Spiritual Triathlon

If you want to compete in a triathlon, you don't start out by attempting to do the Iron Man.  First you train, then you do a baby triathlon, and perhaps in time you will reach the point of being able to do the Iron Man.  It is the same way with the spiritual life:  people are always suddenly deciding to do some hardcore spiritual exercise before becoming spiritually fit, and then they fail and think, I can't do this!  Not everyone can - or should - do a spiritual Iron Man, but anyone can do a baby spiritual triathlon after some training.  Here is a guide to get you started.

Prayer:  There is probably no better prayer than the daily Rosary, but if you are starting from zero, spending half an hour every day meditating on the life of Our Lord might sound overwhelming.  If so, here is a short chaplet you can do every night:  the Salisbury Chaplet.  I came up with this when trying to figure out what to do with an odd chaplet, and Kathbert suggested a short, charming prayer from the Sarum Primer.  (Why is "Sarum" Latin for Salisbury?  Who knows?  No wonder the language is dead!)  Just kidding, I love Latin, but Salisbury Chaplet sounds catchier than Sarum Chaplet.  It is actually an ancient Celtic prayer that is very simple.  So here is how you do it:

Start with an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be
God be in my head and in my understanding (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my eyes and in my looking (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my ears and in my listening (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my mouth and in my speaking (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my heart and in my thinking (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be at my end and my departing (Hail Mary, Glory Be)

The Salisbury Chaplet is very powerful; it will not make you rich or cure cancer, but if you invite God into your life every night, He will accept your invitation.  If you are Protestant like Kathbert, you can just pray the prayer without the Hail Marys and Glory Bes.  You can even leave off the line about God being in your ears, which Kathbert and I added to the original.  Just a word of warning:  God WILL accept your invitation, so don't pray it unless you mean it.  Kathbert and I have been doing this prayer every night and we are amazed at how powerful it is.  (She just does the prayer, of course, not the chaplet.)

Fasting:  You should probably not dive into fasting by living on bread and water every Wednesday and Friday.  In fact, fasting does not have to involve food at all.  You can give up anything you enjoy, like TV or computer games or sudoku.  If you have not tried fasting, give it a try for a short amount of time, like a week.  It is amazing how good it makes you feel.  Remember, fasting is NOT a diet plan or a way to wean yourself off of bad habits like gossiping.  I understand, trash talking other people is fun, but it is a behavior we should be working to eradicate entirely so it is not fasting to give up gossiping.

Almsgiving:  If you are new to almsgiving, you might not want to start by selling all your possessions and giving your money to the poor, because unless you are joining a religious order, you will just end up one of the poor yourself.  However, most of us probably have more than we need, and it is a very good idea to give up some luxury in your life and give the money to charity.  Do you buy coffee at the coffee shop every day?  Make it at home instead and sponsor a child in a Third World Country.  Do you go out to eat too often?  Bring your lunch to work and give the money you save to a reputable charity.

Of course God is probably calling you to greater sacrifices, but better to start small and work your way up than to jump right in and then get discouraged.  If you are doing a triathlon and crash in the middle, they call that "hitting the wall."  Instead of hitting a spiritual wall, start training at a reasonable level.  If you pray the Salisbury Chaplet at night, give up TV or computer games for a week, and resolve to donate a small amount to charity instead of spending it on luxuries, soon you will find yourself ready to progress further in the spiritual life.

And remember, everyone who completes a spiritual triathlon is a winner.

Famous Hat

On the Fast Track

Today's Lenten reflection: fasting gives you a new perspective on things. Yesterday I fasted until after sundown, when I had a small cheese sandwich. And let me tell you, it was the BEST cheese sandwich I had ever eaten! Fasting makes you grateful for what you have and reminds you that others have much less. That is one reason to fast.

Another reason is for the love of God. This analogy may be a bit of a stretch, but imagine for a moment that you are a cartoonist who has created two characters, Pingo and Ooble. Pingo loves to eat cactus flowers and Ooble has a penchant for eggnog-flavored yogurt. You love your little cartoon characters, because you created them. Now imagine that they have free will. How amazing it would be if they freely loved you back!

Of course, Pingo could refuse to acknowledge that you created him and insist that he is a random spill of ink, but for the sake of this analogy let's say both cartoon creatures acknowledge that you created them. Then say that you had to have cataract surgery and couldn't eat your favorite food (say, persimmons) during your recovery. Pingo would say that's sad, but you created him to eat cactus flowers and he saw no reason to stop doing what he loves. Ooble would say she wanted to share in your suffering, so she would not eat eggnog-flavored yogurt until you could eat persimmons again. Wouldn't you feel a special affection for Ooble? You have to stop eating persimmons to save her (because she does not exist if you do not have your eyesight to create her), but she does not HAVE to give up her favorite food to help. She is doing it only to show her support, the way people shave their heads to show their support for a friend who is going through chemotherapy and losing her hair.

This is what Lenten fasting is. God doesn't say we have to give up chocolate, He created it and knows it is good, but when we give up something we love, we are sharing in His forty days of suffering in the desert. He suffered to save us, so we can show our gratitude by voluntarily suffering a little for his sake, not because He wants us to suffer but because it shows how close we feel to Him that we want to share in both His joy and His pain. That is true love.

Famous Hat