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by E. S. John, Australia
The Lent is meant to cleanse the whole being, both the inner and chemical by
being with God. How to clean the physical man? The abstinence from food for
hours and days allow the body to consume all the toxins accumulated by our day
to day inherent infirmities which finds its expression through our irreligious
life of anger, vengeance, hatred, jealousy, partying spirit, intrigues and so on
which pump out chemical secretions of acids, the nursery of toxins, and many
other unwanted secretions into our bloodstream that make the chemical imbalances
of the body.
Evaporating the toxin by eating simple and natural small quantities of food
allows the inner man to be liberated from the body and participate with the
infinite cosmic and metaphysical forces of higher planes. As the toxicity is a
vibrant web of dark forces' pandemonium, making our body as their play ground,
we find it difficult to vibrate in tune with the Heavenly powers that give more
strength to our inner vital forces to be in unison with the land of the living.
Where there is fasting and prayer, the devil is there to enforce the pandemic
law of confusion and civil war.
The Israelites didn't have to toil and moil in the wilderness because they were
fed with the ready-made food of the angels. While leading a sedentary life of
laziness and eating without any physical or mental efforts, they forgot about
the slavery that killed their spirit and body in the land of the Pharaoh and
started grumbling against God and Moses who liberated them from their servitude,
because living with God by relinquishing their sinful habits of rebellion and
grumblings has become a punishment for them.
Why did God make this wilderness journey for 40 years when it could be done by 2
years in reaching the Promised Land by a short-cut route? As man is sinful, He
wanted to cleanse them through hardships and difficulties. Just as sweating or
any other excreting method is a form of cleansing our body, shedding tears also
is a form cleansing agent. Repentance of the sins that cleanse our body help the
sins of the inner man also to be sublimated to transform from holiness to
holiness, a continual process of progress of the soul and body together.
A mid-air fiery cosmic serpent is indispensable for a rebelling multitude that
got bites from fiery serpents. In order to save man, a Heavenly man came and
dwelt with us for the atonement of our sins. Lent is a rehearsal of this
spiritual journey of Jesus who gave up His Body for us. He went to the
wilderness, the haunting place of the Devil and his army, and the reason for
Jesus and the Desert Fathers choosing the same venue for confronting the
temptations of the dark powers, for 40 days or more. This also recalls the
journey of 40 days of any departed soul through the wilderness of `oyar', the
devil's sanctuary, a fierce life to be frightened by any human being who is
prone to die any moment. It is the passion of Christ that broke His Body for us
is the ultimate passion which should rule us during these Lenten days.
They ate the Manna, the food of the celestials, in the desert, yet they angered
God and married with the passions of the ungodly gentiles. In these days of IT
age that provide us with fossil, ready-made food, drive through take away and
restaurant food and ready-made cloths dwellings, we participate with the
liturgical food without proper confession and repentance which is the
pre-requisite to share His Body. A sinless Jesus also washed His disciples' feet
as a sign of the sacrament of Confession and gave his Body that unites the
sinful humanity together. But Judas who received His Body without confession by
throwing away the 30 blood money coins, became a part of the dark world of
chaos.
Looking at the bronze serpent, cross, the symbol of the hideous death of Jesus
on the cross that crushes the head of the Eden serpent, we should take part in
the Holy Body of Christ by going through the penance of Lenten fasting and
prayers.
"I fight with my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself
should be disqualified", 1. Cor.9: 27.
See Also:
Conversion Through Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving
Great Lent: A Season of Renewal for All
The Spirituality of
Lent
"Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?....through
Jesus Christ our Lord", Rom. 7: 24-25.
Lenten conversion is not a superficial renewal. What the
Lord wants is not just the change of bad habits and
worldly vices; He wants a clean soul and no
half-measures will do.
Prophet Isaiah was emphatic in arguing that lent and fasting are not just pious
"obligatory Observances" for the people of God, but a tremendous transforming
force. Being mortal and feeble, humans need periodic renewal of body,
mind and soul. How is this possible?
There are two different ways of looking at this fast because there are two
different versions of these forty days, or forty segments of time, in the
Scriptures. One is the blessing of the revelation of what it is that we need to
do in service to God and to humanity. And the other is of the purification that
needs to happen for God to set things straight in us and around us.
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