Thursday, February 27, 2020

A Deliberate Change of Heart

Phyllis Cole-Dai and James Murray

For a period of 40 days, we give up something we possess too much of, or do too often. What happens after the 40 days are up, well, the priest doesn't say. This interpretation of fasting, depending as it does on excess, strikes me as privileged. It tends to exclude those who have little, while easing the conscience of those who have much. 

What if fasting, instead of being a temporary modification of lifestyle for the relatively well-to-do, were a deliberate change of heart undertaken by us all? What if it were less about giving up red meat or cigarettes or clothes shopping for a few weeks, and more about giving up, bit by bit, our rigid expectations of what the future should hold, our fixed assumptions about how the world should operate, our categorical judgments of how people should act and who they should be? Considered this way, fasting isn't a privileged practice -- all of us can do it. Nor is it restricted to a certain season of the year, but instead is a daily challenge.
(continued tomorrow)

The Emptiness of Our Hands: 47 Days on the Streets

3 comments:

  1. Greetings! I see you're making good use of my memoir. Deep peace to you.

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    1. I am very grateful that you took the time to respond. I loved that book and recommended it to all my readers, as they can attest. Since reading the book, I have never seen our homeless citizens the same way. God bless you for your courage and your faith. The faith was made obvious without preaching.

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    2. On January 31st, 2020, I posted this short review: [From Patricia: I just finished this book, which I highly recommend. I read far into the night because I could not put it down. After reading The Emptiness of our Hands I will never look at a homeless person the same way again. Though both authors are Christian, this is not two Christians going after converts - far from it. The book, the story is so real, so face-to-face with suffering, theirs and that of others, that it is admittedly hard to read at times. They went out with no intention except to "be present"; God/Truth is nowhere, if not the present moment.]

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