First,
let's establish what penitential discipline is NOT. It has nothing to
do with trying to earn favor with God in order to earn one's salvation.
Such a pursuit is patently heretical on at least two counts, as only
Christ earned salvation, once, for the many; and besides, every good work
comes from God, so it is impossible for men, with no supernatural
assistance at all, to do good work pleasing to God. Thankfully, we don't
exist in a universe where men are cut off from the supernatural, thus,
we are able to perform good works--but they are only possible because of
God. Good works are men's thanksgiving offerings spurred on and infused by the grace of God, grace which only God
can dispense. Grace is the way in which almighty, eternal, omnipotent God breathes life into his creation and expresses his love for us, the love that is his essence, and good works are the way we love him in return.
Nonetheless,
good works please God, as they reflect this grace and love, and thus unite creature and Creator. And the pictures of
judgment, OT and NT (Matthew 25:31-46), are unequivocal in portraying
man's judgment as largely a judgment of his works, good or evil. So we
should do good works, because they are commanded and we ought not put
God to the test by disobeying him.
This
does not mean that doing penance in any way 1. subtracts from the
sacrifice of the cross, or 2. exhibits an incomplete trust in the Grace
of God to save us. 1. Doing good actually ADDS to the Cross, in a
tangible way: a Christian can lead someone to faith through his good
works (I think of what Ryan shared last night). Relevant
passage: Col 1:24 ( lol at how the NLT totally cuts out the part about
"what is lacking in Christ's sufferings" ... biased joke of a Bible wth?) 2. Christians
ought to have a complete and absolute faith in God's saving grace. God
is omnipotent; his grace cannot fail. On the other hand, we men
CAN fail, even unto eternal sorrow. Even Paul was wary of this (1
Cor 9:24-27) (Phil 2:12-13). Thus a Christian ought never dispense of his
fear of the possibility of hell, not because God's gift of Grace might
fail, but because a man might spurn that gift.
So
we've established that good works are good and pleasing and that they do play a
role in the economy of mankind's salvation. What does this look like in
practice? This is important, because practice leads to belief; lex
orandi lex credendi; practice makes perfect, etc. Before you can know
why you do something, you have to simply go through the motions first.
We teach children simple, mundane things by rote, and later teach them
what these things mean. The interplay of work and eternal grace in
regard to salvation comes together, I think, very practically in this
way: doing penance disposes us to be stronger Christians. Read 1
Cor 9:27 again; the great St. Paul himself pommels himself in order that
he finish the race, and not become lazy, and fall away, and not finish
the race. A weak faith is dangerous. Penance strengthens our faith.
I
realized I've used penance and good works interchangeably--penance is a
subset of good work. The Lord lays out the standard categories of
good works in the Sermon on the Mount (specifically Matthew 6); I assume this three-fold classification
comes from his contemporary Judaism: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Penance usually means humbly performing these three things whilst considering
our sins and our imperfections, as a reparation to God. Now, reparation/expiation is a whole
'nother topic! But to simplify it, basically, penance is good work done
for the chief purpose of saying "sorry" to God; actions speak louder
than words. James touches on this (2:14-26). It is done willingly because
Jesus did "penance" willingly; although for him, it was not about "saying sorry to God." (Which is why I don't like the idea of penal
substitution, but that is also a different topic!) You generally can
never go wrong with copying Jesus.
Penance
is good, penance is just. Penance conforms us to Christ. Penance can be
prayer, almsgiving, or fasting. Penance is biblical. WHEN do we do
penance? The answer is both 'spontaneously' (pray without ceasing says
Paul) and 'liturgically' (Paul prays at set hours during the day.) We can turn all suffering into worship; this is spontaneous penance.
Liturgical just means orchestrated, organized, based on an essential set
form. Liturgy is unitive, as it prescribes a common experience in the
Body of Christ. I know that among "low-church" traditions, there is a
sometimes a visceral skepticism of the traditional liturgical calendar.
