By David Gibson | Catholic News Service
Fasting is a paradox for Christians. It encompasses seemingly contradictory intentions.
First, fasting appears to possess a negative quality. It asks us to do less of something — to eat less, to reduce the amount of our TV viewing or curtail our spending and the time devoted to shopping, for example.
When this effort does not prove easy, fasting sometimes becomes a singular focus of attention as one tries and tries to succeed in its outward goal.
Yet, the goal of fasting is positive. It aims to shift attention away from something we relish and onto areas of life that deserve to be relished far more. It is coupled with penance and, in particular, conversion to a new way of life.
So fasting is confusing. Maybe Christians need to ask again and again, “Why do we fast?”
When it seems that fasting is all about some form of deprivation and only about that, something is amiss. But what is the “other side” of fasting?
Most typically, fasting involves eating less, as adult Catholics up to the age of 59 do on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, when just one full meal and two small snacks become the norm for the day. Adult Catholics also abstain from eating meat on Lenten Fridays.
But fasting from something is not an end in itself. Fasting points beyond itself.
Thus, the degree of hunger felt after consuming a simple Lenten soup supper can prompt Christians to refocus attention on profound hungers of another kind — the hunger to reconcile a hurting human relationship, the hungers of the poor or the hunger to comprehend better what God is asking of me or, alternatively, what I need to ask of God.
Fasting in Lent, along with prayer and almsgiving, is a way of “deepening our spiritual life,” Pope Francis says in his 2017 Lenten message. At the same time, he views Lent as a time to “open our doors to the weak and poor.”
In Lent, the pope writes, we are invited “to open the doors of our heart to others because each person is a gift, whether it be our neighbor or an anonymous pauper.”
The problem with fasting is that one so easily loses sight of its essentially positive, spiritual characteristic. The goal in what we do not do is neither to weaken nor discourage us but to encourage growth and to enrich our faith.
Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, had in mind the images of drowned Middle East refugee children, their bodies washed up on Mediterranean Sea shores, when in 2015 he spoke of meditation, prayer and fasting.
“Hope is born, our love for others is strengthened and our commitment to justice and charity” grows deeper through fasting, prayer and biblical reflection, he said.
Fasting helps to “focus our attention, move our hearts” and “give vision and insight,” according to the archbishop. He accorded a place to fasting on a list of ways to support refugees fleeing violence in their homelands.
Archbishop Durocher’s observations suggest a possible question to ask whenever we fast: Where do I or where do we need a clearer focus in life? What that is right before our eyes are we allowing to remain blurred, out of focus?
Here I recall a discussion by Amy-Jill Levine, a biblical scholar, about the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32) and, in particular, about the prodigal’s older brother. Readers often judge the older brother harshly because he felt so slighted by his father’s great celebration of the younger brother’s return home.
But is the older brother often misunderstood? Levine proposed in her book “Short Stories by Jesus” that the older brother may represent the faithful child who is taken for granted and whose real feelings are overlooked.
The older brother, the father will discover in the parable, “was the son who was truly ‘lost’ to him” and who needed his father’s understanding, Levine indicates.
Fasting from food is a practice rooted deeply in Judeo-Christian history. Scripture links it directly to actions that provide care for others. Describing the kind of fasting God desires, the biblical Book of Isaiah makes this clear, saying:
“Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them?” (Is 58:6-7).
Typically, when fasting is mentioned among Christians it is coupled with penance and prayer. Fasting throughout Christianity’s history always was considered a practice of spirituality. So it points beyond itself by focusing attention on the reality of God’s presence here and now.
Fasting, however, is not a passive action for Christians, something simply to undergo or suffer through. Paradoxically, it is meant to set the wheels of the mind and spirit into motion, and to reawaken us to the overlooked and unresolved challenges in our actual lives.
Gibson served on Catholic News Service’s editorial staff for 37 years.
It’s Friday during Lent. What’s for dinner?
By Kelly Bothum | Catholic News Service
Few things are constant in our home except the nightly debate over dinner. If one kid likes spaghetti and meatballs, then two don’t. Eggs? Yuck, says the middle one. Tacos, lasagna, rice, beans, baked carrots — even pie — there’s always at least one dissenter in the crowd.
No one is starving at our house. But we do tend to obsess over what we eat. Given that, you’d think that Fridays during Lent would be a meal minefield with our house of five abstaining from meat.
Truth be told, those Fridays are the only time of year when there’s no fight about dinner. It’s always understood — cheese pizza.
It’s almost a relief to not have to make a decision. We know what we’re having, but more important, our kids know why.
Traditionally, Catholics aged 14 and over are required to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent (and to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday), but as long as our kids have been at the dinner table, they’ve gone meat-free with us. OK, they might not know exactly why we’re skipping the pepperoni, but they know it has something to do with church and Lent.
I’ll admit, meat-free Fridays during Lent is an easy sell in the kid world. After all, cheese pizza tastes pretty good. But I think there are some deeper lessons to consider.
