When I was a student, my major professor was quite emphatic that "Fasting is not intrinsic to Christianity," or "Fasting is not essential to Christianity," or "There is nothing about fasting that is essentially Christian." At the time, I didn't realize John intended to provoke reflection; my conclusion re fasting was instead something like, "Oh, well, in that case, toss the practice out!" But of course, the question and nature of fasting is much more nuanced than that, and while it is not essential to Christianity, it remains an important piece of spiritual growth. Let me be clear, though. Fasting does not make us holy; it makes us hungry. As the readings from yesterday and today indicate, it is what we do with our hunger that can lead to holiness.
Specifically, fasting can help put us in touch with our deepest hungers, our most profound needs. Turning to God with these and then, in gratitude, turning to our hungry world is what can make us holy. But we need to pay attention! We need to approach fasting as a tool that can make us a bit more vulnerable and open to knowing ourselves, a bit more open to turning to God with and in that vulnerability, and a bit more committed to listening to the rumblings and murmurings of hunger that make themselves known not merely in our stomachs, but in our hearts and minds. Only after we have attended to these signals within us can we become better able to hear the murmurings and pain of others, the deep cries of their hungers and yearnings. Only then will our compassion be awakened and grow to allow us to sacrifice for these others in the ways that Isaiah and Jesus call for.
Fasting thus has two purposes: 1) to open us to our own deepest needs and to the God who meets them --- whether in prayer or through the mediation of others, and 2) to sensitize us to the needs of others and empower a compassionate solidarity with them which may help us meet their needs on many levels. It falls along a three-point arc which defines Lenten praxis in Catholic parishes all over the world, viz., fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. We begin with fasting to awaken our minds, hearts, and bodies to the needs that define us in part; we proceed by bringing all of ourselves, but especially our deepest needs for fulfillment and healing to God so that God may work within us and touch us wherever and in whatever way God wills (and especially we pray so God's own profound yearning to be God-for-and-with-us may also be met). We may then act in gratitude and compassion toward those whose lives are similarly fraught with the need to hear the Word and to be touched and embraced by the Merciful God, who is Love-in-Act.
Fasting thus has two purposes: 1) to open us to our own deepest needs and to the God who meets them --- whether in prayer or through the mediation of others, and 2) to sensitize us to the needs of others and empower a compassionate solidarity with them which may help us meet their needs on many levels. It falls along a three-point arc which defines Lenten praxis in Catholic parishes all over the world, viz., fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. We begin with fasting to awaken our minds, hearts, and bodies to the needs that define us in part; we proceed by bringing all of ourselves, but especially our deepest needs for fulfillment and healing to God so that God may work within us and touch us wherever and in whatever way God wills (and especially we pray so God's own profound yearning to be God-for-and-with-us may also be met). We may then act in gratitude and compassion toward those whose lives are similarly fraught with the need to hear the Word and to be touched and embraced by the Merciful God, who is Love-in-Act.
All good wishes for a wonderful Lent!
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