During the penitential season of Lent, the faithful are encouraged to practice additional prayer, fasting and almsgiving. A penance is a pious devotion that helps us to repent – that is, to reorient ourselves toward God.
It is easy to see how prayer helps turn our minds and hearts to God. And by giving alms, or engaging in charitable works more generally, we show our love of God by loving our neighbor made in His image. But how does fasting help us grow closer to God? What is the spiritual benefit of abstaining from food?
Fasting is a form of ascetical penance. Asceticism is self-discipline involving the denial of sensual pleasure, by which I mean pleasure relating to the senses. Sensual pleasures include eating and drinking, listening to music, sleeping in a comfortable bed or wearing comfortable clothing, and also sexual pleasures. We often think of penance in terms of asceticism. We might imagine monks using stones for pillows, or medieval flagellants beating their backs with cords. Fasting was and is a much more common ascetical practice than these extreme examples. The idea is simple: by learning to deny yourself legitimate pleasure, it is easier to resist illegitimate pleasures when temptations arise.
The practice of fasting is mentioned in several places in the Old Testament. The “Day of Atonement” described in Leviticus was a time to express repentance for sins by prayer, fasting and sacrifice. These penances were performed to make the community at one with God, hence the name (at-one-ment). In the Book of Tobit, the angel Raphael speaks of the importance of prayer, fasting and giving alms to the poor – the first time these three “pillars of Lent” are mentioned together in the Scriptures. In this passage, the angel says, “Prayer with fasting is good” (Tobit 12:8). In the Book of Esther, before she approaches King Ahasuerus to beg mercy for the Jewish people, Esther asks the Jewish community to make a three-day fast for her intentions (Esther 4:16). The Old Testament thus teaches that fasting is something we can do to atone for sins, increase the efficacy of prayer, and that we can do for others as well as for ourselves.
In the New Testament, we know that the disciples of John the Baptist practiced fasting. In fact, it was a point of scandal for some that Jesus’ disciples did not! In chapter nine of Matthew’s gospel, John’s disciples asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” (Mt 9:14). Jesus responds, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast” (Mt 9:15). Jesus speaks of the importance of both times of feasting and fasting; in fact, our feasts are made all the more sweet by our fasts.
Our Lord Himself fasted for 40 days in the desert before the start of His public ministry. His example is the model of our Lenten fast. The earliest post-New Testament documents, including the Didache and “The Shepherd of Hermas,” tell us that the early Christians continued to practice fasting as part of their religious observance. The current norms for fasting in the Roman Catholic Church are minimal by comparison to those of earlier ages, but the Church continues to encourage fasting as a spiritual discipline.
So what constitutes fasting, exactly, and when are Catholics obliged to fast? Church law establishes Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as days of fasting for Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 (Canon 1251). That means most Catholics are only required to fast two days out of the year.
However, the 1966 “Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence” issued by the U.S. bishops recommends a “self-imposed observance of fasting” on all weekdays of Lent. That document was issued the same year Pope (now St.) Paul VI promulgated an apostolic constitution on fasting and abstinence, Paenitemini. There Paul VI states that “the law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing – as far as quantity and quality are concerned – approved local custom.”
In other words, while the norm for fasting is one meal per day, there is no need to be scrupulous about it. If you need to take additional food, you may do so without breaking your fast, as long as it does not constitute another meal. I should add here that those with health concerns are not bound by the law of fasting.
The Church, the Scriptures and Our Lord Himself attest to the spiritual benefits of fasting. By practicing self denial that literally “hits us in the gut,” we learn to rely on God to sustain us. As Christ said at the end of His great fast, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Rather than think of fasting as a penance Catholics must perform twice each year, consider it in the same vein as prayer and almsgiving: practices we give special attention to during the time of Lent, but which we strive to make part of our lives as Christians throughout the year.
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate.