abstinence

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Friday, 15 February 2013 : Friday after Ash Wednesday (Scripture Reflection)

Today, and many other days in this season of Lent, we are asked to do penance, and repent, and truly focus our attention back to the Lord. Also today being friday, we usually do the practice of abstinence, that is to abstain from eating meat, particularly red meat today. We also have the practice of fasting, which all of us Catholics must do on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, on which day we fast, by eating only a full meal and up to two smaller meals or snacks.

Have we done our part in doing these fasting and abstinence practices? These are the practices highly recommended for us to be done during this season of Lent. One may ask, then why don’t we fast like those Muslims or other religions do? That when they fast, they do not eat for long hours of the day, and fast for a whole month, then why don’t we just fast for the whole of the 40 days, and eat only once per day? Does it not fit better with the description of Lent as a season for fasting?

No, the reason we do not fast for such periods is because, we do not want to lose the focus of fasting, that fasting should not be done for the sake of fasting, that fasting should indeed be done out of sincere love for God and desire to turn back fully to the Lord. Fasting should be a facilitator of our repentance and a vessel through which we can better focus our attention to God. For in the reading today, the Lord tells us that He do not desire our fasting and abstinence, but rather our hearts, our broken and sinful hearts, that truly change and repent into renewed and sanctified hearts through our complete transformation, not only physically, but most importantly, the transformation of what is inside us.

Therefore, what matters this Lent is that we strive to make changes in our life, from those things that we have done in sin, slowly and surely we turn these into things done for the glory of God. For when we fast, it is to actually turn our focus and attention into our hearts, to look inside, whether we have done what is concrete to change from our sinful ways and walk into the light. For it is wrong when we fast or abstain, but we end up doing the opposite, for example, there are some who abstain on Fridays of the Lent, but then gather together and have a seafood BBQ or seafood party. Well technically you are not eating meat indeed, and fish is the alternative allowed, but then you are missing the point of fasting if you do so.

The same is also when you fast, but then during the fast, you grumble and think why should I waste my time with this fast, and look forward to the meal time, and when the meal time comes, you just devour as much food as you can. This is also missing the point on doing fasting during this holy period of Lent.

Therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, in this Lenten period, do fast, and do abstain, and if you like even not only on Fridays, but also on other days of the Lent if you want to, but most importantly, do not forget that what matters is to make sure that we are changed internally, and that we make use this time, to bring ourselves closer to God, closer to Him who loves us, and willing to accept us back into His embrace, if only we reject our sins and turn our face back towards the Light. May God bless all of us in this Lent, and have a blessed fast and abstinence everyone! Amen.

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Wednesday, 13 February 2013 : Ash Wednesday (Scripture Reflection)

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we enter into the season of Lent, the season for repentance, and season for the blossoming of new hope and faith in God. For in this 40 days season of Lent, we have a great chance to bring ourselves ever closer to God, and to make ourselves ready to welcome God into our hearts, as we approach the most important liturgical season of the year, that is the Holy Week.

Today we receive the ashes, that is none other than the ashes produced by the burning of the palms from the previous year’s blessed palms of the Palm Sunday. These ashes which the priest will place on our foreheads are the reminder of our mortality and our fragility. It serves as a reminder for us, that we are human, and that we are limited, and ultimately, we are nothing before God, and our lives are just but a fleeting moment.

We have to prepare ourselves this Lent, and nothing better than to begin with humility, to humbly ask God for forgiveness. By the imposition of ashes, we show that we are ready to lower ourselves before God, most merciful and most loving.

These ashes may symbolise that we are nothing and that all we have are temporary, but even from the ashes, we can rise again to be great. Our sinful way of life and this world is just temporary, and therefore, let us do our best, not to be trapped, not to be ensnared by the false temptations and evils, and rather, let us make best use of our short and temporary existence in this world.

Let us turn our hearts to God, and sincerely ask for His forgiveness for our constant rebellion against Him. For in our human weakness, the evil one had had many tools to subvert us and lured us into sin to serve his own purposes, that is most importantly to separate us for eternity from the loving embrace of God. Let us use this Lenten season to rebuke Satan as Christ did when He was tempted during His 40 days retreat in the desert. Let us say no to Satan and his malicious ways, and reject him in all that we do. Make this Lenten season a holy and meaningful season, dedicated in prayer to God.

Let us approach the Lord with great humility and a loving heart reserved for Him alone. This is why Christ rebuked those whose hypocrisy made them pray in a very visible way, that is to be seen by all the people around them, with example being the Pharisees at that time. It is actually fine to show one’s great holiness, and indeed, one’s great faith and holiness, when shown, may deliver many to redemption too.

