Fasting with joy? How can we answer Jesus’ call in the Gospel that “when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrite.” Are we just supposed to dismiss how we truly feel?
Every Lent, I’m reminded of a time a teacher returned an assignment and asked me to do it again. For a second-grade assignment to draw what I would fast from during Lent, I drew a bathtub. I thought I did an A+ job illustrating it, but the teacher handed it back with the declaration that it was not an “appropriate penance” for Lent.
I still get a chuckle out of that experience year after year, and I love sharing that story with others. As a kid, I didn’t quite get the purpose of Lenten fasting. I figured that without the time spent taking a bath, I’d have more time to do stuff; nothing in particular, just “stuff”.
Funny enough, years later I was still making the same mistake when choosing Lenten penances — whether they be giving up chocolate, peanut butter, social media, music and so on. Each year, I would pick something to fast from, but looking back, it’s clear now that I was missing the other half of the Lenten exercise of penance.
Yes, giving something up is traditional, but do we really think this process through? What is our goal? As a second grader, I just figured I’d have more time available since I wasn’t wasting it with bathing. As an adult, I guess I figured it’d help strengthen my willpower by saying no to temptations to certain foods, and maybe I’d lose a few pounds in the process, nice! But now I can see — where was Jesus in all of this? How was I trying to make that connection between my Lenten penance and my relationship with Christ? The truth is I wasn’t.
As we approach Lent, how are we seeking to enter into this penitential season? Lent is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection at Easter, but do we consciously keep that mindset throughout the season? As we enjoy each other’s company at parish fish fries, how do we keep the mindset of preparing our minds and hearts for the resurrection? Yes, the Easter resurrection certainly, but also our hope of resurrection of our own soul and body?
Fasting can be a great practice to strengthen our reliance on Christ rather than our human appetites; when we fast from little things, we eventually become stronger in the face of the bigger temptations that gnaw at our hearts. We say no to these temptations because we recognize our desire to stay in communion with Jesus and we realize that sin threatens that. This is what I was missing for so many years in my Lenten practices; I was aware of the Church’s emphasis on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, but I failed to connect these practices to preparation for the resurrection.
As we enter into the Lenten season of preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection at Easter, let us remember that we are also preparing with great hope for our own resurrection! How do our practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving help refocus our minds and hearts on that hope?
These practices are challenging, but when we face these challenges head-on with the grace of God, nothing can stand in our way. The great saints of our faith experienced trials and suffering, but they persevered through it all with the hope of the resurrection. We aren’t robots; fasting is tough! Suffering and carrying our cross hurts! But as followers of Christ, we strive not to allow momentary hardships to shake our peace. God’s grace sustains us, and Christ’s light gives us hope to carry on with great joy!
Father Dan Kavanagh is director of the Catholic Deaf Ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
