Great Lent, a Spiritual Journey

Comfort foods: Ice cream, chocolate, cookies and chips. Sometimes it just hits the spot for a mid-day snack or as a sweet treat following a good meal; but, not so good at the end of a rough day, when feeling exhausted or angry or lonely, hurt or depressed. It’s during those times when dessert can suddenly become the main course.

A pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy, a plate of brownies, an entire bag of cookies – gone before you know it! Following a nice sugar rush and a heavy dose of “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing,” comes the realization that those feelings of anger or depression haven’t really gone away. They’ve just been temporarily sugarcoated. It doesn’t take a degree in nutrition to know that people can’t survive solely on comfort food.

Many have tried, of course, but our bodies remind us – typically with an old-fashioned tummy ache – that we need a balanced diet to remain healthy. Precisely what that diet should consist of is an on-going debate. It is also a topic about which Orthodox Christianity has consistently taught for centuries, and as we are beginning Great Lent this month, seems timely to mention.

“Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food,” St. Paul writes in First Corinthians. What type of food? The Old Testament spelled out many dietary requirements for the Israelite nation which included the concept of (ritually) clean and unclean foods. So strong were these laws that St. Peter, in his vision recorded in Acts 10, at first refused to accept the message of the angel directing him to kill and eat animals deemed by the Old Testament Law as ritually unclean.

Patristic interpretation of St. Peter’s vision was that the clean and unclean animals represented Jews and Gentiles, and that the Christian gospel was to be taught even to Gentiles, whom the Jews considered unclean. This breaking down of the distinction between nations included abolishing the laws of clean and unclean food, which is why there are no religious prohibitions against eating meat for Christians.

Jesus made a similar point to His disciples. “There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” (Mark 7:15) The disciples, like St. Peter in his vision, were surprised to hear this. But Jesus continued, “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles.” (Mark 7:18-20)

Of course, we find no mention of comfort food or junk food in the bible, but the point is that food, what goes into our bodies, is not as important as our behavior, what is expressed from the depth of our heart. So bring on the apple fritters and M&M cookies? Not just yet. The other element to the equation is personal discipline, will power, and self-control.

Enter Great Lent, a spiritual journey designed to put those personal characteristics to the test – not only with certain foods, but with our entire attitude towards our Christian faith and one-another. The goal of fasting is not simply to see how many foods you can do without, but to test your willingness to put your love of Christ ahead of your love of food and other personal desires.

One of the most well-known and often-quoted bible passages is, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Duet 8; Matt 4:4) That is a phrase worth considering during Lent. Following the disciplines of Great Lent helps us to see how much more we need Christ in our lives than bread/food.

A poem titled, “The Difference” by Grace Naessens makes a good point:

“I got up early one morning and
rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish,
I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me and
grew heavier with each task;
Why doesn’t God help me, I wondered;
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn’t show me –
He said, “But you didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence;
I used all my keys at the lock;
God gently and lovingly chided,
“My child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning and
paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.”

The discipline of self-denial through fasting from foods and behaviors that harm ourselves and others is to help turn our minds and hearts towards Christ. Hopefully the Lenten disciplines will carry over into the rest of the year, during those times when we’re faced with an overwhelming desire to consume the most sugar-coated, cream-filled, chocolate-covered treats we can find. The comfort they provide is short-term!

The real comfort we seek and need comes not from food, but from our Lord, Jesus Christ. He knows our needs, and is able to satisfy them in ways that comfort food, and so many other vices, cannot. Self-control builds strong character; and will help us when confronted with a multitude of temptations we face every day.

Enjoy the challenge, and experience the benefits that Great Lent has to offer!