Fr. John Chryssavgis defines asceticism as as an Earth-honoring way of faith which calls us to…
- travel light—we can always manage with less than we imagine;
- let go—we are to learn to relinquish our desire to control;
- open up—we are called to create bonds, to reunite, to reconcile;
- soften up—how can we make our communities less savage, more inhabitable?
- tread light—we must not hurt, we must stop wounding our environment;
- live simply—not complicating our relationship with each other and with our environment, consuming less;
- simply live—not competing against each other and against nature in order to survive.
(from Cosmic Grace and Humble Prayer, 31)
How might you practice your faith today in ways that reflect this ascetic understanding and call?