A
Theme of the Lenten Season: Fasting
By
Cardinal Justin Rigali
We know that we refer to Lent as a Penitential Season. This phrase is
very expressive because it reminds us that penance is what Lent is all
about. It is not one particular aspect of Lent that expresses this theme
but the entire liturgical season with all that accompanies it. For instance,
the moment you walk into your parish church during Lent, you notice
some of the signs of a penitential season: the church is very soberly
decorated, or not decorated at all; we see the penitential purple of
Lent in the Mass vestments and some of the items that may be in the
Sanctuary; the readings at Mass often express an urgent call to conversion;
the parish bulletin will note Lenten programs and other activities specific
to this season and the hymns reflect a more sober tone. On Ash Wednesday,
the Gospel reading from Saint Matthew sets the tone by presenting us
with the three themes of Lent which guide our penitential activity:
prayer, almsgiving and fasting. In this third segment of our series,
we will address fasting.
Saint Peter Chrysologus (406-450) wrote: “There are three things
by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures.
They are prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Prayer knocks at the door,
fasting obtains, almsgiving receives. Prayer, almsgiving and fasting:
these three are one, and they give life to each other.” Of fasting
he says: “Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost
by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of
fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as
the psalmist said in prophecy: ‘A sacrifice to God is a broken
spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart’”
(Sermon 43).
The example of Jesus
A favorite question that teachers like to ask children in order to learn
how much they know about Lent, is: “Why does Lent last forty days?”
The well-taught student will respond that we are imitating the forty
days of fasting and prayer that Jesus entered into after His baptism
by John. The particularly attentive student may also add that we are
recalling the forty years that the Chosen People spent in the desert.
Jesus gives us the example of fasting which culminates in His fidelity
to the Father, even in the face of the devil’s temptations, at
the end of His period of fasting. In this, Jesus accomplishes for us
what we lost through the sin of our first parents. They gave in to the
temptation of the devil by eating. Jesus replaced their infidelity with
His fidelity by fasting. Jesus also replaces with His fidelity after
those forty days the infidelity of His Chosen People, who grumbled against
God and Moses during their time in the desert. It is interesting to
note that the strength of Jesus in resisting temptation after He had
fasted contradicts what we would normally expect in the physical sense.
We would assume that since fasting can bring physical weakness, it will
also bring spiritual weakness and an inability to resist temptation.
Jesus shows us that just the opposite is true. It is the same for us.
Our fasting may weaken us a bit physically but it actually strengthens
our spiritual resolve to resist temptation. Our refusal to partake of
some legitimate pleasure for the sake of the Gospel strengthens us to
refuse to give in to temptation when we are confronted with it.
The temptations of Jesus, and His rejection of them after being strengthened
through fasting, offer us also a valuable reflection on the nature of
temptation. We are sometimes shamed at the thought of the temptations
that go through our mind. Our natural inclination is to wish that we
would not be tempted at all! However, to help our understanding, let
us use the image of the struggles of life: when we are going through
the various challenges that come to us in this life, they are hard and
we wish that they would not occur. When we have passed through them
we look back and often see the mysterious ways in which they have strengthened
us and even brought about a greater good. So it is in the spiritual
life. Temptation is a difficult trial but if we have been strengthened
through prayer and fasting, as was Jesus, we will overcome the temptation
and draw even closer to God. “The Lord sometimes permits that
souls who are dear to him, should be tempted … in order that they
may better understand their own weakness, and the necessity of grace
to prevent them from falling” (Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, The
Love of our Lord Jesus Christ reduced to practice, chapter 17). It is
also important to remember that, as in the case of Jesus, our temptations
will last until the end of our earthly life. Satan leaves but he does
so only “until another time.”
What form should our fasting take?
In the Prophet Isaiah we read part of the answer to this question. After
reproaching his hearers for being satisfied with mere external fasting,
without the charity that must accompany it, the Lord cries out through
Isaiah: “This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those
bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed,
breaking every 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” (Isaiah 58:6,7). Christian
spirituality has always stressed that love of neighbor and works of
mercy are clear proof of a person’s love of God. Isaiah’s
words and the teaching of the Gospel constantly remind us that fasting,
of itself, has no merit or power if it is not accompanied by charity.
Perhaps the legitimate and praiseworthy desire to emphasize this fact
in the years following the Second Vatican Council, caused a false understanding
that implied that fasting and penitential acts were not important. They
are important by Divine command but they must never be empty acts done
merely for show or without accompanying charity.
While Lent as a penitential season is universal, as is the command to
fast, fasting may take different forms according to needs of the times.
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council
tells us that these practices “should be encouraged in ways suited
to the present day, to different regions, and to individual circumstances”
(Sacrosanctum Concilium, 110). We all know the example that is sometimes
given whereby one may abstain from meat but then eat lobster instead!
We might say that this is missing the point! This is also a simple and
easy-to- understand example of what we mean by adjusting the manner
in which we actually fast to our times and circumstances.
The same document reminds us that we do penance for sin primarily because
sin is an offense against God (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 109). We
know and can often see a person whom we have offended. We can often
recognize the effect of sin on our own lives and emotional state. However,
our all-loving God, who created us and loves us with an everlasting
love and who gave us His commandments so that we may show our love for
Him and be guided on our way to Heaven, is forgotten in the reality
of sin! Fasting done in a spirit of reparation, because it is done quietly
and often seen and known by God alone, is a good reminder that it is
God who is offended before everyone else when we sin. A stanza from
a hymn of the Church’s Liturgy summarizes this thought in the
following manner:
“Give us the self-control that springs
From discipline of outward things,
That fasting inward secretly
The soul may purely dwell with Thee.”
Fasting adjusted to the age in which we live
Our Holy Father has made a splendid application of the idea we have
been expressing concerning fasting according to the times in which we
live. It has become his custom to engage in a question and answer period
with the parish priests of Rome during Lent. During this year’s
interchange, Pope Benedict spoke of the need in our present age to abstain
from the many secular images which constantly bombard us. He said: “In
my opinion, the season of Lent could also be the time for a fast of
words and images. We need a little silence, we need room where we are
not constantly bombarded by images. In this regard, making the meaning
of the 40 days of external and internal discipline accessible and comprehensible
today is very important, to help us understand that one dimension of
our Lent, of this physical and spiritual discipline, is creating spaces
of silence even without images in order to reopen our hearts to the
true image and the true word” (Address, Meeting with the Parish
Priests of Rome, February 7, 2008).
Although the Pope speaks about “fasting” from images during
Lent, what he says provides an excellent source of reflection for us
throughout the year. We are surrounded with noise and bombarded with
images, which often give us a false vision of life and a message that
is contrary to the Gospel. The more we allow ourselves to be the objects
of this bombardment, the more we surrender our minds and hearts to their
message. At the same time, we are blocking out any chance for mature
and beneficial reflection and reception of God’s Spirit within
us. We would do well to take this Lenten suggestion of our Holy Father
and make it a “souvenir” of our Lenten fast of 2008, carrying
it out in our Christian lives.
March 6, 2008
Cardinal
Rigali's Lenten Letter 2008