We have neared the two-thirds point in our Lenten journey. How’s everyone doing? What’s everyone thinking? How has Lent unfolded for you, thus far? What’s your Lenten journey been about this year? How have you gotten closer to the living Jesus in your daily existence?

The Lenten Journey: Origins

During my devoutly Catholic upbringing, I thought of Lent as that 40 days of chocolate abstinence and fish Fridays, a sober time when we restrained ourselves and avoided partying and partaking in fetes. We often gave up something we liked, or made a commitment to do something we didn’t particularly like, in the spirit of sacrifice. In high school one of my high school friends made her Lenten sacrifice speaking only French at home with her parents and siblings. Many years later one of my blogger friends made her Lenten sacrifice giving up the internet.

For many, Lent serves as a time for mini New Year’s resolutions, of the spiritual flavour, a time to remember Christ’s 40 days and nights in the desert, and to channel that energy of abstinence and resisting temptation. That’s well and good, if it enables us to strip away the superfluous and spend time inside the Lord. For whom do we do these Lenten practises? For ourselves, for our glory? For G-d, for His glory? When our Lenten practises become items on a daily checklist—acts we perform to feel good about ourselves and our goodness as persons— then we’ve left the realm of devotion and entered the realm of transactional behaviour.

Why do we do Lent, anyway? As a self improvement exercise? Nah. Self improvement on its own sake smacks of self indulgence and self worship. Lent isn’t about you, it’s not about me. Fact — Lent is about Jesus, it’s about turning towards G-d by walking in the way of Jesus. We do Lent as an exercise in spiritual purification. With our mind, heart, soul, body we engage Lenten practises of self discipline, repentance, and almsgiving in order to reorient ourselves back towards G-d. Lent provides an opportunity for us to clothe ourselves in the nakedness of Christ1 and His Gospel.

Some might say, “Lent wasn’t in the Bible, so why should we bother with it?” Okay, Advent wasn’t in the Bible either, why should we bother with it? And, actually, the Bible as we know it didn’t exist until the 1440s, when Gutenberg invented the printing press. The early church fathers didn’t have a Bible as we do now. So, that thinking falls short.2

In fact, the Quatrodeciman controversy of the 2nd century tells us that Lent played a crucial role in the faith life and spiritual formation of early Christians, right back to apostolic times. In a letter to Pope Victor I, Ireneus urged the Pope not to excommunicate the Asia Minor Christians for celebrating the resurrection of Christ on the 14th day of Nisan no matter what day it fell on, rather than the Sunday following it.

“For the controversy is not only concerning the day, but also concerning the very manner of the fast. For some think that they should fast one day, others two, yet others more; some, moreover, count their day as consisting of forty hours day and night. And this variety in its observance has not originated in our time; but long before in that of our ancestors. It is likely that they did not hold to strict accuracy, and thus formed a custom for their posterity according to their own simplicity and peculiar mode. Yet all of these lived none the less in peace, and we also live in peace with one another; and the disagreement in regard to the fast confirms the agreement in the faith.” — Ireneus quoted by Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, Book 3, Chapter 24.12-13

A Lenten Ethic

So, if Lent means far more than a seasonal transactional activity, a springtime self improvement program, an annual springtime diet from chocolate, and the annual springtime fish or macie cheese fridays—then what does this say about our Lenten praxis? Giving up sweets and fasting sounds great, but does it seem enough to fast from chocolate and do fish Fridays whilst behaving like utter d1ckheads towards our fellow humans, whether online or whilst driving, or in the store, or anywhere at all? How precisely does giving up sweets and having meat free Fridays, on their own, turn us towards G-d? They don’t. Putting aside physical appetites can help us in our spiritual formation.

It doesn’t end there, though.

Fasting turns down the noise of physical cravings, it create a space for receiving Holy Spirit. When we rent or buy an apartment or house, we still have furnish that space, make it our home. How do we do that, how do we create inner space for the Divine to work within and through us? By expanding abstinence to the rest of behaviour, by allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us through our behaviour towards ourselves and others and our surroundings.

What does that look like?

Well, it looks like being in the world and not of the world. It looks like living on the margins of society. It means remembering the advice of thinkers like Ellul and Stringfellow. In his book Presence in the Modern World, Ellul wrote about the totality of technique and its capture of institutions. Similar to Stringfellow writing in his book An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land about the principalities of power (this includes institutions) being demonic, as entities in fallen creation. In this context, Christians must live their calling, in the tension between already and not yet — we must position ourselves at the margins of society.

