Feasting and Fasting
Yesterday, I celebrated Canada Day with neighbors. Per Matthew’s Gospel, we feasted, not fasted, throughout the day. No matter the challenges the people of Canada face, we all took a day off of worry, taking time instead to reflect upon all that this beautiful country has to offer. We honored the culture and traditions by appreciating the natural surroundings, enjoying a canoe ride, engaging in niceties to all around us, eating butter tarts and poutine, and, well, drinking an occasional beer, too. It was a fine celebration for this humble and selfless nation.
We are called to do likewise for God, by celebrating our faith, with humility and selflessness. To feast as well as fast.
Several times throughout the year, especially during Lent, God calls us to step away from our old wineskins and stale approaches to the everyday. We may do so by fasting or making other changes that honor him. God calls us to renew ourselves and celebrate that newness. Often. Then we can feast.
The United States will celebrate its own birthday this coming week. Perhaps its people can shed their old wineskins and renew their commitments to being humble, selfless and good-willed members of their communities.
In this renewal, we will find celebration and we will move ourselves closer to God.
—Patrick Kennedy is the Regional Advancement Director for the Midwest Jesuits in Illinois, Indiana and Southwest Ohio. He holds an M.A. from the University of San Francisco.
Prayer
Lord God, help me to always remember to be humble in my encounters with others, as you modeled with your life. May my service be for your greater glory, so that I may celebrate in your presence. Amen.
—Jesuit Prayer team