become properly channelized anger as the anger inside will come out instead of being suppressed.

The second thing is righteous anger which is often quoted by many in church as a justification to get angry. Michael Perrott talks of Jesus getting angry at the temple. This is seen in three gospels in Matthew 21, Mark 11 and John 2. By and large I have seen this as a passage used by church leaders to justify getting angry in church and in certain cases refusing to reconcile. But Perrott has a different explanation of the righteous anger of Jesus. He says that the shops and the money exchange happened in the place which was for the gentiles. All this activity denied them an opportunity to worship in a certain section of the temple. So it was not only that they were confined to a certain section but that even that was taken over by commercial interests. This was when Jesus got very angry. I look back at the three years of pastoral ministry in my latest church. I have got angry very few times. But once I had an outburst and everyone in church was surprised. It was because there was talk of pushing a family out of church for a flimsy reason. I can understand how Jesus would have felt when certain people were denied an opportunity to worship God.

So channelizing our anger and expressing righteous anger for the right reasons are how we qualify not getting angry. But otherwise anger will not get us anywhere and we will only drown in our own anger. Lent is an excellent opportunity to reform ourselves from being angry people to channelizing our anger and expressing rightful and righteous anger like Jesus did, for the people of God. May we be able to deal with our anger pangs and anger issues this lent. Let us try an anger fast where we consciously tell ourselves that we won’t get angry with anyone unless we are talking for God's people and not just ourselves. Amen.

Don't deprive yourself of love! Lenten thoughts

Lent is a time to reflect upon our own short comings, to rectify our life and follow diet restrictions so that we become better persons. But one can’t take love out of the equation when we do this. But who or what do we love and can we love ourselves while we are at it?

To love means to sacrifice and let go of many things which we consider valuable to us. But love also means doing something good for the sake of others. There are a lot of people who ask whether it is imperative that we have diet restrictions during lent and whether we need to fast during lent? The question itself means that we need to because it affects us so much that we ask! Diet restrictions are not by itself going to take us to heaven as prayers mention clearly that fasting without inner change is of no use as inner change provides fodder for the soul and outward fasting only affects the body.

But diet restrictions are good because they help us to lighten up, think well, hope good and act meaningfully. It is to suggest that diet restrictions and fasting instead of making us angry should make us better individuals who work for the betterment of others. This can be done by knowing that we have to love ourselves to diet and fast. We are on the journey to become better people and thereby behave better with others. The journey always starts with us and we prepare ourselves by eating light and eating less and thereby telling ourselves that we are not starving and denying ourselves food but rather giving just enough food for sustenance and survival. This then leads us to thinking about the sustenance and survival of others. So loving ourselves in a spiritual way leads to loving others and is a natural progression. St. Luke 6:31 says “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Today dieticians tell us to love our body more so that we can get more out of our body. Watch what you eat so that you can have a balanced body and mind they say! So dieting for a special cause is not depriving the body but in essence loving the body. Loving the body also means having good thoughts about ourselves and what we are doing. If we don’t love ourselves how can we love another? Proverbs 10:12 says that “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all wrongs.” Eating our heart out may only bring about more desire and dissension. On the other hand depriving ourselves brings out true love.

Deprivation is one sort of love where we say that I am sacrificing for something. Lent has also been seen as deprivation of food for the body so that the soul is enriched by the deprivation. But lent is also depriving cravings for certain kind of food so that true love is brought out. Craving for something or someone may not be true love. Depriving our cravings brings out a true element of love inside us.

Eating is something everyone can do. It comes naturally to us. Love is also natural but it becomes true love when we do unnatural things. Jesus Christ dying on the cross was unnatural but brought out God’s love for the world. 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.” Bringing in dietary regulations during lent brings about an element of unnaturalness in us and leads to true love. St. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Love makes no sense and is mysterious in certain ways. But it is the only way forward.

Any act of dieting and love can only be complete when we prepare ourselves to love others. Without this we will remain in a vacuum of self-righteousness. St. Matthew 22:37-39 says “Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Loving others is dieting, restricting and depriving as this leads us to love.

May lent be a time to deprive and love ourselves so that we may move on to loving others just as we were told by Jesus Christ. Amen.


Picture one courtesy www.theunitive.com
Picture two courtesy www.alivinggarden.com

St. Mary and the mystery of the people friendly lent

The church through its decision making and teaching brings out a policy which its members should adhere to. The following of these written and un-written rules is important for one to be accepted amongst the church hierarchy and those associated with it. One of the rules among many to be followed in some cases is the lent and fasts during various times and for various reasons. This becomes a requirement which has to be completed, as otherwise the concerned person will be held accountable by the church.

