A 5th Sunday of Lent Consideration of What Fasting Is All About
It's already the 5th Sunday of Lent. That was fast, wasn't it? Or maybe not. Maybe some of us are still struggling to faithfully work our Lenten discipline. And if fasting is part of that discipline, maybe we're looking ahead to that light at the end of the tunnel: Easter. And Lent just isn't going fast enough!
Of course, Easter ought not be simple relief from our fasting. Indeed, the struggle of fasting these days of Lent should seamlessly fold into our lifetime of struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Has it been so this Lent? And will we heartily embrace that struggle once Lent 2022 has passed? We can only hope.
For this Sunday of Lent, with fasting on our minds, let's continue with last week's most helpful discussion of what fasting should be all about.
How to Practice Girth Control: Fasting (Part 2 of 2)
Fr. John F. Murphy
“For most of us fasting is not easy. Yet for most of us it is perhaps a psychological problem rather than a physical one. This, of course, does not make it less a penance. The main thing to remember that it is a means to a noble spiritual end. Even in the days of St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome, people knew that fasting was ‘indeed a medicine,’ and ‘by overeating we can kill ourselves by degrees which is practically the same as killing ourselves in a moment.’ A hearty man, of course, has no need to apologize for a hearty appetite. A nature quick to feel the various pleasures that come through the senses is not to be suppressed, but controlled and kept in order to keep reason in command. Plato suggested that the head is enthroned above the rest of the body to remind us that the thinking part of our nature deserves the most consideration and enjoys the most prestige. We must eat to live, therefore, not live to eat only.
“Fasting is not ordinarily easy. Even food we usually avoid sometimes makes our mouth water during Lent. One can’t help but feel that abstinence makes the heart grow fonder! For many Americans, staying in condition physically has become a sort of national ritual. This would be wonderful if only we did all the more important things first, like staying in condition spiritually. If athletes and models fast to win contests, we ought to find it possible to fast to win heaven. There is an old saying that a man does not become a saint on an empty stomach. There is another one that says he doesn’t become a saint on a full stomach either. These two truths imply a third somewhat more basic one, namely, that no one grows holy by either trying to destroy his nature or by catering to its every whim, but by controlling and super-naturalizing it. In practice we must avoid offending against abstinence in either of two ways. The one, uncommon in our obese culture, is trying to live on tea and toast, or eating so little we injure our health. The other, a more frequent failure, is through excess. Gluttony, which is even an unsavory word, is ordinarily more disgusting than it is serious, but we definitely deceive ourselves if we think it is not dangerous. Any capital sin gives birth to a whole litter of distasteful habits, and gluttony spawns especially sluggishness, crudity, and a general catering to laziness of mind and softness of body. Food is a blessing, and it is given to man to be blessed, to be used to sustain life, and even to help him grow spiritually.”
We may not continue our Lenten fasting once the glorious Easter Season begins. But this deeper understanding of its benefits might encourage us to fast from time to time, even if it's not Lent, as may be prudent in our state of life. Heck, they even say fasting can add to overall health, aside from its spiritual benefits.
To use an awfully overused phrase: It's a win-win!
For now, though, with this fuller understanding of fasting, perhaps we can persist for the rest of Lent with a spring in our step. Not that fasting is easy; but there's really no need to feel weighed down by it, either from a natural or supernatural perspective.
I don't know about you, but I found Father Murphy's analysis and recommendations about fasting most helpful. In fact, it's looking like I may continue the discipline of fasting in some (likely reduced) form after Lent is spent in a couple of weeks.
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee,
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