Fasting (When, Why & How) – Easter Continues – Resurrection – Are We Afraid?

Vincentian Day of Prayer and Fast – Tuesday, April 14, 2015

(Apologies – I forgot one step in setting this up for Lynn until she called my attention to it – JBFCM)

Fasting (When, Why & How) – When we fast is really up to us. What we fast from is up to us. When we feel alone and confused, it is a good time to fast. Choose the fast wisely. It should not only make you feel better, but make you a wiser person. There is not a set time. Fast when the Spirit moves you. I have chosen Tuesday as a challenge from my parish Priest during a down time in success with housing for women. He challenged the Vincentian housing team to pick a day to fast and pray. We chose Tuesday as we would always meet after daily mass. Why we fast is simple. We are on a journey to become Holy. Many of us choose fasting from noise (TV, loud music and other distractions). Silence is the big fast. God has entered into history, into your life, into my life, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who remains with you and with me, personally, to the end of time. There is stillness to the heart and the mind when we recognize this and cherish it. Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving. It’s hard to put your foot in your mouth…if it’s shut. Silence can be powerful. Scripture doesn’t record one word from St. Joseph. Our fast isn’t always from food, but from hurting others. We fast from judging, lame excuses, and lack of prayer time. One thing we can do on Tuesday is choose a Gospel and reflect on a chapter each week, journaling how it has touched you. I like to put my name in the Gospel reading and I feel like I am there. How and when is up to you. Why we fast is to serve those we serve better and enhance our journey to Holiness.

Easter Continues – Easter is the greatest feast of the Christian year. I know you wonder where I am coming from. Yes, we celebrated Easter more than a week ago. But in the Church’s liturgical life, the eight days from Easter Sunday until Divine Mercy Sunday are celebrated as if they were one long day. The glorious news that Christ is risen (indeed He is risen Alleluia, Alleluia!) is too overwhelming to be contained in a single day. There are 50 days of Easter! The 50 Days of Easter, Christ’s Resurrection reminds us that we will enter into the fullness of life only once we have died to our sins, and listen to God. For those of you old enough to remember George Burns and Gracie, you may remember the note she left him on her death bed. “Remember; never put a period where God has put a comma. We sometimes want to change this, however we must remember God is always in charge and wants to lead us on earth to our heavenly home. In the meantime, we receive a foretaste of that glorious future in our celebration of the Easter season, the longest season in the Church’s calendar. Our Easter extends to Pentecost.   We celebrated the Ascension and Divine Mercy and now we continue our journey for the balance of the 50 days. If you truly want to fulfill your Easter Blessings, you may want to continue until Trinity Sunday on the Sunday following Pentecost.

Resurrection – Christ has died. Alleluia! Alleluia! He died for us. Live in the Easter blessings and remember Jesus is not just a soul that’s gone to heaven. The resurrected Christ, as Paul said, is the first fruits of a new life. A whole new human nature has appeared and emerged. Easter should be life changing. It should be a profound change for us. When Jesus rises from the dead, He leaves his grave clothing behind. Jesus now lives a new life exalted through the power of the Father. His relationship to space and time is now completely changed. He passes through locked doors. He comes and goes as he pleases. Jesus is the first fruit of a new way of living, of being. It is still a human life, but a new life, a better life if we share in the risen life of Our Lord Jesus. We are in a human state of life, but we can receive the body of the Risen Lord each day and He returns to us. We can now live at a higher level if we believe. We are spiritualized and glorified. Open your eyes to see Christ in those we serve and in all people we encounter.

Are We Afraid? – Sometimes we are afraid of God’s life and what He wants from us. Just three weeks into Easter, we can feel a bit like the disciples, hiding in the closets and once again afraid. Our deepest fear is not that we are sinful and broken, but rather that God has raised a sinful and broken people to love the world. We are His people, His hands and feet in this world, called and commissioned to go out. We are called to love and serve each day, not just when it is convenient. Repent, now, again, for the millionth time, and go out from here and be a witness to His life. If we do not, no one else will. It is up to us. We are the new temple. Open ourselves to house our Lord in our holy temple. The central and still startling claim of the Catholic Church is Jesus is truly, and substantially present under the forms of bread and wine. His presence is not simply symbolic, not simply the result of our thinking so or wishing so, but rather real, true, and substantial. This is why I became a Catholic; I truly wanted the living Christ and His Real Presence. Reflect on the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus identifies himself as the “living bread come down from heaven,” and then he specifies, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” This takes away our fear. It helps us to serve others as Jesus would. We love and we serve because of the death and Resurrection of Christ. His cross is our salvation.   Be not afraid!

Pray always for each other every day. Pray for Peace in silence each day. Smile often, it is a wonderful prayer.

Blessings, Lynn

Lynn L’Heureux is Special needs co-coordinator & Advisor of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Calgary Alberta Canada.

Her newsletter is translated into 3 languages, hopefully soon to be 4. They have a group which brings the prayer into China and it is translated into Mandarin and other Chinese dialects.