March 4: Humility in Fasting
♫ Music:
WEEK FOUR - FASTING
March 4 - March 10
Fasting (and self-denial) is a privilege. That is, in one sense, only those who eat regularly and to a point of satiation get the privilege of fasting. Many Christians throughout the world fast out of necessity due to lack of food because of famine and war. Yet those who can fast often do not fast. Being hungry is not pleasant for those who are normally well-fed. And for those who are forced by the circumstances of life to go hungry, they would often likely choose food over fasting. Nonetheless, followers of Jesus are told to fast because too much of anything (e.g., food or material possessions) often leads to sin. Poet Dante Alighieri (d. 1321) says that gluttony is the result of too much love (in this case, of food). Fasting, then, is the result of a rightfully ordered love of things, especially food. In the end, fasting is a sign of our love of God and the world he has made, commending it to all Christians.
Day 19 - Sunday, March 4
Title: Humility in Fasting
Scripture: Psalm 35:11-14
Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me of things that I do not know.
They repay me evil for good,
To the bereavement of my soul.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.
I went about as though it were my friend or brother;
I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.
Poetry: Antiphon for the Redeemer
By Hildegard of Bingen
[Translated by Barbara Newman]
Blood that bled into a cry!
The elements
felt its touch and trembled,
heaven heard their woe.
O life-blood of the maker,
scarlet music, salve our wounds.
GATE OF DEATH
Ours is an age scandalized by death. While there exists no more certain a truth about our existence in this world, there is also no thought we resist more ardently than the sure truth of our own death. Whether with pleasure, entertainment, or self-enhancement, our society resists the thought of death at all costs. We’re so busy trying not to die—or even admitting that we will—that we end up living only a half-life, a life starved of the significance of meaningful sacrifice.
For this reason, Morteza Katouzian’s Grief confronts us with a truly unsettling image. His solitary mourner is nameless and faceless and completely alone. Stripped of every comfort or consolation, this man appears wholly given over to lamentation and mourning. He is pitiful, broken, and contrite. And we are glad not to be in his place. Actually, everything in us wants to get as far away from that as possible.
Christians are not exempt from this temptation, and our brothers and sisters in the majority world often remind us of this fact. The gospel is no escape from death. It is, rather, a message about the gate of death leading to full and unobstructed life with God forever. Christ Jesus is our forerunner in this journey. He has met and finally overcome death, so that—instead of fearfully avoiding it, we might live again with Him. For all those who trust in Christ, death is not the end. Moreover, because of Christ, none of us will face death alone. Indeed, Christ has gone ahead of us and when we go there, also we can be sure that he will meet us in death and take us home.
Therefore, let no confusion remain. Lent is not self-improvement. Lent is not self-denial for the sake of some moral gratification. At its most basic, Lent is about awaiting death. It is the uncomfortable and unwelcome reminder that we will grieve and we will die. For this reason, we can embrace the pain rather than avoid it. We can lead one another in lament over death’s temporary reign.
While our world runs from death and the grief it causes, we must be willing to lament. The prophet Isaiah tells us that our Messiah is a ‘man of sorrows’ and one ‘acquainted with grief.’ Following his example, we can embrace grief now and, in turn, anticipate the rejoicing that will be ours when the bridegroom returns. Until then, we should not resist lament. We should not despise mourning or grief. We should keep Lent so that when Easter dawns, we will be more fully prepared to celebrate our Risen King. In this way, we honor the one who taught us that, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35 NIV)
Prayer:
Grant, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that through the grave and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer)
Taylor Worley
Assoc. Professor of Faith and Culture
Trinity International University
About the Artwork:
Grief
Morteza Katouzian
1983
Oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm
This painting of limited palette and somber tones illustrates the universal gesture of mourning, with bowed, covered head, and stooped shoulders. Katouzian’s superb understanding of the figure, as well as of his craft, gives this image both aesthetic and emotional weight.
About the Artist:
Morteza Katouzian (b. 1943) is an Iranian realist painter who has produced paintings and drawings since a very early age. In 1960 he started painting work professionally by creating posters, logos, book covers, and brochures. In 1974, he coordinated the Tehran International Graphics Exhibition sponsored by the International Advertising Association (I.A.A), an international organization which champions marketing communications. In recent years his exhibitions have been the most well attended in the history of Iran. In 2008 Katouzian was awarded a UNESCO citation in honor of his 50 years of painting and 30 years of teaching a new generation of Iranian artists. Five of his paintings are in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts and a number of them are in the private collections of Iranian and international collectors.
About the Music:
“Am I Born to Die?” from the album Shamrock City
Lyrics:
And am I born to die?
To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown -
A land of deepest shade
Unpierced by human thought
The dreary regions of the dead
Where all things are forgot?
Soon as from earth I go
What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be;
Waked by the trumpet's sound
I from my grave shall rise
And see the Judge with glory crowned
And see the flaming skies
About the Composers/Performers:
Hailed as perhaps the finest Irish traditional band extant, American-based Solas is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan (b. 1969). Born in Pennsylvania, Egan moved to Ireland with his family when he was three years of age and a few years later he began taking lessons on the tin whistle. At age 14, Egan returned to the United States and already displayed talent on the whistle, flute, banjo, mandolin, and guitar. He cut his first album by age 16 and early on toured with Peter, Paul & Mary and Ralph Stanley. Solas began to take shape when Egan joined forces with fiddler Winifred Horan (an All-Ireland champion on her instrument and a prize-winning Irish step dancer) and gifted guitarist John Doyle. Naming themselves Solas - which is Celtic for “light” - the band soon found themselves a major draw at folk clubs after appearances on the popular public radio shows such as A Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage. Though some of the members have changed through the years, Egan and Horan remain the pillars and are currently joined by accordionist Mick McAuley, guitarist Éamon McElholm, and vocalist Moira Smiley.
About the Poet:
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) was a German religious teacher, prophetess, and abbess. She was a prolific writer, particularly of musical poetry, and was known for her prophetic visions. Hildegard was dedicated as a tithe to the Church by her parents at the age of eight to become a nun. Although Hildegard was plagued by sickness most of her life, her illnesses did not prohibit her from accomplishing astounding things. She was elected as the leader of her religious community in 1136. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg Manuscript of her first work, Scivias, a volume that depicts 26 religious visions she experienced.
About the Devotional Writer:
Taylor Worley serves as Associate Vice President for Spiritual Life and University Ministries and as Associate Professor of Faith and Culture at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. He completed a PhD with the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St. Andrews in the areas of contemporary art and theological aesthetics. He and his wife Anna live in Chicago with their four kids: Elizabeth, Quinn, Graham, and Lillian.