Read the Didache sometime. This is a Christian writing from possibly
before the time John wrote Revelation. The Didache gives passing
reference to many things and takes many liturgical practices for
granted, so we can reasonably infer that the apostle John was still
alive when these traditions were already widespread. The tradition which
is relevant to my spiel is that the Didache mentions how Christians
fast on Fridays. This makes a lot of sense; Christ died on Friday, so we
(including St. John while he was alive) do penance on Friday. The
primordial Christian Feast Day is Sunday, the day of the Resurrection.
The primordial Christian fast is Friday, the day of the crucifixion.
Now eventually, the Christian Pascha (Easter) was permanently separated from Jewish Pascha (Passover). This separation occurred in the West nearly immediately, and the separation was accepted in the East before the 4th century for the most part. Christmas was added to the calendar shortly after. So we celebrate the Resurrection 52 times a year, but from the beginning there was an annual super-celebration of the Resurrection as well. Similarly, since penance was performed in the early church on Fridays commemorating the death of our Lord, the Friday before Easter Sunday was a day of exceptional penance--Good Friday. This penitential experience was quickly extended. By the time of the Council of Nicaea (AD 325), (during which celebrating Easter on a Sunday, instead of on the same day as Jewish Passover, was imposed on the Eastern stragglers), a 40 day Lenten observance before Easter was ubiquitous, East and West, and the Council takes this for granted in one of its codes. The Council standardized the date of Easter in order to promote Christian unity, but Christians had long been united in celebrating 40 days of Lent in preparation for the Baptism of catechumens on Easter Vigil, as a reflection of Christ's 40 days of temptation in the wilderness following his Baptism.
Now eventually, the Christian Pascha (Easter) was permanently separated from Jewish Pascha (Passover). This separation occurred in the West nearly immediately, and the separation was accepted in the East before the 4th century for the most part. Christmas was added to the calendar shortly after. So we celebrate the Resurrection 52 times a year, but from the beginning there was an annual super-celebration of the Resurrection as well. Similarly, since penance was performed in the early church on Fridays commemorating the death of our Lord, the Friday before Easter Sunday was a day of exceptional penance--Good Friday. This penitential experience was quickly extended. By the time of the Council of Nicaea (AD 325), (during which celebrating Easter on a Sunday, instead of on the same day as Jewish Passover, was imposed on the Eastern stragglers), a 40 day Lenten observance before Easter was ubiquitous, East and West, and the Council takes this for granted in one of its codes. The Council standardized the date of Easter in order to promote Christian unity, but Christians had long been united in celebrating 40 days of Lent in preparation for the Baptism of catechumens on Easter Vigil, as a reflection of Christ's 40 days of temptation in the wilderness following his Baptism.
So
in closing, penance is good to do, and there are proper times to do it:
Fridays and Lent. (Fasting would be improper on Sundays or other festive days). It is proper to do it at these times because that is when
everyone else is doing it. (~70% of Christians belong to a branch of
Christianity that still enjoins the Lenten and Friday fasts on them, and have
done so unbroken for at least 1700 years). Christianity is not an
isolated religion, it is a universal religion; we worship as one Body,
not as individuals. Similarly, it is not isolated in time; we always
ought to ask why something was practiced 200, 500, 1000, 1500, 1900
years ago, but not today. In other words, there is nothing new under the
sun. To ignore Lenten penance because it seems to be, perhaps, too medieval and too pessimistic, is to innovate; is to
introduce a novelty to Christianity. Christianity is realistic; there is room for feast, and fast.
Ours
is a religion rich in history. In the era of the Didache,
the fast meant going vegetarian on these days. This, even after 1900
years, is still the baseline form of penance in the East (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, the Nestorian Church of the East, Eastern Catholic
rites), and the West (Roman rite Catholic, high-church
Anglican/Episcopalian). United worship is powerful. The liturgical
fast days are an ancient and venerable tradition (older than Christmas
actually) on which penance is done in unity as an act of worship to God. Though the Christian Feasts are still in vogue, the Christian Fasts are not, and we should ask, "why?" Perhaps it is not that something was wrong with the Fasts, but that something is wrong with us. And that is why I will participating on Fridays and during Lent.
