Washington D.C., Feb 19, 2021 / 03:02 pm ().- God commanded it, Jesus practiced it, Church Fathers have preached the importance of it – fasting is a powerful and fundamental part of the Christian life.
But for many Catholics today, it’s more of an afterthought: something we grudgingly do on Good Friday, perhaps on Ash Wednesday if we remember it. Would we fast more, especially during Lent, if we understood how helpful it is for our lives?
The answer to this, say both saints of the past and experts today, is a resounding “yes.”
“Let us take for our standard and for our example those that have run the race, and have won,” said Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo, founding executive director of the Institute of Catholic Culture and a deacon at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Mclean, Va., of the saints.
“And…those that have run the race and won have been men and women of prayer and fasting.”
So what, in essence, is fasting?
It’s “the deprivation of the good, in order to make a decision for a greater good,” explained Deacon Carnazzo. It is most commonly associated with abstention from food, although it can also take the form of giving up other goods like comforts and entertainment.
The current fasting obligation for Latin Catholics in the United States is this: all over the age of 14 must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays in Lent. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, adults age 18 to 59 must fast – eating no more than one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not add up in quantity to the full meal.
Catholics, “if possible,” can continue the Good Friday fast through Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil, the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference adds.
Other Fridays throughout the year (aside from Friday within the Octave of Easter) “are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church,” according to Canon Law 1250. Catholics once abstained from meat on all Fridays, but the U.S. bishops received permission from the Holy See for Catholics to substitute another sacrifice or perform an act of charity instead.
Eastern Rite Catholics, meanwhile, follow the fasting laws of their own particular church.
In their 1966 “Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence,” the National Conference of Catholic Bishops exhorted the faithful, on other days of Lent where fasting is not required, to “participation in daily Mass and a self-imposed observance of fasting.”
Aside from the stipulations, though, what’s the point of fasting?
“The whole purpose of fasting is to put the created order and our spiritual life in a proper balance,” Deacon Carnazzo said.
As “bodily creatures in a post-fallen state,” it’s easy to let our “lower passions” for physical goods supersede our higher intellect, he explained. We take good things for granted and reach for them whenever we feel like it, “without thinking, without reference to the One Who gives us the food, and without reference to the question of whether it’s good for us or not,” he added.
Thus, fasting helps “make more room for God in our life,” Monsignor Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter/St. Cyprian Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. said.
“And the Lord said at the well, with the (Samaritan) woman, He said that ‘everyone that drinks from this well is going to be thirsty again. Why don’t you let me go to work in your life and I’ll give you a fountain welling up to Eternal Life.’”
While fasting can take many forms, is abstaining from food especially important?
“The reason why 2000 years of Christianity has said food (for fasting), because food’s like air. It’s like water, it’s the most fundamental,” Deacon Carnazzo said. “And that’s where the Church says ‘stop right here, this fundamental level, and gain control there.’ It’s like the first step in the spiritual life.”
What the Bible says about it
Yet why is fasting so important in the life of the Church? And what are the roots of the practice in Scripture?
The very first fast was ordered by God to Adam in the Garden of Eden, Deacon Carnazzo noted, when God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17).
This divine prohibition was not because the tree was bad, the deacon clarified. It was “made good” like all creation, but its fruit was meant to be eaten “in the right time and the right way.” In the same way, we abstain from created goods so we may enjoy them “in the right time and the right way.”
The fast is the weapon of protection against demons – St. Basil the Great.
Fasting is also good because it is submission to God, he said. By fasting from the fruit of the tree, Adam and Eve would have become partakers in the Divine Nature through their obedience to God. Instead, they tried to take this knowledge of good and evil for themselves and ate the fruit, disobeying God and bringing Original Sin, death, and illness upon mankind.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus abstained from food and water for 40 days and nights in the desert and thus “reversed what happened in the Garden of Eden,” Deacon Carnazzo explained. Like Adam and Eve, Christ was tempted by the devil but instead remained obedient to God the Father, reversing the disobedience of Adam and Eve and restoring our humanity.
