ABSTRACT
The Christian tradition of asceticism, especially embodied in the three Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, is a programme of training of the body rooted in a rich and ancient wisdom that is also found in other areas of human development, sport included. Just as sports training is not an end in itself but aims to prepare the participant to compete and attain goals, so too Christian ascetical practices are means to the end of closer discipleship of Christ, the end of becoming a person of love (for whom the technical Christian word is ‘saint’ and the home Heaven). This chapter applauds the many ways in which people, not necessarily identifying as Christian or religious, practise such asceticism in their own lives through acts of self-denial for the good of others, in order to pursue a more just world. It encourages us to resist the modern temptation to exclude, a priori, discussions of religion and spirituality from our conversations and to push our questions as far as they can go, to ask why it seems to us important to work for the common good and a fairer world. It agrees with John of the Cross that in the evening of life, we will be examined in love and suggests that as long as we have breath in our body, we can train for that evening.
