A Lenten Reflection
This year’s Lent fast coincides with the Muslim fasting of Ramadan, only that Lent will go on 10 more days after Idd-ul-futr, the Muslim break of fast.
This coincidence enables us Christians, living in a Muslim context, to fast once with the Muslims and prevents a second fast. The Ramadan fast, while obligatory for Muslims, is often embraced by their non-Muslim community. One should be sensitive and avoid actions that offend religious beliefs or discourage those observing a fast. So, in that spirit, we choose to fast during Ramadan. During Lent, we also diligently fast to affirm our faith.
Jesus gave his disciples fasting instructions in Matthew 6:6-18: ”And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret at reward you.”
Jesus assumed his followers would fast, as he states twice in this passage; “when you fast”. He, though, warned them not to mimic the religious leaders’ pious hypocrisy. That God the Father should be Christian’s fasting focus and not for self-attention. Only then should Christians expect a divine reward.
Did Jesus, in instructing people to keep their fasts secret from God, sanction communal liturgical fasting such as Ramadan? We fasted to gain a breakthrough. An intercession to provide answers for malignant troubles Christians faced. For Jesus also said. “… such things cannot happen but through prayer and fasting”. I knew sisters who fasted to find husbands or have children…and this worked! Fasting moved God.
In the mission context, fasting and prayers allowed protection, availed provisions and brought in the harvest.
I learnt liturgical fasting from my Muslim acquaintances, with whom I fasted during Ramadan. I then developed the concept from my study of the Coptic spiritual missions. Liturgical fasting is not only a Christian church tradition but also a Jewish tradition. While in Judaism, they hold an annual ten-day fast. These are the days between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement is the holies of Jewish time, ten days of Repentance. Commenting on this experience, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks states, Beneath the surface of this long religious ritual lies one of the more transformative stories of the human spirit.
On Ash Wednesday, the intonation of the asher sets the tone for Lent. Is the reminder, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return,” appropriate? Why is it that even at burial? The minister throws fragments of soil into the grave intoning: “soil unto soil; dust unto dust” Are we indeed dust?
Professor David S. Wasawo, presenting a paper, “The Human Predicament in a Depleted World”, at the International Association of Biophylosophy, observed:
“Are we not mostly made of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, sixty per cent of which is in the form of water? Are we not reminded that a man weighing 150 pounds contains 97.5 pounds of oxygen, 27 pounds of carbon, 15 of hydrogen, 4.5 of nitrogen, 3 of calcium and 1.5 pounds of phosphorus? Added to these are a few ounces each of potassium, sulphur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium and iron; and traces of iodine, fluorine and silicon. These elements are, of course, combined with one another to form thousands of very complicated compounds forming parts of cells, tissues and organs, each performing its allotted function in the sentient being. But snuff out that which is called life, then these elements revert once again to the “soil” and to “dust” and are interred back to whence they came. That which is “life”, that which is “soul” has gone out of that body which we bury, and is elsewhere.”
The intonations are valid. We are dust and so prone to wander and quick to sin. Because of this, the Ash Wednesday prayer is the plea that should buoy us during 40 days fast: Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen (Book of Common Prayer)
As frail children of dust, repentance sustains us. Repentance calls on the sinner to abandon sin and resolve in his heart, never to repeat it (Isaiah 55:7). It invites the Christian to make an oral confession of the resolve made in his heart. What makes this genuine is not purity of heart but a demonstrable change of deed.
As Maimonides explains, perfect repentance “occurs when an opportunity presents itself for repeating an offence once committed, and the offender, while able to commit the offence, nevertheless, refrains from doing so because he is penitent and not out of fear or failure of strength.” So, you repent when you find yourself in the same situation, but this time, you act differently. Your action That acting a change in heart becomes your proof.
So, in fasting, we posture towards God so that he can grant us strength for true repentance. Neglecting the Great Commission demands repentance. How will people from every tribe
and tongue share God’s gracious gift of everlasting life if we continue dodging the command “As my father sent me, so send I you…”?
We have a reason for penitence and prayers for this Lent!
Canon Francis
TSM International Director
April 2, 2025