What is the context of fasting in the
Catholic tradition? What is the primary purpose of fasting? Fasting is important
for us spiritually, provided we fast for the right reason. When we fast, sometimes
and quite often, perhaps, we fast basically out of legalism. There are some
people, they just follow the laws, and they don't want to break the law of
fasting that is demanded by our religion. In this case, we know that the
Church's law requires to fast and abstain from meat and from food on Ash
Wednesdays and Fridays. And then, on all the Fridays of the year, we are supposed
to abstain from meat. And then of course, before you receive Communion,
you are supposed to fast for an hour. But many of us, we try to circumvent the law.
For us, our intention is just to fast. But we have forgotten the spirit of
fasting. And so, today, it is important for us to come back to the real reason
for fasting, lest we fast in vain. We don't fast for the sake of fasting.
Fasting must have a spiritual motive. You notice that in the Church's teaching,
Solemnities and Sundays are not included as days of fasting. That is why the
season of Lent has more than five weeks. If you calculate properly, more
than forty days, simply because we do not include Sundays as days of fasting,
because it's a celebration of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection. And so,
when do we fast? We fast when there is no more joy in our life, when there is
sadness, when there is emptiness in life. And this often comes about because
of our sins. When we sin, we are not happy with ourselves. We can be
pretending to be happy, to be celebrating, but we know that we are not at peace
within ourselves. When peace is missing, when there is emptiness in our hearts,
when there is no joy, no real joy, then the Lord said, then you should fast.
Fasting will help us to be in touch with ourselves, will give us that spirit, or
that disposition to look into ourselves and to see what is really challenging
us, what are the things that we need to face ourselves, what are those demons in
us that need to be unleashed. And of course, fasting also comes about when
the bridegroom is missing. Bridegroom, of course, in this case refers to Jesus.
Jesus is our bridegroom. So, when we have lost the Lord in our lives, because we
have strayed away from Him, because we have spent very little time with the
Lord in prayer, in reflection, and we don't make time for the Lord. Our relationship
has become very weak and superficial. So, when the Lord is not present in our
lives, when God is far away, when we do not feel His presence with us, there is
the lack of intimacy, then again, because the bridegroom is taken away from
us, fasting is a means by which we yearn for the Lord. Fasting combines, of
course, with prayer because fasting provides the disposition for prayer, so
that we can focus better, and not be distracted by the world and by the noise
in this world. But then, fasting is also for us when we feel alienated from our
brothers and sisters, especially when we are alienated even from ourselves, from a
heart of compassion. That's why fasting is associated, not just only with prayer,
but with almsgiving. Because many of us, we don't feel with the poor. We can be
lacking compassion for those who are struggling. Some of them have lost their
jobs, some of them are in financial difficulties. So, very often, we lack
compassion because we lack touch with the real world. There are people who are
sleeping on the streets, and sometimes you look at them, they have no home or
they just cannot stay with their family for whatever reasons. There are people
who are hungry, no food. And here we are wasting away food, we are throwing away. So, very often, those
of us who have been living a good life, we are provided with everything, we tend
to take all these things for granted. We don't appreciate, actually. In fact, we
make so much noise, we complain about this, complain about that. And there are
many people who are much, much more deprived than us. That's why we don't
cherish what we have from God. Instead of counting our blessings, we are
saying, how come we don't have this, how come I don't have a big car, how come
I am not living in a bungalow, and all these things. Lack of appreciation,
lack of identification with those who are suffering. Aand that is why we miss
the joy of service, the joy of giving. We must go back, we must find integrity in
our fasting. Real fasting, truly, is a change of heart. Change of heart towards
God, change of heart towards ourselves, change of heart towards our brothers and
sisters. We must be more forgiving, more tolerant, more embracing. When we have
hearts of compassion and love, that is the whole purpose of fasting. Then we
are truly in union with God, with ourselves, and with our brothers and
sisters.
