Lent is not a time of scarcity

also, some thoughts on Snow White

Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash

Here’s my hottest take of the week: The new Snow White movie is really quite fun, and you should go see it. My second hottest take is that the internet discourse around this film is annoying, unkind and silly.

As a direct result of the things noted in the previous paragraph (see above), I wrote about Snow White for National Catholic Reporter. I encourage you to check it out. In it, I reflect on the themes of scarcity and abundance—and how Snow White actually illustrates how we inadvertently get trapped in a scarcity mentality. That sense of not having enough and thus needing to grab and hoard it all for myself is a real temptation in fairy tales and in our actual lives, and the Evil Queen is a helpful illustration.

(We might all spend some time reflecting on how the incarnation of “evil” in this story is one that unnecessarily divides an otherwise peaceful place solely to derive power, honor and wealth. In so doing—and necessarily so—that division entraps the land in a scarcity mentality, insisting that only some can thrive and others must fail. Hmmm….)

Anyway—go read that piece.

But before you go—or, when you come back—I want us to think for just a moment about this idea of scarcity during the season of Lent. We know we’re supposed to fast, right? We have in our minds this image of sackcloth and ashes. And sure, that’s not wrong; it’s biblically sound, from a certain point of view.

But that same temptation, that same thread of not-enoughness that is integral to a scarcity mentality—and the conflict and hate and self-flagellation and shame and violence that necessarily flows from it—cannot be allowed to contaminate our Lenten journey. That’s the hidden poison dripping from an otherwise delicious apple. We can’t always clearly see it and when we bite into it—well, let’s just say things go awry.

Ours is a God of abundance. Our God desires good and wondrous things for us. Our God delights in us and abhors division. Our God wants us to delve ever deeper into the richness of all we are—individually, communally and as members of a grand creation.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us be mindful that the goal is not to inflict ourselves with the lashes of division. Our fasting is not meant to create in us a sense of not-enough—be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Our fasting, in fact, is meant to turn us back to our God who lavishly pours out graces upon us, who delights in us and desires that we enter more deeply into community.

Don’t believe me? How about scripture, then? Isaiah has a thing or two to say about a fast that leads to an abundant life shared in community:

Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. (Is 58:6-8)

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