Shrove Tuesday: No Pain No Gain
Today we celebrate Shrove Tuesday, a day we might say is based on the concept of "no pain, no gain." While some call today "Mardi Gras," "Carnevale," or "Fat Tuesday," today we're going to focus on the concept "Shrove Tuesday." The former terms focus on indulgence, whereas Shrove Tuesday springs from the recognition of our need for repentance - which for some of us may represent, in varying degrees, some degree of pain.
The traditional indulgence during the days before Lent found its roots in the way people ate in normal life, as well as the much stricter observance of Lent back in the day. Without modern farming, supermarkets, and the transportation systems that carried fresh goods to us on a daily basis, diets were once more modest and constricted. Items like meat, fat, even dairy were not eaten daily. They were luxuries. Fasting during Lent reduced, or even eliminated (especially in the Eastern Rites and the Orthodox Church) such luxuries. So they had to be consumed before Lent began. People did so during the days before Lent, culminating on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Giving these up in whatever degree it was done represented a form of penance - a form of pain.
Shrove Tuesday, while allowing for feasting, includes the concept of being "shriven," or absolved from sin. You didn't wait for Lent to focus on penance. Indulgence was tempered by the recognition that we need to examine our lives and see what needs change or improvement, with the operative theme being sin and the repentance needed to overcome it.
The concept of "no pain, no gain" finds applications in many areas of our lives. Exercise springs to mind right away. You can't get around some endurance of pain if you want serious results when you exercise. Some take this to an extreme degree, of course, but there's no denying that improvement will elude you if your exercises are easy or lackluster.
At work, we understand the need for occasional doses of pain. Any business worth its salt depends on growth to survive. Without some degree of growth, the business withers, eventually to die. Growth occurs when we improve our sales, marketing, customer service, and systems, including - especially these days - our use of technology. And pursuing constant and consistent improvement will elude us if we take the easy road or our efforts are lackluster. We need to endure some pain to improve: working longer, harder, smarter - however you do it to enhance your work and/or your business, it doesn't come easy.
All of this naturally applies to our spiritual life, our relationship with God. There's pain and suffering involved when we want to follow the narrow way and move our reluctant selves, step by step, closer to God. Now Lent will help us do just that. The prayers, almsgiving, and fasting are the specific means we use. It makes sense that how we undertake these during the coming 40 days shouldn't be easy or lackluster.
To help us in our efforts to be shriven from our former sinful ways on this Shrove Tuesday, we might remember the pain Our Lord endured for us to free us from our sins. He Who was sinless took upon Himself all of the bad in us. The Agony in the Garden shows us the degree of pain He suffered from His simple recognition of our sins, so painful He sweat blood. That alone would have killed most of us. And he still had to face the physical torture and death on the Cross. He suffered and died that we might live. The process of being shriven, painful as it might be at times, pales in comparison to His pain. The gain, on the other hand is infinite and immeasurable. But you know that, right?
Enjoy your Shrove Tuesday. Be shriven of your sins. And don't shirk from the pain that may entail. If you're tempted to instead take the easy road, just remember: no pain, no gain.
The traditional indulgence during the days before Lent found its roots in the way people ate in normal life, as well as the much stricter observance of Lent back in the day. Without modern farming, supermarkets, and the transportation systems that carried fresh goods to us on a daily basis, diets were once more modest and constricted. Items like meat, fat, even dairy were not eaten daily. They were luxuries. Fasting during Lent reduced, or even eliminated (especially in the Eastern Rites and the Orthodox Church) such luxuries. So they had to be consumed before Lent began. People did so during the days before Lent, culminating on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Giving these up in whatever degree it was done represented a form of penance - a form of pain.
Shrove Tuesday, while allowing for feasting, includes the concept of being "shriven," or absolved from sin. You didn't wait for Lent to focus on penance. Indulgence was tempered by the recognition that we need to examine our lives and see what needs change or improvement, with the operative theme being sin and the repentance needed to overcome it.
The concept of "no pain, no gain" finds applications in many areas of our lives. Exercise springs to mind right away. You can't get around some endurance of pain if you want serious results when you exercise. Some take this to an extreme degree, of course, but there's no denying that improvement will elude you if your exercises are easy or lackluster.
At work, we understand the need for occasional doses of pain. Any business worth its salt depends on growth to survive. Without some degree of growth, the business withers, eventually to die. Growth occurs when we improve our sales, marketing, customer service, and systems, including - especially these days - our use of technology. And pursuing constant and consistent improvement will elude us if we take the easy road or our efforts are lackluster. We need to endure some pain to improve: working longer, harder, smarter - however you do it to enhance your work and/or your business, it doesn't come easy.
All of this naturally applies to our spiritual life, our relationship with God. There's pain and suffering involved when we want to follow the narrow way and move our reluctant selves, step by step, closer to God. Now Lent will help us do just that. The prayers, almsgiving, and fasting are the specific means we use. It makes sense that how we undertake these during the coming 40 days shouldn't be easy or lackluster.
To help us in our efforts to be shriven from our former sinful ways on this Shrove Tuesday, we might remember the pain Our Lord endured for us to free us from our sins. He Who was sinless took upon Himself all of the bad in us. The Agony in the Garden shows us the degree of pain He suffered from His simple recognition of our sins, so painful He sweat blood. That alone would have killed most of us. And he still had to face the physical torture and death on the Cross. He suffered and died that we might live. The process of being shriven, painful as it might be at times, pales in comparison to His pain. The gain, on the other hand is infinite and immeasurable. But you know that, right?
Enjoy your Shrove Tuesday. Be shriven of your sins. And don't shirk from the pain that may entail. If you're tempted to instead take the easy road, just remember: no pain, no gain.
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