Two Ways to Think about Fasting During the Lenten Season

During Lent each year we are given an opportunity to deepen our faith and relationship with God. We are challenged to do this in three ways: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Each of these are hard disciplines, though in different ways. This article will focus on just one of these three disciplines: fasting. Fasting has two meanings in the sense of it as a Lenten practice, both of which have their biblical roots. Both are valid and have their purpose and effects, personally and communally.

The first kind of fasting is the practice of reducing food intake, which is a matter of self-discipline as its purpose is to be a sacrificial form of penance and reparation for our sins. This kind of fasting can be done, say, on one day each week during Lent. In this form of fast, you could choose to eat only one meal on that day, or choose to fast from eating meat on that day. Such a fast should be understood as a purposeful and prayerful way to remember and give thanks for Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

It is also a practical means for disciplining the body and the mind to be attentive to God’s will. Jesus gives us the prime example of this form of fasting when, after his baptism in the Jordan River, he goes out into the desert for 40 days fasting from food and drink, spending time in prayer with the Father, to prepare himself for his public ministry (Mt. 4: 1-11). It is also good to remember that the devil tried to tempt him to abandon his fasting and praying. He will try to do so with you as well. In faith, we know that God will not abandon us. This is a powerful way to practice our faithfulness to God.

You could also fast by denying yourself something that you consider very near and dear to you, that is very important to you, that gives you pleasure, or ‘nourishment’ of other kinds. For example, you could make a commitment to fast from social media for Lent, maybe just one day each week, or for the entire 40 days. In our times, this might even be more difficult, and potentially more beneficial, than fasting from food or drink. The statistics show that we spend huge amounts of time every day on our phones getting caught up in the endlessly vast amounts of information or ‘news,’ or in the frothy, emotionally charged, back and forth of today’s increasingly divided political and social environments. It might be good to empty our minds of all of that noise and mush in order to make room for thoughts of God more frequently during our day. It will not be easy. It may reveal how addicted we are to the instant gratification of social media and how far it has kept us from God.

But there is another form of fasting that is spoken of in the Bible as well. The prophet Isaiah gives us a very powerful take on this other form of fasting, putting it into a very different light. “Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: that a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? This, rather, is the fasting I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own…Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am (Is. 58: 1-9a)! This is also the message that Jesus gives us in Mt. 25: 34-45.

These different forms of fasting can be done either separately or together. We can fast FROM ‘things’ as a practice of self-discipline, as a means to strengthen our moral character and resilience. Or, we can fast FOR. We can do this by serving the good of others in some meaningful way. We could, for example, do this form of fasting by being more attentive to the suffering around us and responding to it by opening our eyes, our hearts, by giving our time and talents, yes, even opening our wallets, to meet the needs of the hungry, the naked, the homeless and those abandoned by society for any reason.

By sacrificing from our substance, not just our surplus, we learn how to love more and more like Jesus. This is the goal of all of our Lenten practices, is it not? Lent is a time to increase our practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, to deepen our efforts to learn to, “Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and our neighbor as ourselves” (Mt. 22: 37-40 and Mk. 12;30-31). Let us all pray for each other in our Lenten efforts to grow more faithful to God.