They represent the totality of the Christian life, which calls us out of ourselves
By Deacon Bob Hunt
Lent is a season of transformation. The Church calls us to focus on three aspects of our Christian life: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But focusing on these aspects of the Christian life is not intended as an end in and of themselves. The intent is to transform our entire life so that it better reflects the will of God—that our will comes to better reflect the will of God, so that every aspect of our life is transformed according to His grace. These three aspects represent, if you will, the totality of the Christian life.
Prayer represents our focus on God and recognizing our need for Him. We cannot live without God. We cannot achieve our own salvation. It is God who saves. Our part in our salvation is to cooperate with God’s grace, to embrace His grace, that our life might be transformed into one that reflects His glory. Prayer represents our dependence on Him and our knowing we depend on Him. Those who foolishly think they don’t need God don’t pray. Why would they? What is prayer, after all, but our acknowledgement that we depend upon God and our desire to do so? The very act of praying is an acknowledgment of our need for God.
We focus on our prayer life during Lent so that we can more deeply appreciate our dependence on Him and that our life may reflect such. The Scriptures say: “If then my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). This is the promise: humble ourselves in prayer, turn from evil, and God will hear our prayers, forgive, and heal us. But it all begins with prayer. We cannot seek God’s face unless we pray. We cannot turn away from evil unless we pray. What better goal could there be for this Lent?
Fasting represents our detaching ourselves from the things of this world so that we can better live for God. Fasting from food has always been a way of letting go of our attachment, not only to food but also to whatever it is that keeps us from giving ourselves entirely to God. What is it that keeps me from giving my all to the life of the Gospel? It may be food. But it may be an attachment to other things: media, sports, politics. Even a good cause, such as the pro-life cause or opposition to human trafficking, can be an obstacle to giving myself entirely to God if my devotion to these things replaces my devotion to God, especially, for instance, in living out the commitments I have made to my family.
I had a brother who was very dedicated to his church. He would spend many days, and many hours each day, in worship and fellowship at his church. As a result, however, he often neglected his duties to our mother, who was ill and in need of care. Of course, there are those who are tragically attached to very destructive things, such as drugs, alcohol, pornography, or gambling. What sense does it make to give up chocolate for Lent if our lives remain consumed by destructive habits? The point of fasting, regardless of what we’re fasting from, is to re-prioritize our life so that God is at the center. The Scriptures say: “Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6). The purpose of fasting, ultimately, is to transform our world and ourselves, to break the yoke that binds the oppressed and that ties us to the things of this world that prevent us from giving our all to God.
Almsgiving represents our turning outward from our insular selves to seek to serve the other, especially the downtrodden, the poor, and the oppressed. We see God in all, but especially in what St. Teresa of Calcutta called “the distressing disguise of the poor.” In letting go of some small portion of our income, we learn better to let go of greater things: our selfishness, our hoarding, our false dependence on money. The Word of God teaches us that depending on savings, on resources stored away for a “rainy day,” is a fool’s security blanket. We don’t know when God will call us home, so why hold on to what may be of no use to us tomorrow? Better to depend on His grace, His mercy, His protection.
We trick ourselves into thinking that we need bank accounts full of money, which tempts us to forget that everything that we have has been given to us by God, and God only gives that what He gives might be shared with others for the benefit of all. We truly are our brother’s keeper, and we have a responsibility to be there for those in need. There are those who are poor in material things, certainly. But there are also those who are poor in spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical things. These, too, require our help in whatever way we can help. The point is to give while not being overly concerned with how much one is able to give. I recall asking a Sister who was fundraising for her community’s ministry, “How much should I give?” She replied, “Give until it hurts and then a little more.” The Scriptures say: “Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). If we hope to reap bountifully of the rewards of God’s grace, we must give bountifully. That’s how it works. Lent is a season that reminds us of this truth and calls us to live it more faithfully.
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving represent the totality of the Christian life. It is the life of Christ that calls us to pray, knowing that we depend on God. It is the life of Christ that calls us to be detached from the things of this world, precisely because those things hold us back from giving our all to God. And it is the life of Christ that calls us out of ourselves, to focus on the other rather than on one’s self and to sacrifice for the sake of others, because present in the other who is our neighbor is the Other who is God.
Lent is a season of transformation. By focusing on the three elements of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we truly learn the value of the Christian life of grace: grace to depend on God, grace to detach ourselves from the things that keep us from giving our all, and grace to give of ourselves for the sake of those in need. In doing so, our life will better reflect the life of Christ, and each of us will better be the presence of Christ in this world sorely in need of Him.
Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.
Deacon Bob Hunt is a husband, father, grandfather, and parishioner at All Saints Church in Knoxville. He is author of the book “Thy Word: An Introduction to the Bible for People in the Pews.”
