Why don’t you try doing something, instead of just giving something up for Lent?

As yesterday was the Sunday of Zacchaeus at St. Andrew’s, thoughts of Great and Holy Lent are not far off.

Oh, let me explain: In the East, we do Lent a bit differently than youze guyz in the West. We don’t start preparing for Lent on Mardi Gras or Carnivale by a big feasting blowout, then (maybe) have a meatless Ash Wednesday, think about giving up something, and then (maybe) have another meatless Good Friday.

No, we start with the Sunday of Zacchaeus, where we remember the man who, in the hopes of meeting the Lord, was willing to repent and to entirely change his life, and who was given the great honor of having the Lord Himself dine with him. Then, the next week, we have the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican, where we are reminded that inward conversion and contrition are more important than outward displays of piety (particularly including such matters as fasting). And then, the next week, we have the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, where we are reminded of the foolish one who had wasted his inheritance –his life in short— on extravagances, but who was honored by the Father by his repentance and his return to his Father’s house.

Then we start doing outward things as well: The next Sunday is the Sunday of the Last Judgment, where we remember that in the Kingdom, it is not those who have boasted of their service of the Lord, or their preaching, or their miracles, who will enter into the Kingdom, but those who have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, or comfort to the poor and unfortunate. On the Sunday night, those of us who are healthy and of reasonable age are also asked to put aside meat until that Feast of Feasts, Pascha.

Perhaps the most beautiful of the things that we do is in the next week, on the Sunday of Forgiveness, where we are reminded in the hymns and in the readings for the Epistle and the Gospel that the measure of God’s forgiveness to us is the same forgiveness which we show to those near to us. At the end of that service, it has been our custom (as I believe it is in many Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches) for the priest and deacon to ask forgiveness of each person there, and for each person to also ask the forgiveness of all the others there. And on that Sunday night, those who are able are also asked to put aside all dairy, eggs, and (at least for the Greek and Arab East) fish, for the next six weeks until Pascha.

And for those six weeks, we fast. But we are not asked to put aside those things that we think are good, like chocolate or whatever. Rather, we are asked for that brief time to simplify the ways and the things that we eat, and for a time to be like our ancestors before the Flood, who ate only fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and nuts (and perhaps, fish without backbones, like shrimp and crab). It is true that we are also asked from Monday to Friday to put aside wine and olive oil, as those were drink and foods that came into use after the Flood, but for Saturdays and Sundays during Great Lent, they are allowed, because the day of the Resurrection should never be one of anything but rejoicing.

Some among us will also restrict the amount that we eat, and some among us will put aside music or idle entertainments, or things of that sort, but this putting aside is so that we can devote ourselves to the three things that our Lord has taught and asked us to do: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

During Great Lent, we are also given the opportunity of prayer: Through the reading of Genesis and Proverbs, through the Akathists and through the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, and most importantly, through the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. In the canons of the East, we were forbidden to consecrate the Eucharist during weekdays in Lent, but due to the greater need of God’s grace, Pope St. Gregory the Great (revered by true Christians in both the East and the West), decreed and helped to form the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, where at a vesper-like service, the Holy Gifts of Christ’s Body and Blood (which had been sanctified the previous Sunday) are given to the Faithful, usually on Wednesdays and Fridays. These Lenten services are among the most beautiful of our Church year.

Finally, during Great Lent, we are asked to pay particular mind to almsgiving: to helping the poor and unfortunate. Many among us have put aside the money which would have been spent on more expensive foods, and have devoted that instead to charities, or better, to giving to the poor who like Lazarus are always near at hand, in spite of attempts by overbusy police and local politicians to silence and separate them from “decent people”. If one is fearful that they might misuse money, one can give food and drink and clothes to them instead.

The point of all this writing is that in years past, I have seen so many go on about what they were planning on “giving up” for Lent, like chocolate or weblogging or whatever. I suppose that this is harmless. But wouldn’t you rather be doing something that Our Lord has specifically asked us to do instead? In the same vein, there has been so much talk about WWJD “What would Jesus do?” Isn’t it more important to remind ourselves of, and maybe even to attempt, that which our Lord has specifically asked us to do?

And our Lord has asked us to fast (without grumbling, boasting or comparing, thank you), to pray, and to help the needy. Our Lord has also made the suggestion (through the parable of the Servant sacked by his Master) that we be as inventive in ways of doing good as the children of this world are in inventing ways of gratifying themselves. Perhaps one could try buying or using the cookbook Diet for a Small Planet, or praying the Prayer of the Heart, or the Western Liturgy of the Hours or Book of Common Prayer (depending on one’s flavor of Christianity), or even just ways of making the life of someone a little easier than it was before they met you. Who knows, it might just even start to be a habit for one’s life outside of Lent.

I would be curious to see how inventive you all could be.