Tag Archives: Spiritual Disciplines

What Are You Giving Up For Lent?

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“What are you giving up for Lent?” I suspect we have all heard this question many times. We have probably even asked it of another or ourselves.

Unfortunately, it seems this one question often sets the tone for the season of Lent. The Ash Wednesday liturgy calls us to observe a Holy Lent, in part, through fasting and self-denial. So the question is very relevant. But the danger is that Lent then becomes very small and self-centered. Lent becomes about my fasting, my giving up, my self-denial.

We need to be mindful that our individual journeys always take place in the context of community. My growth and transformation, in order to be real, must affect and be connected to others. We are all interconnected.

We must also recognize that fasting and self-denial are not simply about doing without or being hungry. They are practices by which we create space so that we can recognize the fullness of God in our lives. They are practices that allow God to nourish, sustain, and provide for our every need. They are practices that help us to more fully give ourselves to God and one another.

Ultimately to fast means only one thing: to be hungry – to go to the limit of that human condition which depends entirely on food and, being hungry, to discover that this dependency is not the whole truth about [us], that hunger itself is first of all a spiritual state and that it is in its last reality hunger for God.

- Fr. Alexander Schmemann

Feast of the Transfiguration – Listen

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Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

- Luke 9:28-36.

transfiguration

Today, August 6, is the Feast of the Transfiguration, one of principal feasts of the liturgical year. Transfiguration means a change of form, metamorphosis. Yet, Jesus does not change into something he was not before and the disciples are not simply spectators but participants in this event.

  • According to St. John of Damascus at the moment of transfiguration Christ “was not assuming something that he was not, nor changing into something which he was not, but manifesting what he was to his own disciples.”
  • St Gregory Palamas says, “Jesus did not become what he was not already, but appeared to the disciples as he was, opening their eyes, giving sight to those who were blind.”

Thus, this story is not only about the transfiguration of Christ, but also the transformation, the transfiguration, of the disciples. The transfiguration shows us the archetypal beauty of our image. The glorified Christ is the model and prototype of who we are and who we are to become. The transfiguration reveals our origin and our telos – our completion and fullness. Like the disciples we are not simply spectators. We too participate in this event. So how does that happen? When was the last time you experienced transfiguration of yourself or another?

Often our reading of this story focuses on what is seen: the change in appearance of Jesus’ face, clothes that become dazzling white, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, the glory of Christ, and the overshadowing cloud. These, no doubt, are central to the transfiguration. But I wonder if we sometimes emphasize the light of transfiguration to exclusion of the voice of transfiguration. We are looking but are we listening?

Listen is the only thing the disciples are told throughout this whole event. Listening is central to transfiguration. A voice came from the cloud and said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Yet Luke records no words or teaching from Jesus during this event. Jesus is silent. So it must be about more than words, instructions, and lessons. Listening always is. True listening is an interior quality, a way of being. It is more about the heart than the ears. And it is more about silence than words. Ultimately, listening is about presence.

The disciples are being told to be present, be open, be receptive to the one who is already and always present to you. Listening creates an opening through which the transfigured Christ enters and transforms us. Listening asks of us intention, attention, and letting go of the things that deafen us. Anything that destroys or limits presence is a form of deafness. The following are just a few examples:

  • Holding on to the past – guilt, sins, regrets, disappointments, sorrow, and losses;
  • Perfectionism, self-doubt, and self-hatred;
  • Fear, anxiety, and the resulting need to control;
  • Competition, comparison, expectation and judgments;
  • Anger, resentment, and condemnation.

Whether it is listening to God, our spouses, friends, children, coworkers, the poor and needy, strangers or enemies listening will be some of the most difficult work we do. Listening is our spiritual practice. It opens us to healing, reconciliation, and union. Ultimately, listening takes us back to the Mount of Transfiguration.

Strengthening our Life in the Church

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Our spiritual health and growth, like our physical health and growth, depend on daily exercise. The church often refers to this exercise as ascesis. Ascesis involves commitment, practice, and the remembrance of what is important. True ascesis becomes a way of daily life. Without exercise we become weak and our spirit atrophies.

How can we strengthen our life in the church?

The direction of a spiritual father, continual contact with him.

Frequent resort to the sacraments, careful preparation before receiving them, participation in Church services, prayer at home, the daily reading of the Gospels and religious books, the observance of the Church calendar, friendship and contact with people who believe and belong to the Church.

Alexander Elchaninov, The Diary of a Russian Priest

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Read Fr. Elchaninov on self-denial.

The Freedom of Self-Denial

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One of the traditional Lenten practices is self-denial. Often this leaves us asking the question, “What should I give up for Lent?” The answers vary – candy, bread, wine, shopping, blogging…. We endure for God’s sake forty days of self-denial. We give up some ordinary thing or activity and with the celebration of Easter we reward ourselves with whatever thing or activity we had given up. How then has our life changed? It is almost as if our self-denial was just a period of time out. Children are sometimes put in time out when they have misbehaved. They are separated from their friends, toys, and usual activities – sitting on their bed or in the corner. After a short period of time they resume their normal activities. Surely Lent is more than the Church’s version of time out.

The risk of self-denial is that it becomes self-centered. Self-denial is not the goal or object of our Lenten journey. God is. Self-denial does not gain for us God’s approval. God does not necessarily need or want our Lenten disciplines. God wants us. Self-denial asks us to look at and let go of the ways, things, activities, and sometimes even the relationships that stand between us and God. This is not just for a season but for a lifetime.

I remember speaking with my spiritual director many years ago about what I should give up or do for Lent. I offered him my list of ideas. He said no to all of them – no fasting, no reading, no theological thinking, no journal writing. He asked me to just show up – to simply be present and listen. He did not call it self-denial but it was. I was to deny myself the need to be productive and busy. I was to let go of my need for answers, the safety of rational thought, and trust the silence. I would have to let go of being in control. Lent would not be done according to my list or agenda. Every one of these places of self-denial became an entry point for the risen Christ.

Ultimately, self-denial frees us to be who we truly are. Hear the insightful words of Alexander Elchaninov in The Diary of a Russian Priest:

Self-denial, which is so often mentioned in connection with the practice of Christianity, is conceived by some as an end in itself; they look upon it as the essential point of every Christian’s life.

But it is only a way and a means for achieving our end – the putting on of Christ.

Neither must we think, as others do – going to the opposite extreme – that self-denial means renouncing one’s personality, one’s own path, a sort of spiritual suicide. Quite the contrary: self-denial is liberation from the slavery of sin (without self-denial we are prisoners), and the free manifestation of our true essence as originally designed for us by God.

elchaninov