exhort your graces in the Lord—though even if I were to say nothing, the time
SERMON 208
ON THE BEGINNING OF LENT
Date: uncertain1
Lent, a time to be more alert than usual
1. The solemn time has come round again, at which I have to remind and exhort your graces in the Lord—though even if I were to say nothing, the time itself should be enough to remind and exhort you to be more fervent, more persistent, more alert than usual in fasting and prayer and almsgiving. But the service of a sermon from me is added, so that at the trumpet call of this voice2 your spirits may gain extra strength, as you are on the point of engaging in the struggle against the flesh. So let your fasting be unaccompanied by quarrels, shouting matches, beatings, so that those too who are under the yoke3 may experience a considered and benevolent easing of pressure, through your hold¬ ing the harshness of severity in check, not by your letting salutary discipline slide.
But now, when you abstain for the sake of chastising the body4 from various kinds of food that are in themselves quite permissible, remember that to the pure all things are pure; don't regard anything as impure except what unbelief has defiled;5/or to the impure and unbelievers, the apostle says, nothing is pure (Ti
1:15; Rom 14:20). But naturally, when the faithful are reducing their bodies to slavery, whatever is deducted from bodily pleasure is credited to spiritual health. And that's the reason why you must take care not to shop around for expensive kinds of food, or for one sort to replace another, or for even more expensive things as a substitute for butcher's meat. After all, when the body is being chastised and reduced to slavery, its delights have to be restricted, not varied.
After all, does it make any difference what kind of food is involved in the sin of unrestrained greed? It wasn't indeed just over meat, but also over various kinds of fruit and garden produce that the greed of the Israelites was condemned by the divine judgment.6 And Esau lost his birthright, not for a hunk of pork, but for some mashed lentils.71 can pass over what the Lord, when he was hungry, answered the tempter even about bread; and he certainly wasn't having to break in his flesh as if it were being rebellious; rather, he was mercifully advising us how we ought to answer such temptations. So then, dearly beloved, whatever