We fight worldly opposition by BEING IN CHRIST. G-d’s victory will happen in depth, not height, as we partake in the humiliation of Christ.3

A Lenten Praxis

What if abstinence means Christians resisting the seduction to try and change societal institutions? What if abstinence also means Christians resisting the seduction to try and support any nationalist movement? In both cases—Christian socio-political activism and Christian nationalism—Christians become corrupted by the worldly, and the gospel becomes pushed aside and maybe even compromised. When Christians become agents of institutional change, they become subservient to and a part of the kingdoms of the world.

“For when the church behaves in these ways, it stops being salt, light, and sheep. It is no longer anything but one of the forms in which the world’s will is expressed, helping it in fact to attain its own ends. It no longer represents the power of God’s action in the world,” (Ellul, Presence in the Modern World p. 100).

What does this mean for our Lenten praxis?

It means working to prepare the world for the coming of the kingdom of G-d. It DOESN’T MEAN building the kingdom of G-d in the world. We cannot participate in the humiliation of Christ from a platform or a worldly throne. We cannot BE IN CHRIST through our idolatry of the 24/7 news cycle, the world of Xwitter rage baiting assholery, or the acrimony of political discourse.

We can BE IN CHRIST by doing the following:

1. promote peace and dialogue

2. care for the vulnerable, marginalised, and poor

3. build community through closeness and prayer

4. engage repentance through humility and reconciliation

5. evangelise through the joyful proclamation of the Gospel by personal witness, service, and lifestyle (NOT COERCION).

Jesus didn’t build a healing centre in Nazareth. He didn’t build an influencer platform for Himself. Jesus didn’t concern Himself with empire politics or even the political liberation of His people from the Roman occupation. Jesus repeatedly taught “my kingdom is not of this world.” He sought out fishermen, the most marginalised and socioeconomically disadvantaged group of society.

Jesus walked amongst the unglamorous, choosing to keep company amongst the marginalised and ostracised, as He healed and taught the masses about the kingdom of G-d. Jesus hung out with tax collectors, and other much maligned and canceled individuals. Jesus resisted the religious institution of His day, the leaders of which had colluded with the Roman Empire. Jesus came to subvert social and cultural norms of His day—He prioritised service to human need and dignity over religious legalism.

Make no mistake, following Jesus means taking the difficult narrow, less travelled path. It means giving up ease in exchange for costly grace, like the blind man did in John 9:1-41. Jesus calls Christians to cruciform living. He calls us to participate in the suffering of Jesus. We can only follow this calling with the help of the Holy Spirit.

In his 2026 Lenten message, Pope Leo urged Christians to prepare themselves for the Paschal season by working to reorient themselves to the Word by listening, fasting, and through community.

Listening. “The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into relationship with someone … Sacred Scripture helps us to recognize and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering. In order to foster this inner openness to listening, we must allow God to teach us how to listen as he does. We must recognize that “the condition of the poor is a cry that, throughout human history, constantly challenges our lives, societies, political and economic systems, and, not least, the Church.””4

Fasting. “If Lent is a time for listening, fasting is a concrete way to prepare ourselves to receive the word of God … in order to practice fasting in accordance with its evangelical character and avoid the temptation that leads to pride, it must be lived in faith and humility.

It must be grounded in communion with the Lord … As a visible sign of our inner commitment to turn away from sin and evil with the help of grace, fasting must also include other forms of self-denial aimed at helping us to acquire a more sober lifestyle … In this regard, I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.

Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.”

Community. “Finally, Lent emphasizes the communal aspect of listening to the word and fasting. The Bible itself underlines this dimension in multiple ways. For example, the Book of Nehemiah recounts how the people gathered to listen to the public reading of the Law, preparing to profess their faith and worship through fasting, so as to renew the covenant with God (cf. 9:1-3).

Likewise, our parishes, families, ecclesial groups and religious communities are called to undertake a shared journey during Lent, in which listening to the word of God, as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth, becomes part of our community life, and fasting a foundation for sincere repentance.”

image: Stained glass windows of St. Christopher’s Church in Wrocław by Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård via Wikicommons

“Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self-denial can say is: “He leads the way, keep close to him.” ...and take up his cross.” Jesus has graciously prepared the way for this word by speaking first of self-denial. Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for his sake. If in the end we know only him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto him,” (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 88)

So, we can summarise all this stuff about Lenten fasting and self discipline in general as follows: remove what makes you selfish and thereby blocks you from G-d.

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