by Mike Jordan Laskey
For as long as I can remember, my mom has given up sweets for both Lent and Advent. As a kid, this struck me as bizarre, but I never asked her about it. I also never followed her example. Mom’s rigorous discipline seemed more than enough for one family. Plus, someone had to eat the leftover Halloween and Christmas candy.
The spiritual practice of fasting from food continued to befuddle me as I got older. Whether it’s a meal on Ash Wednesday, meat next Friday, or a certain favorite food throughout all of Lent, what’s the point? Wouldn’t God want us to use the energy and commitment fasting requires to do something positive for the world instead? Because you don’t have to look hard to see that in so many ways, the world is not how God wants it to be.
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