Day 10: A Clarification

It seems I am not the only Christian that had the idea of incorporating a Muslim practice into his Lenten journey.  Things, however, did not turn out very well for Rev. Steve Lawler of St. Louis.  He certainly did seem to have a different approach than what I am attempting to do.

I do want to take this opportunity to clarify what I am doing and to say a little more about why I am doing it.  Back in the autumn my World Religions classes were studying Islam.  I found my students eager to learn about a religion that they had heard much about in the media but of whose practices and beliefs they knew very little.  When we were learning about the Five Pillars of Islam, a number of students were taken aback that someone could fast from sunrise to sunset, a particularly difficult task in the heat and length of summertime days.  It got me to thinking, "We Catholics have really become sissies when it comes to fasting."  Don't get me wrong.  Fasting as a practice certainly is not for everyone (and it may, ultimately, not be for me).  I'm not the kind of person who has to be miserable to be happy and I don't see life as some sort of twisted competition of "I can fast better than you."  But fasting is only required of Catholics two days a year (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) and even then one is permitted to eat two small meals and a main meal.  Most are familiar with the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Friday's during Lent but many are unaware of the tradition of fasting.

Here is the crux of the matter . . . on any given Lenten Friday in Omaha one can go to a wide number of parishes to enjoy a Fish Fry.  The Fish Fry is a wonderful thing . . . it brings the parish together as a community, it is an important fundraiser for many parishes, for some it is a celebration of their Catholic identity and the fish is not half bad.  I very much enjoy going to a good Fish Fry at least once each Lent.  But it is not unusual to find many who approach the Fish Fry with an "all-you-can-eat" or "all-you-can-drink mentality" (beer is typically served at a Fish Fry).  And sometimes this seems to me a contradiction of what Lent is about.  It is a time of sacrifice, reflection and fasting and not a time of over-indulgence.  It is a time of distancing oneself from the things we otherwise use to replace God in our lives.  Add to this the availability of supermarkets, fast food, restaurants and any other number of sources of caloric intake that we have as Americans and I just feel that fasting can teach valuable lessons about conservation, discipline and simplicity.  Personally, I just wanted to have more self-control this Lent and the Muslim practice of Ramadan was intriguing to me based on our study of it.

Let me make this clear . . . I am not pretending to be a Muslim.  I am not converting to Islam.  I am a committed Catholic who deeply respects and admires the rich tradition of my Church and the wonderful community of the baptized to which I am so fortunate to be a part.  I am fully engaged in various forms of Christian prayer throughout this journey.  I mean no offense to Muslims and am not attempting to demean or trivialize their tradition.  On the contrary, after only ten days of fasting from sunrise to sunset I have an ever-increasing respect for the commitment and discipline that it takes for a Muslim to fast in this way for an entire month each and every year of her life.  I pray that people of good will, both Christian and Muslim, can recognize this as an honest effort.

So far this Lent has been one of the most meaningful spiritual experiences God has ever graced me with.  It has come at a time when I was feeling a lot of frustration in general and a desert in my personal prayer in particular and it has revitalized my faith and my awareness in the constant presence of God's Loving Spirit.