AUSTERITY AND PENANCE
I sometimes wonder what the point is to living a life of austerity and penance. If God is a good God who desires our happiness and well-being, why would He ask anyone to live a life of great austerity and penance? There is no simple answer to this question. The answer is tied up in an understanding of commitment and sacrifice, and God knows the truth of these aspects of the spiritual life better than we ever will understand.
St. Clare lived a life of extreme simplicity. If you visit the Chapel of San Damiano at the outskirts of Assisi, you will easily see what I mean. The Poor Clares (the congregation she started) fasted (a canonical fast is one full meal and two small meals each day) every day of the year except Christmas day. Why would God ask anyone to live like this? There is a mystery attached to sacrifice that confounds today’s materialistic and pleasure-seeking society. In order to understand the spiritual and human benefits of a life of sacrifice, we have to examine the deeper meanings of life and fulfillment, and thus, discover the truth that laying down our lives in service of others is perhaps the most fulfilling choice any person can make.
The Poor Clares choose to give their lives in the service of interceding for the world. They sacrifice certain freedoms, not because they think they are bad but for precisely the opposite reason. In giving these freedoms up in order to serve others and the Kingdom of God, they discover the greater freedom: growing in unity with God and His Kingdom. There is nothing more fulfilling in life than this. This truth can be accepted as reasonable but it is only when you experience it can you become convinced that it is worth it. Therein lies part of the mystery of sacrificial giving: you won’t know that it works without actually being a part of it! Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Have you experienced sacrificial giving in your life? Do you need to grow in your capacity to give up your desires or your life for the sake of others?
Holy Spirit, help me to learn that my life is not my own, but that all I have is really Yours. Let me offer my life to You in sacrifice as my way of giving You what’s due You.
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