Retrieving the Classic Lenten Practices of Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving

Prayer, yes. But decidedly not a multiplication of words. Rather our prayer begins and
ends with listening. We pray so as to listen through all of the raucous voices of our day
seeking to hear the word that took flesh in Jesus of Nazareth. After a season of distorted,
manipulative words, a time of deceitful speech, our prayer is meant to help us salvage the
truthfulness of our shared speech. To cherish the divine gift that is our human capacity for
communication. By divine grace, a people devoted to dwelling in the Word made flesh.

Fasting
Intentionally, we interrupt our manner of eating – so as to remind ourselves of deep truths:
Our profound dependence on healthy nutrition. Our reliance upon healthful soil, sun and
rain bringing forth food. Our remembrance of those bent in the fields harvesting crops.
The uneven distribution of earth’s fruits so that some eat well – even as others don’t. We
invite the experience of hunger into our flesh so as to replenish the generosity of our spirit.

Almsgiving
Increased almsgiving is designed to provoke in us a critical query – What counts for value
in our lives? What do we truly treasure? We reach not only into our pockets, but to our
core. This, to reflect upon the very shape of our lives – to examine what core values we
serve on a daily basis. In handing over our resources to those in need, we affirm our
solidarity in a divinely created common humanity. An opportunity. To examine in whom or
what we are prepared to invest – from whom or what we withhold investment. And why.

“Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Ashes. Earth. Mortality.

Lent launches with the Ash Wednesday ritual that highlights our radical connection with the earth.
The well-being of the planet and cosmos truly matter – witness our current multi-species pandemic. Tending the integrity of creation is incumbent upon every one of us on the planet.
Matters of life and death.
Lent.