Pray, Fast, Give

As February comes to a close we enter the season of Great Lent, a season to begin the spiritual practices which allow us to unite ourselves with the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ and grow closer to Him in our journey of faith.

In the Gospel reading of Ash Wednesday we hear Jesus tell His followers: “Beware of practicing your piety before others to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.”

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father Who is in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.”

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father Who is in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)

As a continuation of the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks to the daily living of His followers and in particular, the penitential practices that have become a part of our Lenten journey: fasting, praying and giving.

A first point that we must notice here is that the Lord does not make these conditional statements.  He does not say: “If you fast …, or if you pray … or if you give…”.  Instead Jesus assumes that these practices will be a part of the life of His followers.  So, Jesus says: “When you fast …, and when you pray …, and when you give …”.  These actions are not really about us going above and beyond expectation or other followers, rather these are expected to be a part of the daily spiritual life of a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, a believer in Almighty God.

But Jesus does speak to us about the motivations that lie behind these penitential practices and then by comparison concerning all of the religious practices of our lives.  In each of these short teachings of a penitential practice, Jesus compares the true follower to the ‘hypocrite’.  Now a modern dictionary defines the word, ‘hypocrisy’ as the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.  While certainly true in this case, the original comes to us from the Greek word ‘hupokrisis’ which means ‘acting of a theatrical part.’   Jesus is showing us that if our motives for these and other penitential practices are anything other than the real reform of our lives, we are only acting or playing a part.  If we are only acting, then the spiritual effects of these practices will not happen.  If we are being like actors and only perform an act as if we are in a play, then we may very well be admired for our acting performance.  But in our lives it will go no farther.  These actions will not penetrate any deeper into our daily Christian living. 

I am always concerned about this because each and every year, during the time of Ash Wednesday, I am assured of getting calls on the phone in the Office of the Prime Bishop as well as being stopped on the street with the request, “Father, do you have any ashes on you?”  The truth is I usually do not and I instruct these individuals where they may receive them at one of our local churches.  But then many times I am met with the comment, “Oh, I don’t have time for that.”  While maybe I should ask, I have never gone further to inquire, “Then why is the mark on your forehead so important?”

And while we should certainly not judge others in their religious practice, the above reading from the Gospel of Matthew, and the reaction of others when we encounter them, should cause us to reflect on exactly what is the motivation behind our own Lenten practices, not only of wearing ashes on our forehead for Ash Wednesday, but all of the things that we do to observe Lent.

It is certainly my prayer that when I begin anew with the Lenten practices of fasting and praying and giving that through this season, my attention is not on the actual practice.  Jesus even reminded us “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”, but rather that I am focused on the action that I am disciplining my own life in order to put Jesus and His way before my own.  But while that is certainly the goal, I also know that we are all generally weak individuals, who are so easily preoccupied with the things of the world, so because of this the Church has given to us all these small ways in which we can begin to change our lives.

We are asked to abstain from meat on the Fridays and Wednesdays in Lent and to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  In this we discipline one bodily aspect of our daily lives and this hopefully allows us to reflect on the fact that there are certainly many things that surround us that we should fast and abstain from.  We are asked to set aside time for an increased life of prayer and also to join with our parish communities at specified times to join in the Stations of the Cross and Bitter Lamentations.  Through this we must adjust our own time schedules to allow for this to take place.  We sacrifice our own desires to use our time as we please, to rather join in prayer and supplication to Almighty God.  We are encouraged to give as a way to sacrifice the produce of our labor, be it in time or money, to worthy causes.  This allows us to begin to realize that all that we possess we have in trust from Almighty God and He commands us to use it all for the service of God and others.

Each of these Lenten practices helps us to see that we must put Jesus first as we seek to unite ourselves to Him in His passion and death and finally in His Resurrection.  We are reminded of the words of St. John the Baptist on his encounter with Jesus in the Gospel of John:: “He [Jesus] Who has the bride is the bridegroom.  The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.  For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:29-30)  The practices of Lent allow us to decrease in our own selfishness and hearing the voice of Jesus in our lives, allow Him and His way to increase in how we live.

Our Lenten journey allows us to follow the words of Jesus we heard on the last Sunday of Pre-Lent, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”   Let us fast and pray and give as we strive to celebrate a Holy Lent, but through these practices let us know that we seek, not just these actions, but to grow closer to Jesus and to put Him first in all of our life and actions.