Following the example of Jesus, Catholics are called to fast, said Fr. Lew. And the Church Fathers preached the importance of fasting.
Why fasting is so powerful
“The fast is the weapon of protection against demons,” taught St. Basil the Great. “Our Guardian Angels more really stay with those who have cleansed our souls through fasting.”
Why is fasting so powerful? “By setting aside this (created) realm where the devil works, we put ourselves into communion with another realm where the devil does not work, he cannot touch us,” Deacon Carnazzo explained.
It better disposes us for prayer, noted Monsignor Pope. Because we feel greater hunger or thirst when we fast from food and water, “it reminds us of our frailty and helps us be more humble,” he said. “Without humility, prayer and then our experience of God really can’t be unlocked.”
Thus, the practice is “clearly linked by St. Thomas Aquinas, writing within the Tradition, to chastity, to purity, and to clarity of mind,” noted Fr. Lew.
“You can kind of postulate from that that our modern-day struggles with the virtue of chastity, and perhaps a lack of clarity in theological knowledge, might be linked to an abandonment of fasting as well.”
A brief history of fasting
The current fasting obligations were set in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, but in previous centuries, the common fasts among Catholics were stricter and more regularly observed.
Catholics abstained from meat on all Fridays of the year, Easter Friday excluded. During Lent, they had to fast – one main meal and two smaller meatless meals – on all days excluding Sunday, the day of the Resurrection. They abstained from meat on Fridays and Saturdays in Lent – the days of Christ’s death and lying in the tomb – but were allowed meat during the main meal on the other Lenten weekdays.
The obligations extended to other days of the liturgical year. Catholics fasted and abstained on the vigils of Christmas and Pentecost Sunday, and on Ember Days – the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of St. Lucy on Dec. 13, after Ash Wednesday, after Pentecost Sunday, and after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in September – corresponding with the four seasons.
In centuries past, the Lenten abstention was more austere. Catholics gave up not only meat but also animal products like milk and butter, as well as oil and even fish at times.
Why are today’s obligations in the Latin Rite so minimal? The Church is setting clear boundaries outside of which one cannot be considered to be practicing the Christian life, Deacon Carnazzo explained. That is why intentionally violating the Lenten obligations is a mortal sin.
But should Catholics perform more than the minimum penance that is demanded? Yes, said Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P., who is currently studying for a Pontifical License in Sacred Theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
The minimum may be “what is due to God out of justice,” he explained, but we are “called not only to be just to God,” but also “to love God and to love our neighbor.” Charity, he added, “would call us to do more than just the minimum that is applied to us by the Code of Canon Law today, I think.”
In Jeremiah 31: 31-33, God promises to write His law upon our hearts, Deacon Carnazzo noted. We must go beyond following a set of rules and love God with our hearts, and this involves doing more than what we are obliged to do, he added.
Be wary of your motivation
However, Fr. Lew noted, fasting “must be stirred up by charity.” A Catholic should not fast out of dieting or pride, but out of love of God.
“It’s always dangerous in the spiritual life to compare yourself to other people,” he said, citing the Gospel of John where Jesus instructed St. Peter not to be concerned about the mission of St. John the Apostle but rather to “follow Me.” (John 21: 20-23).
In like manner, we should be focused on God during Lent and not on the sacrifices of others, he said.
Lent (is referred to) as a joyful season…It’s the joy of loving Him more.
“We will often fail, I think. And that’s not a bad thing. Because if we do fail, this is the opportunity to realize our utter dependence on God and His grace, to seek His mercy and forgiveness, and to seek His strength so that we can grow in virtue and do better,” he added.
And by realizing our weakness and dependence on God, we can “discover anew the depths of God’s mercy for us” and can be more merciful to others, he added.
Giving up good things may seem onerous and burdensome, but can – and should – a Catholic fast with joy?
