Why Catholics Fast

Dear Theophilous,

Why is it on days that I’m fasting, all I can do is think about food? It doesn’t help matters either when all the billboards are for restaurants, all the TV commercials for fast-food, and my list of errands includes a trip to the grocery store.

Despite all the temptation, I fast anyway.

Since Christ warns us about making a show of our fasting: And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting, (Mt 6:16) whenever I fast, I’ll quietly tell my wife and son, so that they will be respectful and understanding, but I don’t go around with a sign around my neck that says: Do not feed the Catholic. Because of this, there is usually some point in the day when I need to politely explain that I’m fasting to someone’s generous insistence that I eat.

To the outsider, fasting can be one of the most perplexing Catholic practices. Making the conscious decision to go without food, especially in our consumption-geared society, seems to go against the natural order. Although Catholics can, and will, fast for any number of reasons throughout the year, this penitential practice comes to the fore yearly during the season of Lent.

So this raises the question: Why do Catholics fast?

The short answer is to be Christ-like.

In everything we do, Christians are called to imitate Christ. Whether it is to love our neighbours, our enemies, to pick up our Cross, or to forgive others; we are asked to follow Christ’s lead, as difficult and impossible as it might seem. Thus, during the 40 days of Lent, we are called to mirror Christ’s 40 days in the desert, in fasting and prayer.

Then Jesus was lead by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and afterwards he was hungry. (Mt 4:11)

One would think that Catholics are being called to an impossible task to be Christ-like during Lent, and to go 40 days without eating anything (though I think I’ve built up enough reserve around my midriff that I just might make it). Fortunately, the rules on fasting don’t go to quite this extreme. Although the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops does not give specific guidelines on fasting (calling for only a reduction in quantity and richness of food eaten on their website), the general rule of thumb is one full meal per day, with two smaller meals, which when combined, do not exceed amount the one full meal. Really, this isn’t out of the ordinary for most of us. The part I have the most difficulty with is the no snacking allowed!

So, outside of the imitation of Christ in the desert, one must ask again: Why do Catholics fast?

Over the years, I have found the rationale for fasting to be three-fold:

·      Penance

·      Prayer

·      Thanksgiving

Penance

Lent is a time of becoming attuned to our sinfulness so that we can seek God’s forgiveness and mercy. Gluttony is a sin that I, like much of our consumerist society, grapple with on a daily basis. It’s not that we aren’t supposed to enjoy the delicious beauty of God’s creation, it’s just the copious amounts in which we enjoy it. The hunger pangs I feel throughout the day, especially at the times when I would normally reach for a (not-so) small snack, remind me of my inclination to sin, and to call on the Holy Spirit to push through the moment of minimal temptation.

Prayer

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the three pillars of Lent, and all three are interdependent. Fasting calls us to a more attentive prayer. When I fast before Mass or Adoration, I am reminded that Man does not live by bread alone (Mt 4:4), and I hunger for the Lord in the Eucharist. When I am fasting, and have gotten over the hurdle of fixating on food, this leaves me more time and ability to concentrate on prayer. Finally, as I move through the day and hunger strikes between meals, I use it as a reminder to say a quick prayer: Jesus, I trust in you! or Have mercy on me, a sinner! or Lord, I hunger for you! or There is no virtue without temptation! (St. Augustine) or how ever the Holy Spirit moves me.

Thanksgiving

Let’s face it… Most of us living in Europe or North America have never really known hunger. We may get hungry from time-to-time, but we have never experienced what it is like to be truly hungry. A former student of mine once went on a mission trip to Zimbabwe; he recounted how children would walk for kilometers for the chance at their only meal for the day - a bowl of porridge, and if there wasn’t enough to go around, those at the end of the line would shrug their shoulders and walk home, only to return the next day in hopes of getting there in time for something to eat. Missing your one meal a day… this is true hunger. In the grand scheme of things, two small meals and one regular sized meal is no great sacrifice. Those little hunger pangs I feel throughout the day are a reminder of the truly blessed life I lead, and that I need to do more to help those who are less fortunate.

Catholics are called to truly fast only 2 days a year: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Traditionally, Catholics have practiced fasting and abstinence (not eating meat) on Fridays throughout Lent, and for many, this is a practice on Fridays throughout the rest of the year. If we were to go back to the Early Church, in the formative years of the Church Fathers, the practice was to fast on both Wednesdays (when Judas took it into his heart to betray Jesus) and Fridays (when Jesus died on the Cross).

