I sit a moment, reflecting. I seldom get a chance to sit quietly and think amidst the constant activity of the Maria Skobtsova House or in my life in general. Women and children seeking safety in the UK spend busy days here cooking, cleaning or just spending time in community, so it’s important to take advantage of those moments when they come.
It’s Ramadan, so the guests of the Maria Skobtsova House (MSH) are resting most of the day, quiet in their rooms. Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims, a time when they spend their days fasting from food and drink and other activities between dawn and sunset. My imperfect understanding of this month is that a primary purpose of Ramadan is to remember the plight of the poor and forsaken, and to understand what life is like when you don’t have enough to eat or drink. It is also a time of purposeful, intense prayer and meditation, a time to draw closer to God. Many Muslims give to charity during this time or give material goods to those in need. It’s a beautiful expression of God’s love of the poor.
Something particularly interesting this year is that Ramadan falls nearly at the same time as Lent, for us who are members of the Christian faith. Like Ramadan, many Christians choose to fast during these 40 days, often choosing one thing in particular to abstain from as a sign of their devotion to God, and to remember Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, shortly before his crucifixion.
While our faiths may be different, the similarities between these periods of prayer and fasting are striking. We are both told in our holy books that God cares for the poor and oppressed. We are both commanded to remember the poor and to seek out ways to provide for those at the bottom of our societies. In Ramadan and Lent we are reminded that there are many, many people in our world who do not share the same access to goods that meet their material needs that many of us do. To love and serve the poor is a holy act.
And we, like Muslims, have taken these holy periods and removed them from their original purpose. As humans, following our greatest commandments to love God and love our neighbor seems too simple, so we choose to apply more rules. For many people, these holy times have become more about following external rituals than their original purpose: a way to know God and to love the people that God loves.
So as we enter into Lent, and as our Muslim brothers and sisters follow their Ramadan practice, let us put aside the rules. Let us put into practice the heart of our faith, the heart that commands us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Let us remember that these holy seasons are not just an act, not just a rule to be followed, but rather a way for us to draw closer to God and to demonstrate God’s love to each other. Let us find ways to express our faith through our actions, purposely seeking to help meet the needs of those on the margins, those who are closest to God’s heart.
For in the small acts of mercy that we commit, God’s heart can be found.
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