Among the various lents and fasts that the church requires and asks for are also the ‘nothing official about it’ L&F’s. The eight days lent ending in the celebration of the birthday of St. Mary is perhaps the best example of this. Even though it is not an official lent of the church, people in Kerala and elsewhere find a sense of achievement and attachment in going through the lent. When otherwise people will fast to fulfil their requirements to the church, in this case the fasting is out of one’s own free will.

In an age of Anna Hazare, Jayalalitha, Mamata, Sonia, Katrina, Aishwarya, et all, there is this one woman who time and again manages to make people cry, mend, fast and transform. When we attach ourselves to people who are strong, powerful, educated, and glamorous here is a woman who is none of these in one glance and yet commands the respect and the adherence of millions of people. It may be true that women in the church identify more with St. Mary but that does not mean that men are far away.

Would Mary get so much attention by virtue of being the mother of Jesus? There must be something else which is much more than being the selected womb. Her life in a way suggests the anti thesis of what is right and correct. She was born to her parents in their old age, she starting serving the church in a tender young age, she was betrothed to Joseph who was much older than her, she became pregnant before she was married and had any relationship with Joseph, she saw the future with an older cousin Elizabeth, and she identified the special Jesus at the wedding in Cana. Truly, whatever she did, she did different.

When was the last time we ever followed someone as different as this? Or is it that we don’t know that Mary is so different and radical because she has been dressed up by the church? In the midst of the official, the dressed up, and the hierarchical there lies somewhere the non-official, free and people friendly Mary who the people have accepted as their saint and for whom they are willing to starve and mend their ways. Somewhere lying hidden in the need for personal gains is also the concern for the unseen and the unheard. This is the true people’s St. Mary, offering something new every year.

Slowing down during the great fast

Fasting and controlling one’s diet in all religious traditions is not only a way to appease the God’s and get our individual desires fulfilled but also to evaluate as to where we are going and what we are doing. In this sense we would have to look at our lives and the world we live in and analyse them individually and in tandem.

One of the things that would emerge from such an analysis is the fast way of life that has crept into our scheme of existence. It is not just about the fast bikes and cars, but the whole way of how we look at life itself. Every innovation and invention helps to make life faster and faster. Computer games take us into the level of a speedy, crazy and dangerous virtual reality and prepare us to convert this excitement into the real thing by then using it in our real life settings.

Everything that we have to live with is in this sense fast and furious. We don’t have time to meet each other in person and so we text people and call them on the phone. With the next generation 3G services being offered by phone companies we can even see each other through streamlined video. Everything is brought to the convenience of the screen. We watch beautiful places through the screen because we don’t have the time and patience to go there in person. Our screen then becomes another symbol of our super duper life where time and tide wait for no one.

As our lives are transformed, the products of entertainment follow suit and sometimes even set the trend. Such a product is the 20-20 cricket league which has been such a huge success in India and kicks off it’s second edition in a month’s time. The justification for such a format is that people don’t have time and therefore we should compress things and offer it in a capsule of entertainment with images that will make them glued to the presentation. The game should be so fast that it should be over before we realise it.

But how long can we keep up with the fast and furious talk? After the first 20-20 match of the Indian cricket team’s tour to New Zealand, Dhoni, the Indian captain, was seen telling his team mates that one should also show patience as even twenty overs is a long time. One can’t think that every ball can be hit out of the stadium. It was quite a bit of a revelation from the captain. Wonder if the poster boys of Indian cricket got the point! And even more, wonder whether those sucked in by the 20-20 hysteria got the essence of the 'slow' comment.

The words fasting and fast for me thus refer to something else. It sounds as if we are preparing to be faster and more aggressive in our lives when the essence of a preparation should be to rather slow down and examine our lives and enjoy what the world has to offer. In that sense I would like to say that I am slowing down and not fasting!



(Image from http://www.hscripts.com/freeimages/icons/mechanical/sandclock-clipart.php)

Time up: Stop writing!!!

We are running out we are told
Of time and opportunities galore
Socks they have to be pulled up
Equipped to shake away tranquillity

There’s no time for growing up anymore
We are born with fighting qualities you know
What is the need to test and grow
With all the fun and 20-20 in tow

Waiting and curing, that is but past
Today we build, tomorrow we blast
Who cares about nature and her cast
Tomorrow will iron out today fast

Time is but used now to measure our speed
Of what we can quickly achieve
Wiping clean our slow and steady life indeed
With fast and quicker laps to feed