No matter if one choses to fast on only the two required days, during Lent, throughout the year, or even to add days of fasting and abstinence for various reasons. We need to remember that fasting is not simply a Catholic weight loss program, but a sacred practice calling us to penance, prayer and thanksgiving.

Lenten Sacrifice = Easter Habit

Dear Theophilous,

Sometimes I think it’s worse than Christmas… Every year Lent sneaks up on me, and I feel unprepared; left scrambling to put together a Lenten sacrifice. Forced to make a decision on Ash Wednesday, I either fall back on traditional favourites (chocolate & booze), or I try to become an aesthetic monk overnight. Much like the Christmas gifts purchased on December 24^th, these last minute Lenten ideas are doomed to fail from the start.

So, with a week to go before Ash Wednesday, I’m beginning in earnest to think about how best to use Lent to bend my own stiff-necked will towards God’s. As I have done the past few years, I want to build my sacrifice on the 3 Pillars of Lent: Prayer, Fasting and Sacrifice. And like every year, I have a hard time figuring out where to start.

This year, however, as my preparation for Lent has been percolating in the back of my mind over the past couple of weeks, the Holy Spirit has continually whispered that I need to use Lent to look beyond Easter. At first this idea seemed silly, Lent is a time to prepare for Easter, and the sacrifice is supposed to end with the greatest feast in the Catholic calendar. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Lent is supposed to be a life changing experience; and how can our sacrifice have any value if we simply slip back into our old habits once the 40 days are over?

So this year I am planning my Lent with an eye to beyond Easter. By leaning on the Three Pillars of Lent, I hope to make changes that after 40 days will become habit.

Prayer

As those who have followed this blog over the years know, I’m quite honest about how my prayer life tends to ebb and flow like ocean tides. There are times (weeks and months even) where I can be on a spiritual high; while there are other points in the year when I beat myself up for letting my prayer life slip. I find this ebb and flow of prayer life tends to follow the seasons, and it’s during the dark days of winter that I fall into the dark days of my soul. I need an extra push to get out of bed before the sun rises in the morning, as well as a (not so) gentle nudge to pull on boots and parka to walk the dogs and say my Rosary. It’s as though my prayer get-up-and-go got-up-and-went with the end of the Christmas season.

Although Lent is meant to be a season of barren preparation to mirror Christ’s 40 days in the desert, I see it as a season of renewal in my prayer life. Lent is a time to take up once again all of those prayer promises I have made throughout the year, yet have let wane. I won’t go out of my way to start any new prayer practices during Lent; I’ve already done that sporadically throughout the year. What I will do, however, is make good on those promises, hopefully making prayer habits that will endure day 41 and beyond.

Fasting

Much like my prayer life, when it comes to fasting I all too often make promises that I can’t keep, so Lent is also a time of renewal of lost habits along with a season specific sacrifice. Recently, I have tried to take on the Early Christian tradition of fasting on both Wednesdays and Fridays – something that is easy enough to do while busy at work; an all-together much more difficult beast to tame once I get home or on holidays.

Although fasting can take on many different forms, and the rules put out by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops are probably purposefully vague (“Fasting means cutting down on the amount and richness of our food and drink”), on days of fasting I try to limit myself to 2 small meals (usually breakfast and lunch) and one medium-sized meal (dinner). My Achilles heal is snacking. Getting home from school ravenous, I’ll look to the cupboard to see what can tie me over until dinner. The problem is, once the first snack is munched, the floodgates open and I can’t stop until I feel guilty having taken seconds at supper. The only strategy I find that works is to avoid the temptation to sin, keeping the cupboards bare.

The other challenge I find during times of fasting are weekends and holidays. There is always that awkward moment when visiting friends or family when I need to explain why I’m not eating, or at least not eating as much as I usually do. As I look forward into lent, however, I see this as a chance to witness and explain the faith, as well as an opportunity to strengthen my Christian resolve. If I can be strong is something as small as fasting, I’ll be all the more ready when God calls on me for a bigger sacrifice.

