These days, we can have almost anything we want on demand. We can rent our favorite movie while staying in a hotel. We can order almost anything we need online. The world has become a vast marketplace. We are the consumers, and if we don’t find what we want, we will go or shop wherever we can.
But imagine for a minute that you’re in a situation where you can’t get what you want. Maybe your internet is down and you can’t order that book for your Kindle (since you just finished another book). Or you’re looking for a particular ingredient in the grocery store, but they’re out of stock. What do you do? These are privileged problems, but regardless, they teach us something. When we can’t get what we want on demand, we usually find ways to cope. Moreover, we might even realize that the things we so readily covet are actually inessential to our lives.
The spiritual practice of fasting is intended to teach us how to rely on God alone. “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Fasting, in and of itself, is not utilitarian. It’s not intended to get something or achieve something, for that would defeat the purpose of fasting. Fasting opens interior space within us to make room for God. Fasting enables us to prioritize God over all other things. Fasting also reveals those dark things inside our souls that we paper over with possessions and habits. In his book A Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster notes that “[w]e cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. . . Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear—if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger; then we will realize that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ” (from A Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, p. 55).
The Invitation to a Holy Lent, which we heard on Ash Wednesday, highlights fasting as an intentional practice of Lent. The point of fasting is not to earn points with God or fulfill an obligation. The point is to make room for God within our cluttered selves and amid a cluttered world. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday have traditionally been days of fasting, and our prayer book designates them as such. There are different types of fasts. One might choose a modified fast, where one full meal is consumed in a day, drinking only water throughout the day. If one does not have liturgical duties on either of those days or work obligations that could be impaired by a rigid fast, one might choose to eat nothing during the day. In any case, severe fasts must be taken with caution and preparation, especially if one has medical conditions that would make fasting physically dangerous.
There are also other kinds of fasts that are common in Lent. A longstanding custom within Anglo-Catholic circles (and still in Roman Catholic circles) is to avoid flesh meat on Fridays. A practice that is traditional throughout the year is to abstain from any food or drink (except water) at least an hour before consuming the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass. I recognize that we live in an age that tends to dismiss these practices as “old-fashioned,” but I believe that there is great merit in these spiritual practices. They all remind us that we don’t live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. St. Augustine of Hippo understood this when he observed that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. God alone can fill the empty void in our lives, and the spiritual practice of fasting helps us see that no amount of food or retail therapy can truly satisfy that void in our lives.
In a technological age, we might even benefit from digital fasts. How much time do we spend reaching for our smartphones when we have a minute to spare in the line at the grocery store or are bored? What if that minute was spent in prayer or in reminding ourselves of how much God is in love with each of us? Fasting can include so many things.
Whatever spiritual practices you’re considering this Lent, remember that they have one purpose alone: to open ourselves to God more fully. Practices will not win us favor; we have no need for that. We are already favored in God’s eyes. Practices will reveal our sinful proclivities and besetting sins more clearly. And at the end of the day, hopefully we will see that all of those things we think we so desperately need are just stale bread. What we truly need is the living word that comes from the mouth of God.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle