Fasting: Take Another Look

Lent has long been the season of fasting.  In Chapter 49 of the Rule St. Benedict does mention abstinence from food or drink, but it’s not at the top of his list.  Rather, he begins with a different kind of fasting: “refusing to indulge evil habits,” many of which he mentions at great lengths in RB 4, “On the Tools of Good Works,” as “do-not-do-this-to-your neighbor.”  

This approach leads us directly into God’s directives on fasting as recorded by the prophet Isaiah:

“Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6-7)

The real purpose—and asceticism-- of Christian and therefore Benedictine life is put succinctly by Jesus himself:  “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. l The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).  Whatever we feel called to do or not do during Lent should assist us in the essential denial of self-interest in favor of the love of others, both God and our fellow human beings.  St. Benedict puts it this way:  “No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better for someone else” (RB 72:7).  That’s the order of priority Jesus established:  other first, me second. And it’s tough to live up to, as we all know from experience!

It’s the view that undergirds Isaiah 58: Take care of the real needs around you before you get too busy totting up your food intake and congratulating yourself on not eating that second piece of chocolate cake, or maybe even the first. 

This does not deny the value of self-discipline strengthened by the sacrifices St. Benedict recommends for Lent: “In other words, let each one deny himself some food, drink, sleep, needless talking and idle jesting…. (RB 49:7).  Rather it locates it in its right place not as purpose but as tools for strengthening us in the real purpose, the life of radical love of God and neighbor, by weeding out all those habits that make life easier or more pleasant for ourselves in a world where a lot of people don’t have the luxury of fasting because they have little access even to essential food and drink, or the luxury of oversleeping because they have no beds, or the luxury of chatter because their life’s entire focus is on survival for themselves and those they love.

Lenten “fasting” of whatever kind is not a grim matter of survival or a grit-your-teeth prospect of weeks of self-chosen minor suffering.  St. Benedict reminds us that Lent is our journey not our destination. As we travel, we our Lenten practices should clear away the clouds of self-preoccupation so that we can  “look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing” (RB 49:7).  In an Easter world, we won’t be plagued by imprisonment in self because the Crucified Christ has freed us to live life to the full in communion with him and with one another.  The word the Bible uses most often to describe real life is, in fact, “joy.”

Blessed Lenten journey then, as we help one another along the road to this life of love and joy! (And enjoy the glimpses God is kind enough to give us as encouragement along the way!)

©2020 Abbey of St. Walburga