Thoughts on the Great Fast

The first paragraphs from what I thought was an enjoyable read from Reading Notes.

An Orthodox priest I know once said that the two most important questions in life are, “Does a bird fly because it has wings or does it have wings so it can fly?” and “What think ye of Christ?” I always thought it would be fascinating to ask a class full of contemporary students, though I doubt I will ever get the opportunity given my “field.” Maybe it’s unnecessary. I can already guess what some (most?) of the answers would be. Perhaps more distressing is the fact that so few would realize the central importance of both questions and that answering them ought to require more than passing reference to things “everybody” knows by the time they leave high school.

Today is Cheesefare Saturday for Orthodox Christians, but just a few days ago it was Ash Wednesday for the Catholics and some miscellaneous Protestant confessions. Being an employee of the U.S.’s “largest Catholic university,” it wasn’t terribly surprising to see so many blackened foreheads throughout the day. I had seen what I thought to be a surprising number when I was still a law student, though it seems like there are more than even three years ago. Perhaps it says something about the shifting demographics brought on by an admissions policy which favors “non-traditional” students (i.e., Hispanics), though their numbers are still paltry in college and graduate school. Maybe it’s just “cool” to be Catholic now in a way it wasn’t a few years ago when the talk of the town (every town!) was priest sex scandals. Not knowing as many Catholics as I once did, it’s hard for me to even make an impressionistic analysis of their religious mentalité. There’s a lot of reports out there. Everyone knows about the “cafeteria Catholics” and just this week I learned of the phenomenon of “a** mass”—the late Sunday service where all of the single young Catholics go after being too hung over from Saturday night revelries to make it to 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or noonday service. (I suppose if the Saturday night market yielded a low return, one could hope to get some digits while in the communion line.) But I do live in a “big city” and should perhaps be accustomed to such things. Then there’s also the whole, “What are you giving up for Lent?” breakout discussions which, on the one hand, should appall anyone who believes these things ought to be determined in advance by more competent authorities, though on the other are exponentially less harmful than the parallel bantering of (primarily convert) Orthodox talking about how hard it’s going to be for them to maintain the fasting rules outlined by Bishop Kallistos in the introductory material to the Triodion. Personally, I’d rather take as my model the guy with the shakes because he gave up cigarettes for 46 days than my “fellow believer” in the midst of a spiritual meltdown because they’re not sure if the Church Fathers would have approved peanut butter for the Great Fast. At least one of them is actually suffering for God. . .

Complete article here.