Seldom does there seem to be a day when I do not have my morning coffee and then sometime in the week crave for some chocolate. It's not that I am addicted to the taste but there is a familiarity which seems to comfort me especially in preparing for a normal days routine. Yet when we come to Lent these seem to be easy things to give up as long as you can put up with the withdrawal symptoms and the temptations to sneak chocolate when nobody is looking. Yet there has to be something more to fasting than just simply giving up things to return to them in Easter and to consume chocolate and coffee in abundance. Fasting is there to help us notice what we consume and how it can turn our attention away from God and from each other. It allows us to notice what we consume and how that has an impact on others.
The first discipline we follow is allowing the money that we would normally spend on those items to go to Project Compassion. It helps us to see a direct link between the action that we are performing as having a direct impact on another. We seek to notice how our simple act of self-denial can have an impact on another.
The second discipline is to reflect on who produces our food and whether they receive the benefits in return for their labour. This was certainly present in recent Fair Trade campaigns which sought to ensure that the people who produced the food received a just wage and also benefited from the fruits of their labour. It enabled people to consider what they bought in stores and in their weekly shop and how that made an impact on the livelihood of another. Most recently we have the example of one chain of supermarkets raising the price of milk to ensure that the farmers who produce receive a living wage.
The third discipline is to consider what may need to change in our lives to act in a way which is just in the way we consume food and other items. This is not to become scrupulous and paralysed by indecision but it is a mature reflection on how my actions can shape the good of another. This can extend to many elements of life especially when we try to live within our budget. But it asks a more vital question of how I am called to act in a way which recognises that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. How and what I spend my money on has an impact on my life and the life of another.
Lastly, there is a call for us to grow in holiness for the good of God, the good of ourselves and the good of others. This seeking after the common good seeks that all created things are entrusted to us to be used wisely and well. It actually is a natural extension of our prayer that what we consume shapes our relationships. What we desire is that our lives imitate Christ's is not seeking to have power, prestige and possessions at the expense of the good of another. We are called to consider that we cannot close our lives to the need of others and only feed ourselves. When we sit down at Eucharist we invite the poor, the lame, the crippled and those most in need. The fact that we join them in their own vulnerability helps us to recognise that in our fasting we become vulnerable. We seek not only generosity of heart but an open heart which seeks a friendship which transforms our world.
The first discipline we follow is allowing the money that we would normally spend on those items to go to Project Compassion. It helps us to see a direct link between the action that we are performing as having a direct impact on another. We seek to notice how our simple act of self-denial can have an impact on another.
The second discipline is to reflect on who produces our food and whether they receive the benefits in return for their labour. This was certainly present in recent Fair Trade campaigns which sought to ensure that the people who produced the food received a just wage and also benefited from the fruits of their labour. It enabled people to consider what they bought in stores and in their weekly shop and how that made an impact on the livelihood of another. Most recently we have the example of one chain of supermarkets raising the price of milk to ensure that the farmers who produce receive a living wage.
The third discipline is to consider what may need to change in our lives to act in a way which is just in the way we consume food and other items. This is not to become scrupulous and paralysed by indecision but it is a mature reflection on how my actions can shape the good of another. This can extend to many elements of life especially when we try to live within our budget. But it asks a more vital question of how I am called to act in a way which recognises that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. How and what I spend my money on has an impact on my life and the life of another.
Lastly, there is a call for us to grow in holiness for the good of God, the good of ourselves and the good of others. This seeking after the common good seeks that all created things are entrusted to us to be used wisely and well. It actually is a natural extension of our prayer that what we consume shapes our relationships. What we desire is that our lives imitate Christ's is not seeking to have power, prestige and possessions at the expense of the good of another. We are called to consider that we cannot close our lives to the need of others and only feed ourselves. When we sit down at Eucharist we invite the poor, the lame, the crippled and those most in need. The fact that we join them in their own vulnerability helps us to recognise that in our fasting we become vulnerable. We seek not only generosity of heart but an open heart which seeks a friendship which transforms our world.
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