Consider this passage on prayer attributed to St John Chrysostom: “Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, the mediator between God and men. Lifted up into the heavens by prayer, the spirit clings to the Lord in an embrace beyond all telling, as a baby cries out with tears to its mother, seeking divine milk.” However, prayer cannot be reduced to a sentimental intimacy with God for me to enjoy in separation from all others. Likewise fasting, prayer’s close companion, is far more than simply inflicting a slight sense of hunger on ourselves, so as then to feel admirably “observant”. Both prayer and fasting are about turning with love to the Other, away from our own self-involvement and habitual drive to self-justification. Fasting may indeed begin with a diminishment of bodily food and drink, but this renunciation should only lead us to the greater and far more crucial renunciation of self-will, a sense of entitlement, and the continual drive to prevail over others. When we fast in this total sense, Isaiah assures us, “Then you shall call and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: ‘Here I am!’”
Trying to
live out these truths about prayer and fasting today and tomorrow, here and
now, in Spencer or wherever we may find ourselves in God’s wide world, is the
very best way we can contribute to a cease-fire and a just peace in far-off,
suffering Ukraine.
Detail from a tapestry by John Nava in Los Angeles cathedral. Meditation by Father Simeon.
