FASTING AND FEASTING!

We are starting today a very exciting journey called ‘LENT.’ I would like to look at this journey as a combination of fasting and feasting. When I say ‘fasting and feasting,’ I am not talking about food simply because ‘fasting’ is more than giving up the food we like and ‘feasting’ is more than eating our favorite dish. When I say ‘fasting and feasting,’ I am referring to the attitudes we have to deprive ourselves of and the attitudes we have to enrich ourselves with, respectively. This Season of Lent I suggest that we try to do the following:

fast on anger, feast on patience;

fast on anxiety, feast on hope;

fast on bitterness, feast on forgiveness;

fast on indifference, feast on love;

fast on speaking bad words, feast on spreading the Good News;

fast on pride, feast on humility;

fast on pessimism, feast on optimism;

fast on bad, feast on good;

fast on blaming, feast on praising;

fast on destroying each other, feast on building up the community;

fast on cowardice, feast on courage;

fast on being rude, feast on being polite;

fast on the dark, feast on the light;

fast on wants, feast on needs;

fast on being mean, feast on being generous;

fast on sadness, feast on happiness;

fast on dishonesty, feast on honesty;

fast on being lazy, feast on being energetic;

fast on immaturity, feast on maturity;

fast on misunderstanding, feast on understanding;

fast on ingratitude, feast on gratefulness;

fast on counting your troubles, feast on counting your blessings

fast on disobedience, feast on obedience;

fast on vice, feast on virtue;

fast on folly, feast on wisdom;

fast on non-belief, feast on faith.

I believe that fasting on the negative attitudes and feasting on the positive attitudes will help us become closer to our Lord who calls us to repentance and renewal especially this Lenten season.

May the our Lord who calls us to himself give us the grace to fast on the negative and feast on the positive.

Have a blessed Season of Lent to all of you!