Lent and Fasting

I really love Ash Wednesday. I love seeing the ash on the foreheads of the Catholics at the library, at the hospital and at the gym. One of the beauties of Lent is that all of us are called to be aware that it truly is a different time of the year--a season where we are called to come back to our foundation and get in touch with the Creator. Obviously, this is the goal year-round but Lent is a time to really focus on that goal and take extra efforts to work on our relationship with Christ.

I recently argued with some friends about the necessity of fasting (they were Coptic--which just made me more frustrated!). I think that if the Church has a fast going on, all of us fast. It shouldn't even be something that we have to think twice about. My friends argued that it depends on where you are "in your spiritual journey". To me, that part sounds really "I'm gonna go find myself in Tibet or learn from a yogi in India" or just simply a reflection of the ultra-individualistic mindset we have in the West. (I love the West, don't get me wrong). But that's also my personality--I like to follow rules and order and protocol, especially when I know that the writers of those rules know what they are talking about. Lent is about distancing ourselves from the world and getting closer to God. That requires different things of different people. I know that for me, my biggest challenge this Lent will to stay attuned to the season and not be overly consumed with boards. That seems like an almost impossible thing for me to fathom and at times I've caught myself thinking, I'd rather do well on boards then miss this Lent...I'll always have next year. But the reality is that EVERY year, I am just as busy as the next (maybe a little more busier than usual this year). And maybe the message here then is that Lent is a time to stop making excuses for ourselves. As Father Robert said on Sunday, its a time to uncloth the hypocrisy and face the ugliness of our sin.