+ On this Friday after Ash
Wednesday, 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 – this coupled with moment by moment refreshing of the
desire to be near to and in a relationship with God so we can do his will
always in each new NOW. 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, - their
minute by minute, active, curious interaction with him: 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 –
moment by moment - his ways!
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