We often think of fasting as “giving up” those special nourishments we enjoy such as chocolate or a latte. We also may decide to eat simply or to try a food cleanse.

Fasting can also be a way to cleanse us from the distractions, busyness, and activities that feed our daily life. These “foods” may provide short term nourishment yet they can prevent us from an even deeper awareness and nourishment.

Nowhere
No where
Now here

We all struggle with paradoxes yet this tension can lead us to fuller understanding and meaning.

We know that our time to play is often more enjoyable when preceded by times of hard work.

We also know that presence depends on absence, intimacy upon solitude, and play upon work.

And lastly, fasting makes for a greater feast.

The word Lent comes from an Old English word meaning springtime. In the northeast, we are all wishing for springtime.

In Latin, lente means slowly. We have all moved more slowly during the winter storms.

As we move slowly into our much anticipated spring – let’s be present to all the joy and sorrow that life holds for us.

Our friend Ronald Rolheiser tells us:

Celebration is a paradoxical thing. It lives within the tension between anticipation and fulfillment, longing and consummation, the ordinary and the special, work and play.

We are better together….

The whole universe together participates in the divine goodness more perfectly and represents it better than any single creature could by itself. Thomas Aquinas

Great quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

…softening what is rigid in our heart…

Creation is a process that is still happening and we’re in on it!