On Ash Wednesday, A Call to Fasting In New Ways

People who are involved with LGBTQ ministry and advocacy–or really ministry and advocacy of any kind–are often very busy people with lots of tasks, agendas, and people that need attention.

As Lent begins today, it might be good to see this season of repentance and renewal as a time to slow down a bit to remember the important things in life–particularly our relationship with God.

I have found the following passage a good reminded for myself, and so, on this Ash Wednesday, I offer it to Bondings 2.0 readers as a spiritual aid to help us all remember the importance of God in our lives.

Called To Fast

I am called to fast from being strong and always trying to hold it all together, and instead embrace the profound grace that comes through my vulnerability and tenderness, to allow a great softening this season.

I am called to fast from anxiety and the endless torrent of thoughts which rise up in my mind to paralyze me with fear of the future, and enter into the radical trust in the abundance at the heart of things, rather than scarcity.

I am called to fast from speed and rushing through my life, causing me to miss the grace shimmering right here in this holy pause.

I am called to fast from multitasking and the destructive energy of inattentiveness to any one thing, so that I get many things done, but none of them well, and none of them nourishing to me. Instead my practice will become a beholding of each thing, each person, each moment.

I am called to fast from endless list-making and too many deadlines, and enter into the quiet and listen for what is ripening and unfolding, what is ready to be born.

I am called to fast from certainty and trust in the great mystery of things.

And then perhaps, I will arrive at Easter and realize those things from which I have fasted I no longer need to take back on again. I will experience a different kind of rising.

 –by Christine Valters Paintner, Online Abbess, Abbey of the Arts,  www.AbbeyOfTheArts.com

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, March 2, 2022