Whereas the Lord tells us to sell, we buy instead and accumulate. – St. Cyprian of Carthage (c 210-258)

 Since Nov. 15, as it is occurs each year, the Orthodox Christian has entered the season which we name the “Winter Lent” – the Christmas Fast. This six week period is also honored by Western Christians, some for the full period of six weeks but most by a four week period called Advent. Although these two traditions have sprouted from two different traditions and with different practices, they have one thing in common; they are seasons of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity in the Flesh of the Son of God, Emmanuel – God With Us. This time of preparation and its message is so much more needed to be remembered as each day passes and the feast draws closer. As we do this there is one clarion call to all who pass these days in prayer and fasting, a call to live more simply. Simplicity in life is a resounding “reason for the season.”

 The fasting rules, as well as the additional times for prayer, should be the nourishing influence in assisting us to take account of our day to day life patterns, and in so doing to make it the goal of this period the desire to discern more fully and implement more thoroughly the call to live a more simple life. This is something which should be a goal throughout the year, but especially at this time when the “hawkers” of the malls beckon us to spend, spend, spend; and buy, buy, buy in order to make ourselves “merry” and to “please” those who are close to us.

 How does the “orthodox” Christian – the believer who is called to give full glory in word and deed – respond to this challenge, one which is presented by a way of life which is so blatantly opposed to the Gospel message? One sure way is to take the time to do some housecleaning – spiritually AND materially. Certainly, the time of prayer and fasting, if performed in the right spirit, will produce a fruitful harvest for the soul. But this harvest must also be manifested in the way we look at the material things of life which surround us, as well as the innumerable temptations which are offered to us by the purveyors of goods which are out of sync with this “evangelical” goal.

 First, I think it important to start at home – “first in Jerusalem.” This is an excellent time to take inventory of the goods we have and carefully discern whether or not they are really necessary for our needs. It is a time to clean out the cupboards and closets, a time to rid ourselves of some things which have been collecting for perhaps years – a time to accept their removal as an invitation to a simpler way of life. We are too frequently like the man who found himself surrounded with so many belongings that he had no other choice but to build a new barn to store all his goods. How foolish he was! His decision should have been to weed out all the things that were not necessary, providing himself not only a simpler form of life, but also with a sense of value on the real reason for his existence – his salvation. These times of spiritual house cleaning – especially the Winter Fast and the Great Lenten Spring Fast – are exactly the reason the Church extends to us the invitation to consider more fully the simpler way of living.

 And, of course, the second, and perhaps more difficult task, is to fight off the constant seduction thrown out at us by the commercial industry to buy in order to be happy and fulfilled and to bring happiness to others. Gone are the days when it was the greatest joy to give a handmade sweater, a finely designed handicraft, a beautifully painted scene, or even an intimately written message. One is reminded of the beautiful gift of his own composing that Richard Wagner presented to his wife Cosima on Christmas morning of 1870 (Siegfried Idyll).  Now we are enticed to buy anything from needless gadgets to luxury automobiles – and more – in order to show how much we love others. In so doing we are also encouraged to “make our lives more meaningful and pleasant” by giving ourselves a few gifts, just to make sure our happiness is complete. At the end of the season of preparation we don’t have room to move around in our houses – and, one wonders, room in our hearts to receive the “King of all Creation”.

 This Winter Fast can be the time to make a few pre-new year resolutions, a time to resolve and decide that we need to want less –  and own less. And in so doing let our actions toward others reflect the spirit of the Gospel as we share what gifts are chosen as symbols of our deep love for them, gifts the value of which is not necessarily determined by the price-tag. This fasting time is a time to place as a priority in our lives the heavenly life instead of a life value based on worldly goods. It is also a time when we can exercise the attribute of “detachment” as we clean out the closets and cupboards – both in our homes and in our hearts.

 SIMPLICITY is the reason for the season. The coming of the Word Made Flesh in a simple cave near a simple village in Palestine, born of a simple Jewish maiden, and surrounded by simple peasant shepherds, can only resound clearly for us the need to live and think more simply. And yes, the end result will be the awareness of a fuller way of life, and as a recent Bishop of Rome once said – living simply, that others might live.