Dear Parish community,

As we are approaching the next liturgical session, the season of “Lent” plays an important role in forming a spiritual life. I have been hearing from different groups of people asking - Why do we observe “Lent”?, Why do we abstain from food such as meat, fish & eggs? Is it important to practice “Lent” and abstinence from food items?

The western missionaries who visited India in the 16th century have testified to the life of fasting and prayer of the Thomas Christians. They used to abstain from delicious food items like meat, fish, egg, milk, and milk products during the seasons of fasting, which were the twenty-five days before Christmas and fifty days before Easter. They combined fasting with long prayers and alms giving.

The three penitential practices of fasting, prayer, and alms giving correspond in a way to three types of temptation: to the three temptations of Jesus in the Gospel(Luke 4:1-13) and to the three temptations that Eve could not win over as mentioned in Genesis (3:1-13) when she saw that, the forbidden fruit was (a) good to eat, (b) pleasing to the eye, and (c) desirable for gaining wisdom. She mistrusted God and disobeyed Him. The first letter of St. John 2:16 says “For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world".

Our call as a Christian is to be one with Christ and glorify Heavenly Father, but as a human beings, living in this world with Free Will, we face different challenges of the world. So let us read and remember St. Paul’s exhortation to Ephesians, “Put on all the armor that God gives you so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks" (6:11).

These challenges can be overcome with fasting, constant prayer and alms giving.