What will you give up for Lent? Lots of people are asking and telling. Chocolate. Facebook. Other things on their list of favorite things.
Lent is really about giving up one thing. It is about giving up sin. It is a season of repentance. Oh it is true that in the history of the church other things were sometimes given up (food for instance), but truly as an act of repentance, as a sign that their repentance was body and soul, through and through. But giving up something randomly is not really the idea. Give up sin, and when you are done with that (never), then you can try giving up other things.
Lent is really about giving out one thing. It is about giving out forgiveness. God giving it out through his church. So be where it is distributed. Gaze at the font in grateful remembrance. Go to your pastor in confession. Rejoice at the absolution spoken to you. Lean at the table of the Lord. God is giving out forgiveness. Be there.
Just give up sin in repentance and receive what is being given out and you will have the benefit of Lent.
Phil,
On the vestibule of Hagia Irene (St. Irene) in Athens, there is an inscription which reads: Îίψον ἀνομήματα μὴ μόναν ὄψιν. It’s a palindrome which translates, “Wash your sins, not only your face.” I think that sums up what you are saying here.
However, giving up sinning for Lent is not easy as you and I know well. The giving up of one thing for Lent, be it a type of food, drink, activity should be done to deprive the body. And if the body is deprived, hopefully such will make us more dependent on God. Sin is the absence of good. It has no substance, no materiality. IT may be reflected in tangible ways but, by itself, is has no ontological existence. It is privation of what it means to truly be human. As God humbled himself (kenosis literally means emptying) to become man should we also not empty ourselves of the tangible things (e.g. food and drink) which can (not necessarily all the time) cause the passions to be roused? But perhaps we ask the wrong question. Instead of asking “what are you giving up for Lent?” how about “What are you adding for Lent?”
You once quoted from a book that fasting is letting the body in on repentance. We are given the chance to repent because of the fact that we have bodies, we have flesh. THe angels who rebelled against God have no chance at forgiveness because they have no flesh and cannot repent. Such is the mercy of God. To avoid sinning, there must be privation to the instrument of our sins, our bodies, souls and minds. But, to that end, we must ADD a regime of prayer. That is why Christ said that the faith that can move mountains ONLY comes about through prayer and fasting. The two are combined, not separated.
If one gives up something for Lent and does not pray more than he is acting as the Pharisees did who had great acts but no inward repentance. Such is why the publican was justified and the Pharisee not. Yes, give up sinning, but there must be something added to accomplish it–prayer, humility, take your pick.
Matters of the soul must be joined to the actions of the body. There will be a resurrection of the body so we know that Christ came not to destroy it so we become bodiless souls like the angels. Yes, stop your sinning, but add to it your privation and prayer and humility.