Almsgiving

Charitable giving seems like the forgotten Lenten Pillar. Everyone is so focussed on what they are giving up for Lent, they forget that there can be a positive side to this season of sacrifice, and we can do something to help our fellow human. In past years my Lenten resolve has been to put a certain sum of money into the poor box on a weekly basis. Happily, this has become a habit that has extended beyond the Lenten season, so I can no longer lean on this as part of my Lenten sacrifice. So now I need to get creative…

Having prayed on this aspect of my Lent for this year, I have thought to link my Lenten fasting to almsgiving. Lately, as a family, we have become more and more susceptible to the habit of eating out. Over busy and over tired, we will quickly fall for the quick solution of eating out instead of preparing even the simplest of meals at home. This year (with my family’s cooperation, of course), I would like us to fast from eating out, and using the money we save (which has the potential to be considerable) for almsgiving. Hopefully this too will become a habit once Lent is over.

So, my dear Theophilous, I encourage you to take this last week before Lent begins to prayerfully think about the sacrifices of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving that you want to undertake. When preparing for your Lent this year, have and eye to beyond Easter so that your Lenten Sacrifice can become an Easter Habit.

Getting Ready for Lent

Dear Theophilous,

Special events have a habit of sneaking up on us. There never seems to be enough time to get ready for the dinner party we’re throwing Saturday evening. As a guy, Valentine’s Day (the secular version) is my annual downfall. There’s also the quintessential Advent question: “Are you ready for Christmas?”

The panic that surges as these events approach is usually the result of a lack of foresight and preparedness. And each time I’m in the frenzied thick of getting things done last minute, I promise myself that next time will be different.

Every year, Lent has a way of sneaking up on me as well.

Maybe it’s because Easter is a moveable feast (and thus Ash Wednesday and Lent are never the same date). Perhaps it’s because life is hectic this time of year with the transition of semesters at school. It could be that the dark doldrums of winter have me thinking of far-off places and not the liturgical seasons.

I wake up one morning and realize it’s Ash Wednesday and that Lent has begun. My mind races with questions such as What to give up? Or How to fast with a fridge full of food? And most importantly, How will my life be different this Lent from years gone by? I’ve found through the years that my rocky start to Lent has my efforts sputter out long before Holy Week.

With Lent 2016 only 2 weeks away (or closer, depending on when you read this), I’ve begun to prepare myself for this penitential season, and I’m sharing them here in the hopes that you will avoid the pitfall of not being prepared and then chastising yourself for a Lent unfulfilled.

Meditating on my Lenten Sacrifice

Lent is a time of penitential sacrifice when we traditionally give something up for the 40 days before Easter. Like many, I don’t usually give this any thought until Ash Wednesday. I end up scrambling to think of a suitable sacrifice, trying to steer clear of usual’s such as chips, chocolate or alcohol. The whole point of our Lenten sacrifice is to better ourselves (so I tell my students that giving up homework is not a valid choice); it has to be sacrificial; it has to hurt. I’m just beginning to think of my sacrifice for this year, and traditionally, it’s not something I share with others – the Father knows.

Preparing the Fast

My waistline is proof that I love cold turkey. That said, I hate going cold turkey. Traditionally we are called to fast throughout Lent (1 main meal and 2 small meals a day – no snacking), with more concerted fasts on Wednesdays and Fridays; complete fasts on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; plus the abstention from meat on all Friday’s during Lent. I need to work up to lowering my calorie intake. I also know my weaknesses when it comes to fasting (I’m never more hungry than when I’m purposefully fasting). The hardest part of the fast for me is avoiding temptation, so there will be a concerted effort over the next couple of weeks to empty the cupboards, keeping on hand only what is necessary. It’s no wonder that the day before Lent begins is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) – it’s a gluttonous affair to clear the larder.

Clearing the Calendar

Lent isn’t meant to be easy. It involves self-sacrifice as we meditate on the sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross. Thankfully Lent is not a season we are meant to go through alone. Knowing that we need help on our journey, many parishes offer different events to help focus our attention on Christ; join our suffering to His; and take comfort in the company of our fellow Christians. Check your parish bulletin or website for the dates and times for Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic Adoration and Poverty Meals. These are all great ways to sustain your efforts through the 40 days of Lent, so make room for them on your calendar now before other things come up and you get to Easter wishing you had set the time aside.

Throughout your Lenten journey, dear Theophilous, remember that you are not alone. Remember that Christ walks with you always. When the road seems hard, think of the path to Calvary. Know that I am praying for you, and I humbly ask for your prayers in return.