+ On this first Friday of Lent and of the month of March, we pause and reflect
on the notion and reality of “fasting.” What is fasting, and what can it do for
us? Why did Jesus himself fast, and why does he encourage his followers to do
so?
We know that it is a
medical fact that deprivation of food heightens the sense of activity and
awareness of the senses in the body. And we know there is a point beyond which
this beneficial experience can be pushed to its limits – and then we are
elevated into a deep sense of deprivation, loss and starvation.
And so, a reasonable
program of fasting can be beneficial and spiritually useful, because not only
the physical senses are heightened with moderate food deprivation but also, the
spiritual senses, activities and functions as well.
Fasting, then, can be
used to get closer to God, to have a deeper awareness and experience of his
reality and nearness. So, when, questioned by the disciples of John about why
his disciples did not fast, Jesus basically tells them that he is the food that
sustains his disciples, he is the goal and reason for all fasting, so,
therefore, his disciples need not fast, because he is in their presence to meet
their every need.
But he also tells
them that there will come a time when he is taken away from them – to endure a
bitter and cruel passion, death and resurrection: and then the disciples will
fast, they will use all the tools necessary, the tools that he has given them
including prayer, fasting and almsgiving, as well as the Sacrament of
Eucharist, to stay in close contact with him, to commune with him, to be
nourished, fed and strengthened to carry on his mission and works of mercy as
enumerated in the first reading today: “releasing those bound unjustly, untying
the thongs of the yoke; setting freed the oppressed, breaking every yoke,
sharing bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless,
clothing the naked, and not turning our backs on our own.
These things done are
the supernatural result of God-centered prayer and fasting.
May we this Lenten
season engage more truly and deeply in these spiritual aids and exercises so
that by the time Easter arrives, the quantity and quality of our almsgiving and
human helpfulness will indeed be elevated to a sublime divine level: and we
will be able to be the instruments of peace, hope and joy for others that God
invites, calls and empowers us to be.
Let us seek God, day by day, let us desire to know
his ways!
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