Feasting versus Gluttony

I get so excited for Easter season.  I will have everything from which I fasted, I get to return to my old schedule, I get to go easy on myself...

Hold up, hold up...what?? Did Lent mean nothing??

What kind of impact should what we do and do not do in Lent have on our Easter season?  Is it really a matter of having a more austere lifestyle for six weeks out of the year and then dumping it all during the Easter season? While that might have been the case when we were young and naive, I hope and pray that that is not how we are as we progress in the faith.

See, if that's all Easter season is, a return to old habits, a shaking off of penance and party all the time (though the party that the Church puts on is pretty legitimate, don't get me wrong), then we're missing the point. We are, at that point, entering into the dangerous sin of gluttony. Not just of food that we might have given up, but gluttony for our old habits. Gluttony is focused on what I get out of life, whether that be physical or emotional. It is a denial of self-will in a sense, and allowing will to be slave to that which the human (temporarily) finds pleasing. Isolation is the reward of gluttony; we isolate ourselves with our treasures, which we hold as our gods.

Easter is not about gorging ourselves after we've been denying ourselves for the duration of Lent. I would argue that there's still much denial that takes place in the midst of the highest feast of the Church. There must be a denial of self in order to have Him as first in our lives. Importantly, though, feasting is not about the material. It is about the fellowship.

When my high school group would finish the retreat portion of Steubenville weekends and prepare to spend one last day together going to Six Flags, Father J always had the same homily that morning before we departed. He would tell us that we were going to a theme park, not simply for the rides. If you go to a theme park by yourself, that's rather boring. Quite boring. It can be the most wonderful and colorful theme park in the world, but if you try to enjoy it all to yourself, you will quickly find yourself snoozing on a bench and wanting to go home. No, theme parks are only worthwhile when you go with a group of friends, friends who can challenge you to go on new rides, laugh when you're faint after a ride, enjoy a plateful of funnel cake with you, and lean on each others' shoulders contentedly at the end of a long day at the park.

The Easter seasons' idea of feasting is centered on the joy we find in each other and the joy that we find in Jesus Christ. Feasting involves not just food, but dancing, fellowship, laughter, beauty, chivalry, games and a reason to celebrate! Gluttony misses out on all of that goodness.

May your Easter seasons be blessed with celebration and community, all rooted in the unity we share in the risen Christ.