February 25 – We Can’t Lose

Here’s an “FYI” for any of you who think that, having missed the official start of Lent, you may have lost out on your fasting opportunity . . . there are still more than forty days left before Easter! It falls on April 8th, this year, still 42 days away!!!! (Lent typically ends on Holy Thursday.)

A Protestant revival of Lent has been noted in the last decades. Some fast a meal or two, daily, and some fast a favorite food or drink, such as coffee. Most include a devotional practice, such as specific Bible reading or prayer or volunteer work.

Here in Cor Unum, we cannot imagine but that our Lenten “fast” from criticism and judgment, or our fast toward gratitude and the forgiving of all offenses, would rejoice the Lord of all sacrifices and offerings.

When we fast a food or drink, or a meal, let it be “as unto the Lord,” that we might better focus on His goodness and present ourselves before the throne of grace. A fast without focus can have the earmark of self-denial alone, and that is not our purpose. Many are those for whom our forty days of prayer might turn the tide of their lives; many are the small faults we still enjoy that might be broken and relinquished forever during these forty days.

If our self-denial is part of the “conversatio” which brings our bodies into subjection (see 1 Corinthians 9:27,) training them to obey us in all things as we are obedient to the Spirit of God, that is purposeful fasting. Bind that practice with even three minutes of prayer each day for someone who has suffered long without relief, and we will see a shift in the realities of their lives and ours. “When” we fast, it is with joy and expectation, for the promise of God is that, when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us,my beloved Sisters and Brothers. (James 4:8)


"Truly? I Get to Fast?"
Abbatial Photo