"On your fast days you carry out your own pursuits...is this the manner of fasting that I wish."
The words of Isaiah are not just words of prophecy meant for those who lived 2500 years ago. These words must echo in our own conscience in our heart of hearts. They must beckon at us lest we too make lent about our own pursuits.
Lent is not about us; it is not about what I give up; we give up in order to give life.
Lent is about living simply so that others might live. We make sacrifices so that mercy may abound and life can spring forth for others.
The litmus test for lent is measured not in the weight we lose or the food we give up but in the life that benefits through us. Listen again to the words of Isaiah, the paradigm for the true lenten experience...
"releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke, setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall be quickly healed"
Let the litmus test of Isaiah be your guide and in 40 days you will have a heart that abounds in goodness.
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