However, there is no prayer best than when we are alone with Him. To me, the best prayers are made, whenever I am in an empty shower in an empty bathroom, in my own room without anyone else, where, I can truly listen to the Lord speaking to me, and also to be able then to also speak to the Lord without restraint. Since, when we are alone with Him, we are truly open to Him, just as He is open to us. When someone is around us, less so a crowd, vanity, pride, and other sins will unavoidably arise in our hearts, and our focus will eventually be not entirely at the Lord anymore. No, indeed, if we allow our vanity and pride to grow great, we may end up focusing on ourselves, our own achievements by being ‘holy’ and ‘looked up to’ by the people.

Thus, today, let us, brothers and sisters in Christ, prepare ourselves for the Lord, make the best use out of this Lenten season. Do penance and repent sincerely, and the Lord will see our hearts and found them to be worthy. Let us step up our efforts in prayer and in our mission, in our work for the good of all around us, especially in this holy, Lenten season. Happy Lent everyone! Amen.

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Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season, Fasting and Abstinence

Today is Ash Wednesday, the very first day and the beginning of Lent. What is Lent? and why is it 40 days long? Lent is the season, the time when we prepare ourselves, and make ourselves truly worthy to celebrate and commemorate the most important event in our year, that is the Holy Week, when we will remember Christ’s Passion and death, His great Sacrifice for our sake on the cross, and ultimately through His resurrection, we have hope of eternal life.

In order to be able to properly and fully celebrate the important Holy Week, this is why we prepare ourselves, in this 40 days of Lenten season. Why 40? Because 40 has long been associated in the Bible as the symbol of suffering, of waiting, and of purification, to prepare someone or a group of people for the ultimate end, happiness as given by God.

The people of Israel after being freed from slavery in Egypt, had to wonder for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land, after they rejected the Lord and His assurance, fearing instead the Canaanites whose presence terrified the Israelites and made them to complain that they would have had better life back where they were in slavery. The 40 years of journey through the desert is to root out all the dissidents, all of them who died, except the two, including Joshua, who surveyed the Promised Land and stayed faithful to God’s promise.

Elijah travelled for 40 days to the mountain of the Lord after being chased and persecuted by King Ahab of Israel. There Elijah met the Lord, who gave him renewed strength and courage to return and face King Ahab, and bring forth the Lord back to the people of Israel, delivering them from the worship of pagan gods.

Then ultimately, Christ Himself, fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert, and was tempted thrice by the devil. This happened after His baptism by John the Baptist and before He began His ministry in this world. He resisted all temptations of the devil and rebuked him for his insolence against the Lord. This 40 days is therefore representative of the same kind of time of preparation and of purification before something great and holy is begun.

Therefore, we too, are called in, these 40 days, to also prepare ourselves, spiritually in particular, for the celebration of our Lord’s Passion and death. To facilitate this, the Church has instituted Ash Wednesday as the beginning of the Lenten season, where ashes are imposed on the forehead of the faithful, and also the rules on fasting and abstinence.

Why ash? Ash is the symbolism of nothingness, and a reminder of dust where we came from. God created Adam, the first man out of earth and dust, and as Adam, and indeed other human dies, their bodies turn back into dust, into nothingness, though the soul remains. This is to remind us that our earthly life is just temporary, and that we should not do what is futile in this world, that is to seek worldly power and wealth, and dedicate our entire life for these, as in the end, we are nothing before God. This ash symbolises the great humility that we took upon, before the throne of God, asking for His great mercy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting_and_abstinence_in_the_Roman_Catholic_Church

Fasting refers to the practice of eating only a single full meal in the day, and with up to two ‘snacks’ or also commonly known as ‘collations’, which purpose is for physical discipline, to help us to prepare ourselves spiritually through the rejection of worldly temptations in the form of food and good things, that we can truly focus ourselves fully on the Lord. In the past, we used to fast much more often than now, as in the present, we are actually only required to fast on Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday itself.

Meanwhile, abstinence refer to the practice of, traditionally, shunning meat from all meals of the day, which is similar in intent to fasting, except that one does not need to limit the meal to just one meal and maximum of two snacks, but simply abstain from eating meat for that day. Traditionally too, this is done every Friday during Lent. However, in fact, we can also abstain from other things, even non-food items. We can abstain from things that occupy us the most, and even those we are addicted to. These practices, if we do them correctly and meaningfully, will only make us more prepared and ready for the commemoration of our Lord’s great Sacrifice and Resurrection, which is 40 days from now.

May God bless us all during this Lenten season, and I wish you all, happy Lent and have a great and fruitful season of recollection and repentance this Lent!