Violence Unto Sin

To Keep A True Lent

Is this a Fast, to keep
The larder lean?
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep?

Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?

Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragg’d to go,
Or show
A down-cast look and sour?

No: ‘tis a Fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat
And meat
Unto the hungry soul.

It is to fast from strife
And old debate,
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.

To show a heart grief–rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin;
And that’s to keep thy Lent.

~ Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Sometimes, we don't talk enough about doing violence to sin. Pity. I feel like the very concept of "fighting" sin is lost on many people today... where people shrug of mistakes and failures with, "Eh, we're only human." And I find that quote increasingly more irritating as the years roll by.

When you get right down to it, sin is what makes a person LESS human, further away from God and from His original intent when He first created us. We were originally good, the crown of all creation, beings whom He bestowed dominion over all other creatures. And then we turned our backs on God and His purpose for us, trying to grasp at something HE had already freely given us, because we refused to believe that such great things were already freely given. And that refusal, even to this day, has made us less human, more animalistic as we seek to gratify ourselves with all sorts of daily distractions, addictions, and obsessions. We lower and debase ourselves with these things, all the while trying to fill that hole in our hearts, not realizing that there's only one Truth, one PERSON in the universe capable of filling up that hole and leaving us eternally satisfied.

But for many us, myself included, we are already in a place where we have debased ourselves and only now are we trying to find that resolve to unite ourselves once again with Jesus and share in the victory of His Cross. And the only way to accomplish such a thing, really, is to do violence on your sins-- all those distractions, addictions, and obsessions. Take a knife and plunge the weapon into such monstrosities (metaphorically, of course). Literally, I refer to the act of fasting. No other act commands the mind to subdue the body of its wants and desires, to rise above our animalistic tendencies and truly regain our humanity. Self-control, after all, is what distinguishes us from mere beasts. (This is, of course, not taking into consideration various psychological and spiritual struggles-- of which different measures need to be taken).

So I pray that everyone may have a very fruitful Lent, for courage and strength to persevere and withstand all temptations as we all continue to learn how to unite our own sufferings with those of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.