Dear Parishioners,

Having entered the liturgical season of Lent, which began this past Wednesday, we hear recurring references to the three time-honored disciplines that are associated with this time of penance: Prayer, Almsgiving, and Fasting. Over the centuries, the church has found that these three practices help to maintain a stable Christian life. No one would disagree that prayer is always necessary for deepening one’s friendship with God; and almsgiving is a practical (as well as spiritual) undertaking that supports our programs, projects, and physical temporalities that are essential for making the church visible to the world. But fasting can be somewhat controversial.

In its most authentic expression, fasting means abstaining from all food and drink for a specified period of time so that the first meal after this period is rightfully called “breakfast” – the repast that breaks the experience of fasting. This is the common understanding of fasting within most religious traditions, Christian and non-Christians alike. Catholicism has qualified fasting by allowing water and medicine to be taken during this time, as well as two smaller meals or snacks which, together, may not equal one full meal.

Furthermore, the church requires fasting only for Catholics between the ages of 18-59 and only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Even as the severity of fasting, associated with times past, has been softened, it can still be an ill-advised penance for certain individuals, given our modern awareness of health and the danger of eating disorders. And so the church, in her wisdom, advises its members to share their Lenten practices with another person, e.g., a spiritual director or trusted friend, so that unhealthy extremes may always be avoided. People must keep in mind that the goal of all Lenten disciplines is to facilitate an ongoing conversion to the Lord that brings us to a joyful celebration of Easter. No one should emerge from Lent with damage to one’s body, psyche, or soul.

But while it is important to keep fasting in a proper, balanced perspective, it is equally important not to dismiss it as an archaic or irrelevant practice. It has much to teach us, including how it all began. Long before Christianity, societies imposed fasting on its citizens as a means of survival. In northern countries, where the climate and environmental conditions were relentless and harsh, food supplies were often depleted by winter’s end. The months of March and April could be a daunting time if provisions were meager and the first harvest of springtime had not occurred.

Therefore, the leaders of cities or villages would force people to fast so that there could be an equal distribution of food. If one family or group of people consumed more than their share, another family or group of people might starve. Fasting became a source of solidarity, reminding people to not overindulge and instead to be mindful of those who, for whatever reasons, were struggling at this time.

It became a logical step for Christians and other religious peoples to simply undertake what was already an expectation, namely fasting, and layer it with religious meaning. This is one reason why Lent, which comes from an old Germanic word that means “spring,” became an ideal time to fast. Notice in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus says, “When you fast, do not do so as the hypocrites.” The key phrase is “when you fast,” not “if you fast” or “if you feel like fasting.” Fasting seems to be obligatory.

In the Middle Ages, the great Dominican theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas, asserts that there are three main purposes for fasting.

The first is to curb our desires for physical pleasures. When we deny our appetites for good things such as food or drink, we become better equipped to deny ourselves those realities that are not good for us – desires that we label “sinful.”

The second purpose for fasting is to free our minds for the contemplation of heavenly things. By not giving in to our desires, they stop clamoring for our attention and thus help to create an inner clarity within us that allows us to better focus on God.

The third reason to fast is to make satisfaction for our sins. By offering the inconveniences and suffering that come from fasting to God, we attempt to make reparation for those times when we offended God or our neighbors. We must be clear that God does not need our fasting. We need to fast. We need to find ways of saying “I’m sorry” for those expressions of brokenness that we commit by what we have done and what we have failed to do. Fasting does not manipulate God into being merciful toward us. Fasting is a reminder that we need to implore God’s mercy, which is always available to us.

There are undoubtedly other reasons we can find that validate fasting as a discipline that is meaningful for us today. What’s important is that we make an effort to engage in this practice, which our ancestors, both secular and religious, found to be praiseworthy. May it help to make this time of Lent a fruitful experience that changes our hearts and draws us closer to the Heart of Jesus.

Blessings,

Rev. Gabriel Baltes, O.S.B.

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