Sandy Curnow Reflection

The Ways we Share

Not many people noticed it at the time, but a couple of weeks ago, Ramadan, Lent and the Lunar New Year all began within a few hours of each other.  It was a rare convergence of major religious events.  Looking at the current tensions in Australian society, and the criticism sometimes levelled so wrongly at the Islamic faith, it seems important to note this and to celebrate some foundational observances which we hold in common.

Of course, while Lent and Ramadan are times of penance, the Lunar New Year is an occasion of joyful reunion with the whole family.  Differences?  Yes, but in some ways these three have important shared practices. 

Image: Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb (www.vaticannews.va)

Most obviously Ramadan and Lent have a familial heritage.

The three religions of the Book – the Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam all ”share the One Merciful God” as Pope Francis put it when he spoke to his friend the Grand Imam Ahmed al-Taye; and each one draws on the ancient Mosaic understanding of fasting as a means of repentance, achieving communal solidarity and working towards greater concern for the poor.  Moses’ preparation on Mt Sinai for 40 days before he received the Commandments served as an example for fasting to acknowledge sinfulness in order to draw closer to God.  Thus, both Islam and Christianity also use an extended period of physical fasting and self-denial with prayer as very important to their religious practice.

Islam teaches that the prophet Mohammad stayed fasting and praying for a month in the cave of Hira after which he received the Divine message – the origin of the Quran – from the Archangel Gabriel.  “Fasting has been a gateway to the spiritual world for the prophets and a means to communicate with God.  The act of fasting is closely associated with spirituality … in Islam.  Fasting gives an opportunity to glorify Allah and thank Him for His favours which are often taken for granted.”

Then, in our Christian tradition all three synoptic gospels recount Jesus’ baptism being followed by a 40-day testing time of bleak solitude, fasting and temptation in the desert.  Only from this did He draw strength to face the demands of His life of public ministry.  (In a parallel way, Luke’s Acts calls the period between Resurrection and Ascension 40 days.)

The early years of the apostolic church inherited this Jewish custom of fasting. 

Image: Baptism of St Paul by Anania, Cappella Palatina (Wikimedia.org by Gmihail)

As Christianity began to define itself, a time of abstinence and fasting in preparation for baptism became common, and baptisms often occurred at Easter, but practices varied from place to place.  There was no unanimity.  Then a prescribed time to fast in preparation for Holy Week and Easter was clarified at the Council of Nicaea exactly 1,700 years ago last May.  This settled the matter and a few years later Lenten Fast was reported as being universally practised.  However, the way the 40 days were calculated varied widely.  From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday was 46 days if all the Sundays were included, so in some areas fasting on those days was exempt. 

The Fast was no easy matter in the early Church.  There was to be one meal of the day which was to be eaten after sunset; it consisted of bread and vegetables and water – flesh, eggs, dairy products and wine were forbidden.  Since the poor rarely had more than bread and some vegetables or pulses to eat, it was obvious that the wealthier who could afford meat or wine found the penitential diet more difficult.  That was seen by the Church as more than appropriate; the poor lead a life of constant denial. 

Image: St Benedict delivering his Rule to St Maurus and other monks of his order (Public Domain)

The one meal at 3.00 pm proved too taxing for monks labouring hard from early morning in agricultural areas, and light meatless meals were introduced for early morning and evening.  Fridays through the year were always meatless but fish became allowed; now Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Lenten Fridays have become the days of abstinence.  (Mid last century, when the ‘fish on Friday through the year’ was changed the fishing industry suffered badly.)

Ramadan today is very like that early form of Christian fasting.  Muslim men and women speak of the fast as liberating and invigorating but one can only admire the depth of faith and self-discipline as they eat or drink nothing from the moment of sunrise to the exact time of sunset.  Not even a sip of water.  Yes, breakfast is allowed in the dark of very early morning then those who are considered adults – including some senior secondary students who will turn round after school and go to football practice – will fast completely.  When Ramadan falls in the summer months and daylight hours are very long, the fast is particularly challenging and one can only admire the fidelity with which it is practised.  Prayer five times a day and on Friday afternoon during the month means that the mosques are filled with men and women of prayer. 

One more important element of Ramadan, the evening meal during the month of fasting – Iftar – is very different from our Lenten ones.  For one thing, it is deeply communal.  It is also celebratory.  Families gather to eat in the home, but in addition meals are served in mosques and strangers of all faiths are welcome.

The evening fast is broken first by some water and a few dates.

Image: Iftar celebration (Canva)

The five Pillars of Islam: faith, prayer, fasting, charity and pilgrimage are lived out most explicitly during Ramadan.  The first three are central to the daylight hours but charity, especially the dividing of food with the poor or visitors is an important part of the Iftar meal, and one of the things which makes it so joyous.

The heart of Lunar New Year is the sharing of a formal family meal with associated customs and rituals while gathering in the home, and this even in a society where prayer to a greater deity has gone from the culture.  By contrast, the element of family gathering has disappeared from official Christian practice.  We may go as a family to Mass, and we may emphasise the fact that the Eucharist is by its very essence communal – which is true.  It grew out of the Passover meal where the people of Moses shared a family meal and the promise of freedom for an entire community, and it is this meal together with its rituals that Christ shared with the Apostles.  And that came down to us as the Mass today.

Lent leads naturally to Holy Week when we move into marvelous rhythms of the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Saturday evening.  The richness of the liturgy here is unsurpassed.  It is of course all church based and couldn’t be otherwise.  But there it ends.  Not so long before the Council of Nicaea the Mass moved from physical family and shared meals to a spiritual one; moved completely out of the homes where it had been for some hundreds of years and into church buildings …

… and I sometimes think we are the poorer for it.

By Sandy Curnow