For starters, it shows we are making a sacrifice. Granted, it’s not like dying on the cross for the salvation of all — thank you, Lord — but it does show a willingness to go without as a sign of obedience and respect.
Most of the time, we don’t think of a hamburger as a token of love, but if that’s our favorite food and we make a point not to savor its juicy goodness on a Friday during Lent, that means something. If you’ve ever witnessed the magnetic power of a chicken nugget in the presence of a toddler, you understand what I mean.
Like many families, we are on the go most days of the week. We don’t eat at the same time and, of course, not everybody likes what we are having.
That makes our Friday night cheese pizza dates even more meaningful. They are an opportunity for the five of us to be together and catch up on what we’ve missed between soccer games, band practice and Girl Scouts meetings.
I think it also helps knowing that we aren’t the only ones following crazy rules about what we have to eat and when.
By now, my 8-year-old knows the drill about no meat on Fridays during Lent. He sees the signs for the weekly fish fry at our church and even though he and his sisters don’t like fish, they beg us to go. (For the French fries, naturally.)
So, we take a break from our cheese pizza party at least once to join the fried food fun with the rest of our parish.
If we are trying to raise children who see themselves as part of a larger family of faith, it helps to put them in situations where they can see it in context. Two cheese pizzas at home on a Friday night is not the same thing as a church hall full of people who believe the same way we do. It helps to celebrate our faith and share it with others joyfully.
Lent is supposed to be a time of prayerful reflection and repentance. But there can be happiness and laughter in that time as well. We can use our Lenten abstentions as a way to teach our children about sacrifice, community and tradition.
All it takes is a cheese pizza.
Bothum is a freelance writer and a mother of three.
Proclaim a fast
By Daniel Mulhall | Catholic News Service
“Then I proclaimed a fast … that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. … So we fasted, seeking this from our God, and it was granted” (Ezr 8:21, 23).
Fasting has been a time-honored practice from the early days of Israel. The practice, which Jesus followed as an observant Jew, was picked up by the early Christians and is still practiced by Christians today, mostly during the season of Lent.
Many passages in the Bible show why we should fast. The first is atonement, when we ask God’s forgiveness for what we have done or failed to do.
The Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is such a day of fasting (see Lv 23:26-32).
Joel illustrates this idea: “Yet even now … return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. … Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind a blessing” (Jl 2:12;14).
This is also seen in Jonah 3:5-10 when the king of Nineveh declares a fast with the hope that God will relent from his anger and not destroy the nation.
The second is to prepare ourselves for an intense period of time, as when Jesus went into the desert and fasted for 40 days as he prepared for his ministry (see Mt 4:1-11) or as Moses fasted for 40 days when he received the Ten Commandments (see Ex 34:28).
The third reason people in the Bible fasted is as part of an intense prayer, as is seen in the passage from Ezra 8 above. Another example of this is found in Psalm 35:13, “Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth, afflicted myself with fasting, sobbed my prayers upon my bosom.”
People also fasted as a way to remember a significant event, as when Paul and Barnabas appointed leaders for Christian communities. Acts 14:23 notes that they “commended them (the leaders) to the Lord” with prayer and fasting (see also Acts 13:2-3).
Nehemiah wept for several days, “fasting and praying before the God of heaven,” when he learned the fate of Jerusalem following the exile (Neh 1:4). Zechariah 8:19 lists four days when Jews are to fast to remember significant events in Jewish life.
In several Bible passages, prophets describe the fast that God desires. The most powerful of these is Isaiah 58:3-7 where God says omitting food or drink is not enough. In addition, God calls for the unjustly bound to be released, the oppressed set free, the hungry fed, the afflicted nurtured and the immigrant given shelter.
Jesus also addressed how we are to fast. In Matthew 6:16-18 he tells us to look happy and not make it a big deal. It’s enough for God to know that we fast.
Mulhall is a catechist who lives in Louisville, KY. Eugene Fisher, professor at Saint Leo University, assisted with this article.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In the blog “One Catholic Life,” Deacon Nick Sender proposes 101 practical ways to fast during Lent. Deacon Sender suggests that before choosing what to give up or take on for Lent, Catholics should reflect on four guiding questions:
— What habits do I engage in that are destructive to my spiritual health?
— To what materials things am I too attached?
— What areas in my life are unbalanced?
— To what do I devote too much or not enough time?
What’s important, according to Deacon Sender, is to decide what is best for you given your life circumstances. He also offers creative “fast” ideas. Here are few:
— Drive to work in silence each day.
— Write a letter to God daily.
— Share one spiritual video with your online network each week.
— Read a spiritual autobiography.
— Find out who in your parish is sick and offer to visit them or bring food.
— After Sunday Mass, stay awhile and introduce yourself to someone you don’t know.
Tailoring your Lenten promises to suit your specific needs and interests may be the kick-start to new lifelong spiritual practices.
For more ideas, see www.nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/101-practical-fasting-ideas-for-lent-redux.