I talked with them about ‘giving things up for Lent’. I asked them, if you say, “I’m going to give up hitting my little sister for Lent”, does that mean that when Lent is over you give her big huge WHACK? After all, Lent would be over, and you were no longer giving that up.
No, we were all agreed, it wouldn’t then become right to hit your little sister.
Now, this is important to note, because it tells us something about ‘giving things up’:
The things we are giving up are things that are GOOD in themselves, they’re not things that are sins -things that we should never be doing anyway.
‘Giving things up’ is a small form of fasting. So why do we fast? There are a number of reasons.
The first of those reasons, is to be in union with Jesus in the desert. The Lord Jesus, as we heard in that Gospel passage, went into the desert and fasted and prayed for 40 days. The Lord Jesus had times when He fasted and times when He feasted, and so His disciples have seasons when we fast and seasons when we feast. The path to a fulfilled life lies in following Jesus. Lent is 40 days in union with Him in the desert, fasting, at least by doing the small fasting of ‘giving things up’.
But what is fasting? When we fast we take something that is good in itself, namely food, and we don’t eat it.
We don’t do this because food is bad -it’s not like giving up hitting your little sister.
Food isn’t bad. The problem isn’t with the food, the problem is with ME. I am attached to things, and to food, in a way that simply isn’t right. All too easily I get over-focused on THINGS.
As I said to the children at St Catherine’s, if I stuff my face with chocolate, if I’m focussed on my iPad and my TV, do I see the people around me? No.
And if those people around me need my help, do I see? No.
I am UNABLE to love, because I’m focused on the wrong things.
What fasting achieves, is it FREES me from my self-absorption and so frees me to LOVE.
What fasting TRAINS me in is self-control and self-discipline, which are really important because I need them all the time in my dealings with others.
So, that growth in inner freedom is a second reason why we fast.
A third reason we fast is to offer the Lord a sign of our sorrow for our sins.
I pointed the children towards Jesus on the cross (sadly we don’t have a crucifix here for you to see in this church, though we should have)
And I explained to the children that what hurt Jesus the MOST wasn’t the physical pain, but the wounds to His love that we make by our sins. Every sin rejects His love.
I gave this example to this children: if you’ve really upset your friend, you can show you want to make things right by giving him something. If you and your friend both know you love Dairy Milk chocolate, and you give your friend your bar of Dairy Milk, that gesture of love, that act of ‘reparation’ helps heal the wound we have caused.
And that’s another important reason we ‘give things up’ for Lent.
So, in summary, there are three things that characterise this holy season: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Its not about doing one OR the other. For someone to say, “I’m going to so something positive for Lent rather than give something up”, would be like saying, “I’m going to love God rather than love my neighbour -you need BOTH!
So let’s each add a little extra prayer, resolve on that thing we’ve given up, and spend this time: (1) in union with Jesus in the desert; (2) freeing ourselves from our attachments, so we are freer to love and give to others; and (3) offer reparation to the wounded Heart of our Lord
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