Fasting and Suchnot

Every Lent I hit a curious dilemma.  As Christians, we are told to pray and fast in secret, so that no one sees what we do.  Keeping a balance between private devotion and public witness presents a constant conundrum.  Ash Wednesday, with the mark of my Catholicism on my forehead, crystallizes the problem.  If my left hand doesn't know what my right hand does, how can my life be a witness?  More to the point in Lent, if my Lenten devotion is a private matter between my God and myself, how do I answer people who ask me what I am "doing for Lent"?

In the past few years, I've done my best to blow off the question, giving half answers or outright avoiding it (if possible).  This year, however, I realized how much I wanted to hear other people's sacrifices -- to be encouraged and inspired by their choices.  As I listened to people share, I discovered that they would do so with simplicity and humility.  Giving the simple truth of their sacrifice, not bragging about their spirituality.  It still doesn't answer all my questions about balance, but it helps.

In other Lenten commentary, the debate still rages over giving something up versus taking something up.  For readers not familiar with the tradition, in Lent Catholics make some sort of a sacrifice for the 40 days before Easter.  We choose what to do, and it ranges from full-out fasts to giving up swearing to refraining from chocolate.  However, some people advocate taking up a devotion instead of giving something up -- maybe starting to read Scripture daily or hitting up an extra Mass each week.

Somehow this week I got caught in a very intense defense of taking up rather than giving up.  While I understand the desire to amp up one's devotional life, I see an incredible value to sacrifice that is way too often overlooked in our society.  Sacrificing a comfort that is not inherently evil but which binds us to this world creates an incredible freedom.  We begin to focus on what really matters and leave behind those things that, while good, are ultimately unimportant.  The Lenten practices that I have most admired involve replacement: making a sacrifice and taking up a habit of holiness.