How to Avoid Spiritual Gluttony During Lent
As a spiritual director, I’ve asked a few people what they are doing for Lent. I was impressed by the variety of responses: a new biblical or spiritual reading plan, extra hours in Adoration, regular Stations of the Cross meditations, subscribing to a daily app or podcast, or volunteering at a local charity… Some were planning to do more than one. These are all good activities, but I was a little overwhelmed.
My follow-up question: How will these bring you closer to God? A puzzled look usually follows. The assumption is that if a person is doing a lot of holy activities, then being in the presence of God will certainly follow. But sometimes the ‘doing’ gets in the way of the ‘being’.
Saint John of the Cross writes about a special type of sin: Spiritual Gluttony. (Dark Night of the Soul, Book 1, Chapter 6) Instead of overindulging in food, some people can overdo spiritual activities and “kill themselves with penances, weaken themselves with fasts, strive with great effort in prayer, wearying and fatiguing their faculties and their heads. They never tire of reading books and begin one meditation after another in their pursuit of the things of God.”
What did Saint John say the outcome of this type of gluttony would be? They “become greatly discouraged, thinking that they have accomplished nothing…” Because of the heightened activity, God doesn’t have a chance to enter the person’s heart and instead “purifies them by bringing them into the dark night.”
I think most would prefer to avoid the “dark night”. So how can a person draw grace from the holy and spiritual activities but keep from slipping into spiritual gluttony? Maybe add a little time and space for God to enter. In other words, in addition to “doing something” for Lent, spend some of the day “doing nothing”. Below is a handout from a Renovaré retreat; it’s a “Checklist for Doing Nothing”. Maybe this could be your guide.
Blessings on both your Lenten ‘doings’ and ‘beings’!
Click here for a printable copy of the Checklist for Doing Nothing
