Call me crazy - my wife does - but I appreciate fasting and think that more Catholics should rediscover its value. I enjoy feasting as much as the next person, but I've found that fasting is uniquely effective in helping me to focus on the Lord and to him offer a very tangible sacrifice. Next week, then, I look forward to fasting on the traditional post-Pentecost “Ember Days” (Wednesday, May 26, Friday, May 28, and Saturday, May 29, 2021), and I want to encourage you to do the same.
Though fasting requirements have varied somewhat throughout the centuries of Church history, there is a tradition going back to at least Pope Callixtus I (217–222) of fasting at the changes of the seasons in order “to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy” (see The Catholic Encyclopedia). By the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great (1073-1085), all Roman Catholics were required to fast on twelve Ember Days, three days at each change of season:
English-speaking Catholics used the rhyme “Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy” to remember the four feasts that marked the approach of the Ember Days. These feasts may seem somewhat arbitrary, especially as St. Lucy and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross have lost their former prominence, but they align fairly well with the four seasonal changes of the year. It makes sense as the weather changes to turn our attention to the God who provides for our needs through creation.
Although the Ember Days remain part of the Church's liturgical calendar, the obligation for Catholics to fast on these days was lifted by Pope St. Paul VI in 1966. When the Church relaxed the requirements for fasting in the late '60s, it was hoped that Catholics would still voluntarily fast and make acts of penance throughout the year at their own initiative, but we've instead all but forgotten the value of such self-denial. As Pope St. Paul VI himself pointed out when loosening the traditional fasting requirements, Jesus modeled self-denial and sacrifice both in his own fasting and in the Crucifixion, and Christians have an obligation to follow his example.
One might ask why God would take any delight in our fasting. The Lord doesn't gain anything by our self-denial, does he? Even though the Lord had commanded the Old Testament people to offer some of their own food to him in sacrifice, he made it clear that these sacrifices were not for his benefit:
I will not take a bullock from your house, or he-goats from your folds. For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. I know every bird in the heights; whatever moves in the wild is mine. Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for mine is the world and all that fills it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of he-goats? Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High. Then call on me on the day of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me. (Isaiah 1:9-15)
Fasting is not for God's benefit, but for ours. Going through the motions of fasting is of little spiritual value, but when we fast or perform other acts of self-denial out of love of God, we demonstrate that we love him more than what we've sacrificed and thus discover the relationship with God for which we were created. God has no need of the things that you might deny yourself, but he takes great delight in seeing that you love him more than those things. He doesn't want your cheeseburger, but he does want your love.
The Lord wants each of us to learn - deeply and viscerally - that our true hunger is satisfied not by filling our bellies with food, but by filling our souls with his grace. Jesus told us in the famous Bread of Life Discourse of John 6, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35). Jesus satisfies our deepest hunger by giving us himself, especially in Holy Communion. As St. Thomas Aquinas succinctly summarized, “God alone satisfies” (CCC 1718).
On one occasion, after a journey, Jesus' disciples urged him to have something to eat. Rather than eating, Jesus turned their attention toward more important things:
But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. (John 4:32-36)
The basic messages here are simple: Our souls need to do God's will even more than our bodies need to eat. We need to prepare for the harvest of eternity - God's judgment of humanity - even more urgently than a farmer prepares for the harvest of his fields. Those who reap the rewards of eternal life will rejoice far more than a farmer rejoices in his crops. The Ember Day fasts are a traditional way not only to thank God for the things of Earth, but to direct our hearts to the more important things of Heaven.
St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that fasting helps us in three ways:
As these post-Pentecost Ember Days arrive, then, let's consider fasting or offering some other voluntary act of self-denial. There are no longer any hard and fast rules (pun fully intended), but Catholics traditionally have observed the Ember Days by abstaining from meat and eating only one full meal, with two snacks as needed. We no longer have a canonical or moral obligation to do so on these particular days, but we do have an obligation at all times to draw close to Jesus and imitate his example of charity-filled self-denial.
If you do decide to fast next week, please pray for the revitalization of the Church. Though the Church in every age is in need of renewal, this need seems particularly apparent to me in our own age. As Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).
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