(Isaiah 58:1-9A; Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 18-19; Matthew 9:14-15)
Lent brings to the forefront of our awareness the Church’s call to fasting. Lenten Fish Fries abound in our Catholic Churches and discussion about what we are giving up for Lent is found in the conversations of Catholics of all ages. Yet, it seems to me that our understanding of the beauty of fasting often bypasses many of us in the church, perhaps because we are blessed with so many other graces our eyes cannot see the fullness fasting offers.
To paint the picture more clearly I would like to share with you what I have witnessed as a naturopathic doctor in the wellness world. To begin I have to say that wellness seeking individuals can be a bit crazy when it comes to fasting. Their resolve to conducting a good fast is reminiscent of our early church aesthetics! Many engage in water-only fasts that last 3, 10, 20, and even 40 days! Then there are the juice fasts, the vegetable fasts, the tea fasts, the lemon water fasts, the fruit fasts, and so the list goes. Fasting has certainly become en vogue in the wellness world today. However, instead of seeking a deeper relationship with God through their fasting, these individuals tend to seek a plethora of health benefits including; weight loss, clearer skin, increased energy, blood sugar balancing, clearer thinking, better mood, resting of an inflamed digestive system, detoxification of the vital organs, and on the list goes. While seeking such benefits is not bad in and of itself, after all, most of us need to be physically healthy if we are to do the will of God, when we fast without the desire to strenghthen our relationship with God we sell ourselves short of the fullness fasting offers.
And why does fasting have “staying” power in the wellness field? Well, simply put, because fasting helps individuals feel better; physically, emotionally and yes, spiritually. I have witnessed many of these individuals embrace fasting in an attempt to connect with their “higher self” or the “power of the universe”. As a devout Catholics we understand that when entered into with an open mind and heart, fasting offers us the ability to grow spiritually and move closer to God. The practice helps erect within us a spiritual fortress where love and grace abounds. Perhaps the wellness seeking individuals experience a closeness with God (albeit it limited because God is not fully honored) as well, an experience that calls them to return to fasting. How sad that they do not understand who the true source of their bliss is. Perhaps this is the greatest point of contact they will ever enjoy with God because this is the only place they allow the one true God in. Perhaps in his great Mercy he is reaching out to them, we can never know. We will leave this with them while we offer our prayers for their unbelief. However, we can embrace some of their fasting techniques and read their science as we seek to bring forth fasting in an attempt to more fully deepen our relationship with God.
So where does this leave us – God’s children? How can we, who are the body of Christ, more fully surrender to fasting? I believe we can use some of the fasting techniques and knowledge in the wellness field to our betterment as we combine their knowledge with our desire to grow our faith. Bringing to mind that the Catechism of the Council of Trent gave us three remedies to ensure our continued movement towards our Father; prayer, fasting and almsdeeds, it is important that we utilize all three on our faith journey. Each correspond to the three types of goods we receive from God; those of the soul, those of the body and those that we call external gifts. While our pious prayers are pleasing to God and our almsdeeds help heal the distress caused when we commit offenses against our neighbors, it is by fasting that we wash away the stains of our own lives. Looking around the Christian world it seems that many of us have room to grow in the area of fasting … myself included.
Baltimore Catechism: “The chief means by which we satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to sin are: Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving, all spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and the patient suffering of the ills of life.”
Looking towards the lives of the saints we are afforded a unique opportunity to grow in our relationship with God as imitating them reveals to us a unique path on our journey. Many of our great saints and early church fathers practiced frequent fasting. Fasting tends to be the golden thread woven through our Judeo-Christian history. Additionally, many of our early Christian leaders practiced a bread and water fast every Wednesday and Friday – a form of fasting not uncommon prior to the 20th century. Even some eastern churches still practice this type of bread and water fasting today. It should be no surprise that many of the greatest mystics in the Church had stomach illnesses that prevented them from keeping down food (Padre Pio, Saint Jean Vianney, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Saint Faustina, Blessed Alexandrina De Costa, etc.) Seems God helped them with thier fasting by granting them the grace of digestive distress. Here are a few of our saints that we can look toward as we seek to better use fasting to deepen our relationship with God. I invite you to enjoy the below information as you reflect on the power of fasting in your life.
Saint Alphonsus: “In religious communities there are generally several meals in the day: hence, they who neglect the mortification of the taste will daily commit a thousand faults.”
Saint Teresa of Avila: “Restraint at table is often the first line of defense for a community (religious) against the spirit of the world. In fact, if a community does not practice restraint, and indulges its appetite to satiety, then it will eventually find itself drag down by the weight of the flesh, ceding the body’s ever-increasing demands, is most regrettable; for they will be left with nothing but dryness, lethargy, and disquiet, convinced that it is a trial sent on high, when it is only due to their own lack of self-restraint.”
Saint Faustina: “On three days a week, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, there will be a strict fast [on bread and water]…During the two great fasts, ember days and vigils, the food will consists of a piece of bread and some water, once a day.” The saint also often asked permission from her superiors to fast on bread and water.
Blessed Alexandrina da Costa: The most well-known, most scientifically documented and most rigorously recorded case. She spent 13 years without food or drink but for the Eucharist. She is considered the 4th Fatima Seer.
St Catherine of Siena: She lived on the Eucharist alone for the last few years of her life. Many of her companions, and her mother tried to get her to eat but it made her so sick they gave up. She also had the stigmata, but she had requested that it not be visible and God granted her this. It didn’t show until just after her death, when the wounds then appeared.
St. Augustine: “Fasting purifies the soul. It lifts up the mind, and it brings the body into subjection to the spirit. It makes the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of desire, puts out the flames of lust and enkindles the true light of chastity.”
St. Thomas Aquinas: “I respond, an action is virtuous due to its being directed by reason to a noble good. And this is true of fasting. For we fast for three purposes: (1) to restrain the desires of the flesh; (2) to raise the mind to contemplate sublime things; (3) to make satisfaction for our sins. These are good and noble things, and so fasting is virtuous.”
St. Thomas More: “The scripture is full of places that prove fasting to be not the invention of man but the institution of God, and to have many more profits than one. And that the fasting of one man may do good unto another, our Savior showeth himself where he saith that some kind of devils cannot be cast out of one man by another “without prayer and fasting.”
St Catherine of Genoa: She lived through the fasting times of Lent and Advent on only the Eucharist.
St Joseph Cupertino (the flying priest): He lived for 5 years without food apart from the Eucharist.
There is power available to us in fasting, power that is much needed in the world today. Today’s world is in dire need of healing, in dire need of a true remedy – a remedy that is found within the Church. A remedy that is of the one true God – prayer, fasting and almsdeeds. Let us join together as children of God so that his body may heal through our offering. Perhaps fasting can become en vogue within our circles again like it was in the early church– wouldn’t that be grand!
Sacred heart of Jesus – have mercy on us.
Disclaimer: Fasting should only be done when you are healthy enough to do so, the information shared here is not meant to be diagnostic or prescriptive in nature. For medical advice seek the counsel of your medical professional before beginning any new health program.
