No Worse for the Wear

Yesterday the Orthodox Christian world embarked upon our annual Great Fast. The Fast is a spiritual journey that many these days do not welcome, or at best do not understand. For many the Great Fast, also known as Great Lent, is about self-denial often misunderstood as punishment. Many still speak in terms of “what are you giving up this year” but this loses the point of the Great Fast.

While we do abstain from certain foods during this holy season, to limit the Great Fast merely to refusing ourselves the foods we love, reinforces the false dichotomy of body vs. soul. The Great Fast isn’t about defeating the body in favor of the soul, but conquering the passions in favor of God’s will. When we fast we are telling God that our relationship with Him is more important than what we choose to eat. In fact, fasting places a proper Orthodox perspective on food as nourishment for the body.

Yesterday, if we chose to accept it, was more of a jump start to this spiritual emphasis on our soul. If we were willing, today we can look back and realize that we are no worse for the wear. We didn’t die. We didn’t suffer an irreversible agony.  We may have been a bit hungry, but in the end we survived. I think ultimately that is the greatest benefit to fasting. We will survive despite our challenges and even in spite of our failings. Once we embrace this truth, the rest of our spiritual journey begins to appear much more appealing.

Here are the Scripture Readings for the 2nd Day of the Great Fast

Old Testament Readings: Isaiah 1:19-2:3 (RSV) - "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice!  Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.  Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.  Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves.  Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts.  They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them. Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:  "Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes.  I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.  And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning.  Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.  But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.  For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted; and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen.  For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.  And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them. The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.  It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say:  "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."  For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
 Genesis 1:14-23 (RSV) - And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth."  And it was so.  And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.  And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens."  So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good.  And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."  And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
 Proverbs 1:20-33 (RSV) - Wisdom cries aloud in the street; in the markets she raises her voice; on the top of the walls she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:  "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?  How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?  Give heed to my reproof; behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, and you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacence of fools destroys them; but he who listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of evil."