Yesterday I focused on the aspect of repentance in fasting - today my focus will be on penance in fasting. 

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face. ~ Matthew 6:17

Notice that this verse doesn't say "if thou fastest" (maybe I should have chosen a different translation for this example...), it says "when thou fastest".  This implies that fasting isn't just an optional thing.  It's a discipline that we as Christians are all called to. 

When I was littler, I used to think of fasting as abstaining from food so that I wouldn't have any distractions in prayer.  But when you think about it, fasting is actually more of a distraction during prayer.  If I've eaten a good lunch, it's easier for me to have a focused prayer time in the afternoon.  If I haven't eaten a good lunch, I often get crabby, distracted, and uncomfortable.  That's the effect that fasting can often have on us.

So, why would God ask us to refrain from eating?  Why would He want us to do something that'll only make us uncomfortable and even make it harder for us to pray?  Like I said in my last post, fasting is denying ourselves earthly pleasures.  Christ denied all earthly pleasures on the cross out of love for us.  Therefore, we deny ourselves food - or even other things like during Lent - to return His love for us. 

Christ's love is sacrificial.  When we sacrifice something for Him, we can become more closely united to Him, and we can have a deeper understanding of His sufferings.  I'm not suggesting to go out and flog yourself - what I'm saying is that real love is willing to make sacrifices, big or small.  Real love is willing to go the extra mile. 

Fasting is also a reminder to us that we belong to another kingdom - really, another world.  As members of the Church, we have renounced worldly things and embraced a life in Christ. 

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ~ Matthew 4:4

We often become attached to things on earth, things that make us comfortable and that make our lives easier.  Fasting challenges us to deny those things. 

I've come across a couple of canonized saints with the great phenomenon of inedia.  This may seem a little off topic, but I found it so interesting that I wanted to share.  Inedia is when someone goes a long period of time without any forms of nutrition except for Holy Communion.  A couple examples of people recorded to have had this are Lydwina of Schiedam, Elizabeth the Good, and Nicholas of Flue.  They are just awesome pictures of people who were so united to Christ that He was the only One who sustained them - literally. :-)

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. ~ Ezra 8:21

Lenten blessings,
~the Catholic apologist

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