Lent is not a time for self-gratification

“We fast and mourn, not for the Cross or for Christ’s sufferings, but because of our own sins.”

St. John Chrysostom

Lent is  upon us, I will soon hear people talk about giving up chocolate for  forty days. I personally think this misses the point of the season. Lent has almost become synonymous with giving up confectionary as if were a time of correcting one’s diet. I remember reading once how Gerald Manley Hopkins a Jesuit priest gave up looking at the sky during Lent. His love for nature was so great that its loss must have hit him hard. He gave up poetry too which is what he is best known for. 

This may sound harsh but it is meant to be. Lent is a time of penance which is reflected in the spiritual as well as the physical, giving up something dear to us is meant to make us dwell on the temporal aspects of life and also remind us how easily our likes can become a distraction. There is a greater virtue in giving up something dear for Lent, in a world where a lot of us live a life of plenty denying oneself of luxuries opens our minds to the plight of those who live through deprivation on a daily basis. Chocolate is not a necessity it is a luxury which if denied does not cause any real sense of deprivation. A year ago a friend said to me I am fasting during Lent to help loose weight I put on during Christmas. I personally think she has lost the meaning of why we fast. Loosing weight while commendable is a self serving activity it does nothing beneficial for those around us. Fasting should make us aware of what hunger feels like and how money saved on food could be used for a good cause. A Jewish friend once gave me the best explanation for why fasting and especially during Lent was a blessing. He noted how as the days get longer our fasts are broken much later each day, building up to  a stricter regime and also how this suffering brought us closer to our fellow human beings. That our souls and bodies are connected is of deep significance. This connection is the driving force in religious practise and also within secular activism. 

He has a point deprivation of any kind makes us feel vulnerable, which if channelled properly can be utilised to understand the world around us. My mother insists on giving up meat for Lent she reasons it helps people think of how animals are brutally murdered for our food. I am a vegetarian now but 

Our sacrifice should help us think deeper about the world around us. Some of us live in a world of plenty, our basic needs have been met. Not only that we live without being truly deprived, this has made us oblivious to the daily struggles of the world. Food in some parts of the world is so freely available throughout the year and so affordable for some that we forget how it comes to our tables. Yet a large majority of this world lives in poverty, their basic needs not met. Fasting can give us an insight into what daily hunger feels like. Forty  days of penance will not change everything but a little good that is does should not be scoffed at.