Lenten
fasts have their place, even in contemporary life, and this is especially true
when your fasting is linked to the disciplines of prayer. A Lenten fast should be
significant enough to remind you to pray every time the commitment to fasting
intrudes on your daily life. If you think that giving up chocolate is a cruel
Lenten discipline, you probably should give up chocolate for Lent.
Lent originally was a Middle English word, lente for spring. In the 4th Century St. Athanasius encouraged a 40 day
period of fasting in preparation for Holy Week. In the 5th Century
St. Cyril of Jerusalem included a period of fasting for new converts prior to
their baptism on Easter Eve.
The primary intent of Lent, however is not fasting,
but penitence. That is difficult for contemporary people because we have
forgotten what penitence is. Old, antique, and awkward disciplines color our
understanding. We may think that we have gotten past self-flagellation, but
many people indulge in mental and emotional self-flagellation thinking that
they are being penitent.
In “The Purple Headed Mountain” Martin Thornton
gives an excellent definition of penitence,
Penitence means
knowledge, of ourselves, of the world, and of God, and knowledge leads to love.
Penitence clarifies our vision, it helps us to develop that insight into the
ways of God with things and people which the text books call wisdom.…So our
quest for penitence, far from being a negative, introverted, unhealthy thing,
is a search for truth every bit as creative as the search for truth by scholars
and scientists.[i]
A season of Penitence is a season of self-discovery.
This will take some deliberate action on your part. As part of your Lenten
discipline, read Scripture every day, and listen to what God is saying to you. One
way of doing this is the ancient method of bible study called Lectio Divina
[Divine Reading]. There are four steps in Lectio Divina: Reading, Reflecting,
Responding, and Resting.
- Read the passage over several times.
- Reflect on what God is saying to you in the passage.
- Respond in prayer to God about His word to you.
- Rest in His Presence.
Many Christians who read Holy Scripture get as far
as Reading and Reflecting, and stop short of Responding to God about what they
have heard. The Psalmist says, “For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and
will make me understand wisdom secretly.”[ii]
A good way of making this more concrete is by
keeping a Prayer Journal about what you have heard God saying, and what you
have said in Response. One way of doing that is addressing God directly at the
beginning of each entry. Keep it simple, and begin saying, Lord… and then
continuing with your prayer entry.
What Lectio Divina uncovers is that Prayer is a
Dialogue. God talks to me, and I talk to Him.
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