The Chosen Fast
Ryan Gilfeather
Is not this the fast that I choose
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them?
Isaiah 58.6-7
About three hundred years after Christ died, Macrina the Younger was born in the far reaches of the Eastern Roman Empire, with every advantage and privilege. She was a wealthy slave owner, entitled by birth to marry well and pursue a life of comfort. But, she chose the better path. When Macrina looked at her mother, she saw a gentle loving Christan woman, but she also noticed the luxury, excess and injustice. This woman’s estate was so large that it stretched over three different provinces of the empire, her brood of sons travelled to Athens to attend the finest schools in the land, and her table overflowed with every kind of food and wine, whilst enslaved bodies toiled to maintain this ostentatious existence. Seeing all of this and knowing that she was entitled to follow in her mother’s path, Macrina set herself before God. As Macrina sat in the stillness of prayer, God showed her how luxury was wrong when it is sustained by injustice. So, Macrina chose her fast, she renounced this life for herself but she also slowly encouraged her mother to do so too, until they both embarked on a simple life together, freeing their slaves and living alongside them as equals.
Macrina can be a beacon for us today, her story offers us a grace which we can transfer into our own lives. Lent is a time when the church collectively fasts as we prepare for the death and resurrection of Christ. However, fasting takes a different shape and shade of meaning for all of us, some wish to build discipline whilst others use it to draw close to God. As we heard above, Macrina’s fast seems to mirror God’s instructions in Isaiah: “Is not this the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of injustice... Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” Macrina gives something up just as we do in Lent but she also uses it as an opportunity to break the bonds of injustice and to benefit the marginalised. There are a couple of ways that we might follow her path. On one hand, if we save money as a result of giving something up this Lent, we could donate it to local food banks. And, on the other, we could choose to give up foods which harm the environment, like meat and dairy, because the economically marginalised are disproportionately affected by climate change.
Any kind of fasting we choose this Lent is good and will draw us closer to God. However, the reading from Isaiah and the story of Macrina ask us to do things differently this year: to fast in such a way that benefits those who suffer most from injustice and poverty.
