Authentic Lenten Abstinence toward Holiness through Loving God by Loving Neighbors: What to Abstain and What not to Abstain– Monday of the First Week of Lent

Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:1).

God calls us not only to return to Him with all our heart (Joel 2:12) but also to be holy for He is holy (Leviticus 19:1) for Lent.  In fact, this is God calling us to walk in His ways by keeping His commandments, with our total love for God (Deuteronomy 30:15; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5).

Though to love God with our all being, heart, and strengths, is the most important commandment, this is truly observed as we also love our neighbors, according to Jesus, who put Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 in integration (Matthew 22:35-40// Mark 12:28-34; cf. Luke 10:27a) to highlight both the mutual love between God and us and the mutual love among us as neighbors to care for one another. The love between God and us is the vertical vector of love, while the love among us is the horizontal vector of love, forming the cross-shaped vector of love to put us one with God (i.e. John 17:20-23; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27).

And this is reflected in the Scripture Readings of Monday of the First Week of Lent (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25:31-46).

In the First Reading (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18), through Moses, we hear God calling us to be holy, because He is holy (vv. 1-2). God wants us to be holy, as He is holy, because God created us in His image (imago Dei) (Genesis 1:27). So, the First Reading lists some commandments to be holy (Leviticus 19:11-18), and these are things to avoid to do. For example, we shall not steal – even tempted (v.11) and not to profane God’s name by swearing falsely by His name (v. 12) for our reverence to God is the way to be wise and holy (i.e. Proverbs 9:10) and not to exploit a neighbor (v. 13) for it is not what you want others to do to you (i.e. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).

The commandments to observe (vv. 11-18) for our holiness (vv. 1-2) in the First Reading (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18) are prohibitory ones. In other words, these (vv. 11-18) are a list of “not to do”, commanding us not to do in order to be holy.  Perhaps, we may feel anxious about these “Don’t do this!” commandments lest we forfeit holiness for violating them.

One of the three critical virtues of Lent is abstinence. And we tend to be somewhat anxious about not keeping up with the abstinence that we have decided to commit ourselves for Lent.

The First Reading (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18) gives a list of what we need to abstain from for the sake of becoming holy and loving our neighbors. However, the Gospel Reading (Matthew 25:31-46) reminds that what abstaining from loving neighbors is like and how costly abstaining from doing the right things is. Not doing what we are called to do becomes a sin of omission.

In the Gospel Reading (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus speaks of deadly sins of omission – sins of abstinence from doing the right things, subject to the eschatological judgment. And these sins are not loving our neighbors, especially those in greater needs, as we love God (i.e. Matthew 22:35-40// Mark 12:28-34; cf. Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5), for God may be found among our neighbors in greater needs (Matthew 25:42-43).

It says that God the Father has sent His begotten Son to us because He loves us (John 3:16). In response, we love God with our all being, our hearts, and our strengths (Deuteronomy 6:5). The way God sent His Son to us is by incarnating the Word-God (Theos-Logos)(John 1:1) to let him dwell among us – to let him be our neighbor (John 1:14), through Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit  (Luke 1:26-38). And God the Son has come to us in the human flesh of Jesus born to poverty (Luke 2:7, 24; cf. Leviticus 12:8).

Why? Why was the Son of God in the human flesh was not born as an aristocrat or a son of the high priest but as a son of a poor carpenter, Joseph of Nazareth?

Had Jesus were not born to poverty, then, we would not have Jesus speaking of the mortal sins of omission – abstaining from acting out of our love for the neighbors in need with compassion and mercy, as reflected in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 25:31-46).

Yes, holiness is important. It is what we strive for through our Lenten “road less traveled” of 40 days. And there are prohibitory commandments to observe for our holiness, as addressed in the First Reading (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18). But, we need to be careful not to let our pursuit of holiness become an obsession to blind us to our neighbors in need.

According to Luke, Jesus explained to an expert in the law what it means to love our neighbors with the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In this parable, Jesus contrasted the good Samaritan man, who saw the wounded man on the roadside and cared for him unconditionally, and the priest (Levite), who saw the wounded man on the roadside but walked away from him without showing any concern lest he might violate the purity commandments (i.e. Leviticus 5:2-3; 7:21; Numbers 19:11-16).

The priest committed a sin of omission – sin of abstaining from caring for a neighbor in greater need for the sake of his purity (i.e. Luke 10:32), and the self-righteous man committed a sin of abstaining from caring for his neighbors in greater needs, such as the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the captured, and the strangers, and Christ the King condemns him for this sin of abstinence (Matthew 25:31-46).

Though abstinence is one of the three Lenten virtues to keep, we need to be careful what to abstain from and what not to abstain from, in reflecting the Scripture Readings of Monday of the First Week of Lent (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25:31-46) to be holy as God is holy.  Love, as agape, which is the greatest virtue (1 Corinthians 13:13), and it is to be practiced for God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and for our neighbors (Leviticus 19:18) and never become an object of abstinence. Let us love our neighbors in greater needs as the good Samaritan has done (Luke 10:30-35) and as those who are blessed to inherit the Kingdom for having seen Christ among the neighbors in greater needs and cared for them (Matthew 25:34-36), for it also means to love God (i.e. Matthew 22:35-40// Mark 12:28-34).

What to abstain and what not to abstain in regard to loving our neighbors as our way to love God for the sake of holiness, as addressed in the Scripture Readings of Monday of the First Week of Lent (Leviticus 19:2-1, 11-18; Matthew 25:31-46) is, after all, about the authenticity of our Lenten practice, reflected in Isaiah 58:6-12.

Let us never abstain from loving, demonstrated through our unconditional acts of compassion and mercy to our neighbors in greater needs for the sake of holiness and for the fruitfulness at the eschatological judgment. So we are never blind and deaf to the cries of our neighbors in suffering and affliction, especially our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.  Let us become holy as God, who is holy (i.g. Leviticus 19:2), hears the cries of our neighbors in need and affliction and brings salvation to them (i.e. Psalm 34:7), by imitating His mercy in action (i.e. Luke 6:36), as our way of loving our neighbors (Leviticus 19:18).