He says: Fasting, if nothing else, teaches how much of our "goodness" is simply bodily satisfaction mistaken as such.
That's about right. Exactly right, actually. And bodily satisfaction depends upon financial plenitude. Interrupt it and people get irritable. Marriages fall apart. Your children won't talk to you. Me, I'm a regular grump on Fridays during Lent. Grumpier than usual, anyway. Not because I'm starving. Lord knows our 'official' fasting disciplines are almost nonexistent. They'd make our ancestors laugh. No, it's that I'm accustomed to eating meat for breakfast. Pork sausage. I want my meat and I don't like it when I can't have it. I could take the edge off by sucking down some Pauli Girls, but that seems like cheating. God must want me to suffer the deprivation in good grace or, at the very least, to grouse about it. I've figured out the prayer of my heart during Lent (and all the year round): Dear Jesus, please don't mess with my routine.
1 comment:
First you get me all excited about trying the veggie stuff (if it's even close in flavor I'd try it) then take it away by telling me I'd be cheating if I did. Man, I can't catch a break.
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