New Year Resolutions and Lenten Sacrifices

As each new year begins, old resolutions are dusted off, repackaged, and often given a “booster shot” at the start of Lent. The goodies given up to lose weight in the new year can be repurposed as a Lenten offering to “kill two birds with one stone,” in a manner of speaking. The problem is that there is a big difference between fasting to lose weight and fasting for spiritual growth. Therefore, there should be no attempt to “double dip” when it comes to our Lenten penance, although it is a common temptation among us.

Fasting and Spiritual Growth

Since the early church, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have been upheld to foster conversion and spiritual growth. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others. Alongside the radical purification brought about by Baptism or martyrdom they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins: efforts at reconciliation with one’s neighbor, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of one’s neighbor, the intercession of the saints, and the practice of charity “which covers a multitude of sins.” (CCC 1434)

In secular terms, fasting usually means abstaining from food or drink for health reasons or perhaps for a particular cause. However, when viewed through the prism of Christian Spirituality, there is much more to consider. The discipline looks beyond self to God and neighbor as a means of reconciliation and the “practice of charity” cited above.

The Empty House

Fasting to shed pounds or other unwanted “weight” in our lives without a spiritual component will only achieve limited results. The “space” created by eliminating unwanted items must be filled with replacements that can accrue to our spiritual benefit. Jesus offers the following example to illustrate how creating an empty space and leaving it that way can be problematic.

When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, “I shall return to my home from which I came.” But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first. (Luke 11:24-26)

A New Year’s resolution, made and kept, could be likened to a house being “swept clean and put in order” while leaving a space. Eliminating excess “bad” calories will result in weight loss, but care must be taken to fill the void with “good” calories that will serve as a healthy alternative to maintaining a healthy weight. All too often, “crash diets” produce weight loss, only to pave the way for even more weight gain. The “yo-yo” effect produces a condition that is “worse than the first.”

Resolutions and Sacrifice

The “both/and” principle applies to the fasting that pertains to Lent and, ultimately, daily life. The first half of the equation, that which we sacrifice, can be pretty much anything that we value. Care must be taken as to whether it could be considered a “burnt offering” by being self-serving. The following scripture applies:

For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn. (Psalm 51:18-19)

As we begin the new year and approach Lent let us pray that what we offer to God stems from a contrite heart and within the stance of humility. This advice from St. Paul is as applicable in considering our resolutions and sacrifices this year as it was in the year it was written:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)