Lenten Austerities: Some Folks Just Don't Get It

Saw this headline in Yahoo News today:

Florida Church Members Launch Lenten Diet

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Instead of giving up the usual chocolate or coffee during the Lenten season, members of one Florida church are adding something: exercise.
Advent Lutheran Church kicked off their six-week program "40 Days of Fitness" on March 1 to encourage members to get moving. The program offers free Saturday morning workouts, along with volleyball, yoga and cycling classes during the week.
Church pastor Andy Hagen sees the program as an alternative for Christians to the traditional sacrificing of the Lent. (sic)
"We like the idea that we would take on a routine of physical fitness instead of denial," he said. "The connection between fitness of the body and spiritual development has been a real exciting experience for people that didn't make the connection of the two, but the Bible makes the connection all the time."

Point A: Yes, our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Fitness, cleanliness, fresh coats of paint, all can be important.

Point B: Lent is NOT about getting into shape. Giving up chocolate or coffee is not supposed to be about fitness--at least not the bodily kind. We are called to scrutinize those things in our lives which keep us from God, which hinder us from renouncing the Devil and all his works [as Izzy and I promised at our god-daughter's baptism.] We are called to spiritual re-orientation and to making room for God, called to prayer, generosity and penance.

We all need to consider how God wants to meet us. I find that I am reminded of my need for Him during Lent at those times when I vary a routine:

• taking time to pray when using the stairs rather than the elevators,
• meeting Him as I pray the stations of the Cross or the Rosary more often in this season,
• thinking about food choices and the needs of the poor, etc.

Taking the stairs does not make me more spiritual, and does not, in and of itself bring me closer to God. Having a few more intentional reminders of my need to live more intimately with God--that's what I see as the role of austerities, of things added to or subtracted from my routine, of special services and prayers...

Now to go get some chocolate...