Prayer And Fasting – They Go Together

Let me start by stating that prayer and fasting, fasting and prayer – go together.  There is a third discipline that compliments these; that is alms giving.  In the very real sense of the word, you cannot have true fasting without prayer.  That being said, all the talk  that occurs particularly in this season of Lent about fasting weight loss, and wanting to go on a fasting diet, and fasting diets is nothing but nonsense meant to detract from this wonderful season of Mercy.

So there is no such thing as fasting for weight loss or juice fasting or all the other non-Christ centered distortions that we hear.  It is very interesting that when other religions have their period of “fasting”, you normally will not hear all the nonsense being bandied about during the Catholic season of Lent.  So Catholics, wake up and be who and what you were called to be.  Live your faith! Love your Church!  Love your faith!

On Ash Wednesday, while addressing some  seven thousand people in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said, “Lent, which begins today, Ash Wednesday, reminds us of our condition as creatures, invites us to repentance, to a journey of conversion,” it is a “journey of conversion”, also characterized by the practice of fasting , alms giving and prayer. Fasting, in particular, means abstinence from food but includes other forms of deprivation for a more sober life”, but this “is the outward sign of an inner reality, of our efforts, with the help of God, to abstain from evil and to live the Gospel. Those who do not nourish themselves with the Word of God, are not really fasting”

Please let me repeat, if you do not actively nourish your soul the Word of God during the season of Lent or when ever you are “fasting”, then your fast is nothing but a fast and another one of those diet plans that you hear all over the place.  It is not Christian fasting.

Fasting is the voluntary giving up of something; but there is another part to this that many people forget of choose to ignore; and that is “in order to receive spiritual graces from God”; and the grace that we need most from God is the grace to turn away from sin.  At the heart of the distorted version of fasting is that the world in which we live is becoming more and more secular, and in so doing will try to shove anything that connotes  Christ or Jesus, or Christian or Catholic – and boy do they hate Catholic – out the window – and “spiritual graces”…. hmmm! They have a problem there.  So Christian fasting has been turned into another of those Hollywood idioms that everyone who is “in the world” tries to portray, and then they fool themselves into thinking that they are being “religious”.

True Christian fasting and prayer has penance or repentance as its main goal.  The Catholic Church teaches that “Penance can be expressed in many and various ways, but above all in fasting and prayer and alms giving.  These and many other forms of penance can be practiced in the daily life of a Christian, particularly during the time of Lent, and on the penitential day of Friday. ”   So an important point to note here about Christian fasting is that it is not confined only to the season of Lent.

True Christian fasting is a serious journey of self denial with repentance and conversion as its main goal.  We live in a time of God’s tremendous mercy and this is one of the main things that Lent is meant to remind us of – God’s unthinkable mercy.  A Christian who recognizes God’s mercy will also recognize how sinful and undeserving he or she is, and will always see a need for repentance.

If we are really serious about repentance, then our fast must count.  It must be significant.  By this I mean if you are used to having three large meals a day and lots of snacks in between, then fasting from say one snack may not make sense.  Our fasting should say to God, “Lord, I recognize my sinfulness.  Lord I recognize how much mercy you’ve poured out and continue to pour out for me, and how undeserving I am.  Lord I want to give up (what ever…) as a true sign of repentance and a true desire to follow you.  Give me your grace Lord to repent and to whole-heartedly come back to you.”

Recently, I was asked at the office what I was giving up for Lent.  Whether I was giving up meat completely.  On both occasions, my response was “sin”.  One person remarked, “Oh come on Chris; you can’t give that up.  you’re human”.  While I understood what I believe he was trying to say, as practicing Catholics and as Christians, we all must never lose sight; we must always remember that we were made to “be holy just as our Heavenly Father is Holy”.  1 Peter 1: 13 – 16 tells us:-

Your minds, then, must be sober and ready for action; put all your hope in the grace brought to you by the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Do not allow yourselves to be shaped by the passions of your old ignorance, but as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity, after the model of the Holy One who calls us, since scripture says, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’

Now, I am not sure if St. Paul was asked how to fast, or maybe the same question I was asked by my co-workers, but here’s what he had to say in Ephesians 4: 17 – 32

So this I say to you and attest to you in the Lord, do not go on living the empty-headed life that the gentiles live.  Intellectually they are in the dark, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance which is the consequence of closed minds.  Their sense of right and wrong once dulled, they have abandoned all self-control and pursue to excess every kind of uncleanness. 

Now that is hardly the way you have learnt Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus.  You were to put aside your old self, which belongs to your old way of life and is corrupted by following illusory desires.  Your mind was to be renewed in spirit so that you could put on the New Man that has been created on God’s principles, in the uprightness and holiness of the truth. 

So from now on, there must be no more lies. Speak the truth to one another, since we are all parts of one another.  Even if you are angry, do not sin: never let the sun set on your anger or else you will give the devil a foothold. 

Anyone who was a thief must stop stealing; instead he should exert himself at some honest job with his own hands so that he may have something to share with those in need.  No foul word should ever cross your lips; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners; do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal, ready for the day when we shall be set free.  Any bitterness or bad temper or anger or shouting or abuse must be far removed from you — as must every kind of malice.  Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.

Sister, brother, God wants us more that anything to give up sin because the wages of sin is not just death but eternal death, and God’s plan for us – for you, for me – is Eternal Life, and anything that will get in the way of us and Eternal Life, God detests.  Sin is therefore a big problem, sexual immorality is a problem, promiscuity is a problem, idolatry is a problem, defacing our bodies – the temples of the Holy Spirit – is a problem, and all the other sinful things that we do are all problems.    The good news is that is why Jesus came; to free us all from the darkness of sin and death.  You see God love us so much that not only does He desire us to repent, He makes His all-sufficient grace available through Jesus Christ His Son, to all who truly desires repentance and conversion.  A wonderful exercise to do not just during Lent, but as often as possible is an examination of conscience and regular confession.

So in this season of prayer and fasting and alms giving, let your only goal be to draw closer to God through Christ Jesus.  That way, on the question of what to give up this Lent, your response will be quite simple.