Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving Leaflet

Almsgiving e know God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: “Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you” (Mt 5:42). It is by what we have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognise his chosen ones.

witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God (Mt 6:2-4). These ‘works of mercy’ are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbour in his spiritual and bodily necessities. There are other ‘spiritual’ works of mercy that include instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, as well as forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.

Almsgiving in this sense is one of the most important things we can do to remake the world and restore it. It has to do with time, with money and goods. What are alms today? It isn’t limited to just money, though money can be important, because money and all it gives us, can so easily become the focus of our ‘worship’. “You cannot serve God and Mammon” (Lk 16:13).

So almsgiving is not only something we do to benefit the poor, but to ‘benefit’ us, assisting our ‘conversion of heart’, and our growing in freedom. Almsgiving can also involve giving generously of our time, and many other things.

Almsgiving is among what are known as the ‘corporal works of mercy’: consisting especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief

Prayer hen fasting and almsgiving are present, making us more alive, aware, attentive and sensitive, we have a place for prayer.

We can hear the scriptures more clearly; we can pray daily, perhaps in the morning or at night, or both; we can go to confession and to the Eucharist; we may find time to reflect on the scriptures, pray the psalms, or pray the Rosary. Perhaps above all, we are ready to pray the prayer of the heart, ‘without ceasing’, as St Paul says: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner”.

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We have the weapons. Let us not be afraid to use them. “With the Lord at my side, I fear nothing; who can be against me?” (Ps 118:6).

For More Information Catechism of the Catholic Church: Prayer - Part 4 of the Catechism (2558-2865) is entirely about prayer. See especially 2626-2643 Fasting 2043, 538-40 Almsgiving 1434, 1438, 1969, 2447, 572, 2101 Key Books to Read

Christian Fasting, CTS (SP34) Companion to Prayer, CTS (Do652) Conversion of Heart, CTS (Do771) Discovering Prayer, CTS (SP3) Friday Penance, CTS Essentials Leaflet (LF 64) Holy Week and Easter, CTS Essentials Leaflet (LF 19) Lent, CTS Essentials Leaflet (LF 18) New Companion to Lent, CTS (D740) A New Penance Book, CTS (D660)

Visit: www.CTSbooks.org A wide range of inexpensive publications is available from CTS to help nurture your faith and keep you informed about a wide range of issues. If you would like to receive further information please contact us: CTS, 40-46 Harleyford Road, London SE11 5AY Or visit www.CTSbooks.org Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046

ISBN 978 1 86082 303 9

Weapons of the Spirit

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All rights reserved. © 2005 Incorporated Catholic Truth Society. Cover Image © Buddy Mays/ CORBIS, Man of Sorrows (oil on canvas), Dyce, William (1806-64)/Private Collection/www. bridgeman.co.uk, Chocolate Cake © David Thomas/PictureArts/CORBIS, Money © David Aubrey/CORBIS, Woman Praying © Jose Luis Pelaez, Inc./CORBIS.

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Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving

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A bit old fashioned for me! escribed variously as ‘aids to conversion’, ‘weapons for battle’, and ‘forms of interior penance’, these features of Christian life predate Christ, with a long and rich history in Scripture.

Considered by some as outdated and of little relevance today, they are in fact true treasures to be rediscovered.

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The baptismal journey eapons and conversion!

- but what for? The Christian story confirms that if, through baptism, the Christian disciple is set ‘in motion’ with Christ ‘on a journey’ toward the Father, then he will surely face tests, temptations and opposition! It is in the context of this lifelong ‘contest’, as St Paul calls it, that prayer, fasting and almsgiving take their true place.

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Christ shows us the way ow can these practices become relevant to my life? Let us go to the Gospel. In Luke (4:5-13) Jesus, driven by the Spirit into the desert, remains there for forty days and nights without eating, to be tempted three times by Satan. His purpose was to compromise Jesus’ loving trust toward the Father.

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Christ was tempted - just as the people of Israel had been in their forty years of desert wandering. And in fact, we have the same temptations as both of them.

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So what does Christ teach us in the temptations?

Hunger: Christ was tempted firstly by hunger: “Turn these stones into bread”; the hungry Israelites had insisted on manna to eat. We also have demanding appetites! Unlike Christ, we are sometimes unable to fast from our creature comforts. It is by fasting however, that we can learn to overcome the ‘flesh’ and its demands.

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Sufferings: Christ was promised an unlikely solution to all his problems, an easy escape: “Come throw yourself down from the temple” and the angels will rescue you “and all will believe in you”; the thirststricken Israelites had insisted on the miracle of water from the rock. This was their means of escape from their sufferings in the desert. Unlike Christ, faced with sufferings and problems we all too easily (and understandably), try to escape. Through prayer, however, we learn to embrace our daily cross, as Christ himself did; we can learn to combat the tempter’s interpretations and solutions through prayer.

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Idolatry: Christ was offered all the power and glory of this world, to build his securities here on earth. The thankless Israelites worshipped the

golden calf and sought solace in idolatry. Unlike Christ, we frequently put in God’s place those things (career, success, and especially money!) that can never give us the happiness we truly desire.

So generous almsgiving helps us to put our trust in God again, and not in our ‘poor imitations’, and especially not in the baubles and trinkets of this world.

Christ’s victory is for us esus rebuffs these attacks and reveals himself as God’s Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. His victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates his victory in the passion, the supreme act of obedience and love for the Father.

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Jesus’s victory is therefore ours to share. How? rusting in Jesus’ resurrection, the Church, Scriptures and the great teachers of the early Church, invite us to take up these very ‘weapons’ that Christ himself used. Fasting, prayer and almsgiving express conversion in relation to oneself, to God and to others. The ‘old self’ of selfishness, fear and greed (so alive and well within us) can be replaced by the ‘new self’ of love, service and mercy (Christ himself).

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Put off the ‘Old Self’, put on the New o help us, the Church has particular seasons and days of penance during the year, such as Lent (the forty days of preparation for Easter) and Fridays (commemorating the day of the Lord’s death). These intense moments of ‘penitential’ practice, encourage us to make these voluntary

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‘acts of self-denial’. They can also become a yearround habit and not be restricted to particular times or seasons.

Fasting asting is rooted in experiencing hunger for food, but it goes beyond this. We go hungry so that we might discover what we really need, our true food: Christ. “Man cannot live on bread alone...”. We may fast from ‘good’ things, humanly speaking (food, drink, films, television, creature comforts, favourite things) and in so doing find a life-giving gratitude for such gifts.

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It is also an opportunity to look hard at all we consume, and so begin to practice some discipline in areas where we need to do battle against evil and sin.

Here our fasting may be such a battleground, where we take a stand after discerning where the evil we renounced at baptism may be driven out.

Fasting clears the decks, simplifies, and frees.

The Church has five laws she asks us to keep; the fourth is on fasting: “You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church”.

These times of self-denial and penance prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us to acquire mastery over our instincts and give us freedom of heart. Our fasting can also be joyous, anticipating as before Easter, the great joy of ‘the Feast of feasts’.

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