Matthew under the arm 22
This is a day that Columba is spending fasting - not walking. He started fasting after his supper last night and he will observe it until his supper this evening. Well now! He's asked me to join him, asking me first if there was any physical condition that might make fasting inappropriate for me. He has water with him and he has simple biscuits... I am watching him now. He is in this Youth Hostel and resting on a bunk; hands behind his head and his legs crossed - just staring at the ceiling. 'Look', he says to me. 'There on the ceiling is a support that goes across the room. At right angles to that there's the wooden slats of the ceiling. So I'll use that as a cross to help me focus in my praying on those who have the starving Christ with them.' So there's no walking on the pilgrimage today, but there's an attention to those who are famished... The pilgrimage, after all, is for others...
Matthew 6:16-21….
In Christianity, practicing the spiritual life is not about self-improvement. If that is one of the 'side-effects', all well and good. Personal physical or emotional well-being for us is in the Christian community to which we belong and from which we work for the breaking-in of God’s love around us. Therefore the practice of fasting is not dieting. It is a resisting of a particular desire so that we can be open to the presence of God, God’s desire for us. That’s the treasure that is incorruptible. Carefully managed fasting heightens the awareness in contemplative prayer to obedience to Christ.
Persevere in your love for Me within your heart and in your attitudes
Remember that the sentence given in each of these meditations is to be used in the silence of your prayer. Take it into your heart so that it is rhythm with your breathing - your living.
To practice fasting, don’t just observe your eating habits. In your prayer, see what other desires for possession and consumption you have. It’s not so much a matter whether you could have used your money more effectively for others, important though that may be. Nor is it matter of whether you indulge yourself on nice food and drink. Delight in a good meal in company is life-giving. The question is: Do these get in the way of God’s desire for me? That is where it is vital to seek mature advice on fasting particularly as to what the real motivation might be.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Matthew 6:16-21….
In Christianity, practicing the spiritual life is not about self-improvement. If that is one of the 'side-effects', all well and good. Personal physical or emotional well-being for us is in the Christian community to which we belong and from which we work for the breaking-in of God’s love around us. Therefore the practice of fasting is not dieting. It is a resisting of a particular desire so that we can be open to the presence of God, God’s desire for us. That’s the treasure that is incorruptible. Carefully managed fasting heightens the awareness in contemplative prayer to obedience to Christ.
Persevere in your love for Me within your heart and in your attitudes
Remember that the sentence given in each of these meditations is to be used in the silence of your prayer. Take it into your heart so that it is rhythm with your breathing - your living.
To practice fasting, don’t just observe your eating habits. In your prayer, see what other desires for possession and consumption you have. It’s not so much a matter whether you could have used your money more effectively for others, important though that may be. Nor is it matter of whether you indulge yourself on nice food and drink. Delight in a good meal in company is life-giving. The question is: Do these get in the way of God’s desire for me? That is where it is vital to seek mature advice on fasting particularly as to what the real motivation might be.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
posted by Martin at 6:34 pm
1 Comments:
One of my greatest difficulties is doing 'nothing'.
I know that is not what is being said here, but in sitting still for any length of time without physical exertion it is what I feel and need to overcome.
I'm still reading tho some of your post are 'over my head' at this time, but they help direct my thoughts.
Keep writing - I'll keep trying to understand.
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