“It’s referred to in the preface of Lent as a joyful season,” Fr. Lew said. “And it’s the joy of deepening our relationship with Christ, and therefore coming closer to Him. It’s the joy of loving Him more, and the more we love God the closer we draw to Him.”
“Lent is all about the Cross, and eventually the resurrection,” said Deacon Carnazzo. If we “make an authentic, real sacrifice for Christ” during Lent, “we can come to that day of the crucifixion and say ‘Yes Lord, I willingly with you accept the cross. And when we do that, then we will behold the third day of resurrection.’”
This article was originally published on CNA Feb. 20, 2016.
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Martin Luther redux.
Germany is a pagan country (has been for quite some time) and most of the Catholic bishops there who should have been evangelizing the people there are apostate themselves.
What is needed is for faithful Catholics from Africa to flood Germany as missionaries to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church. There is no requirement of permission from the Roman Pontiff to do this but there IS a mandate from Jesus Christ. Whence cometh these missionaries to the pagans?
Thank you Mr Weigel for the clear and sharp reflection on what is happening with the Church in Germany.
We need people who can clearly present the truth which is from God, those whose hearts are pure, with no agenda to serve their own desires of the flesh—since many of our priests and bishops who are supposed to be the shepherds of the Church to lead us to Jesus, are currently lost due to following the lures of the world.
Pray and do penance for the purification of our priests
Responding to the 1993 Veritatis Splendor and its defense of the natural law and moral absolutes, the German theologians barked: ““Says who? When was the election?”
…Not realizing that St. John Paul II had already anticipated this sophomoric and canine marking (pronounced you’re in!) of the German domain: “The Church is no way the author or the arbiter of this [‘moral’] norm” (n. 95).
Thank you for this spot on skewering of the German madness that we have seen played out. And it has of course been fascinating to see how all those on the “liberal” side of the Church are suddenly silent about this open schism while they continue to wave their fists at trad windmills in the US…
And if I may just expand a little on that allusion to the reading concerning Naaman and him balking at something too easy: it’s interesting how much ’twas ever thus with human nature and the way we view problems. So just as it may be the “easy” or to put it in modern terms, the “kind” option to throw money at an issue; as we should by now know it doesn’t necessarily lead to good results. Or to put it in blunt terms, yes it may feel kind to give the homeless man £1000 but if he goes straight off and spends all of that on heroin which then kills him, perhaps less so….
Likewise, we can of course see exactly why the Germans here are thinking of themselves as being terribly kind and so much more compassionate than all those awful horrible cold Catholics. “We get it!” was clearly the pervading theme throughout their discussions. And the assumption is that the rest of us do not get “it”.
The problem is that they really do not get it. And I can say that with all confidence as a man with same sex attraction who after many years away from the Church, through God’s grace returned a few years back and happily strive to live in total assent to those teachings which the Synodal Way is hellbent (pun fully intended) on undermining if not totally destroying.
Well let me tell them as someone who has as it were, sat on both sides of the Church. This is not being kind or nice. This is actually an act of absolute cruelty to those who need their help. Instead they are offering a stone. Oh it’s a sweet looking one, painted no less in rainbow colours but still a stone. And one that will lead to perdition in this life if not the next. And all thanks to the lies that they are proclaiming. And it’s not even easy as the only easy thing is saying something bromidic like the classic slogan of this age, “Love is Love!” But as Larry Chapp asked in his recent excellent riposte to McElroy’s ridiculous manifesto, “What does that actually mean?!” And that’s where, once the light of reason is fully shone on this whole subversion, that the wheels come off under any such scrutiny.
Anyway! I’ve gone on far too long but allow me to end with what I always say about those years when all I had for spiritual help were the likes of these German bishops: I was drowning and all they could ever do was tell me that the water was just fine. And alas that is going to be exactly the situation for so many of our German brothers and sisters who instead of being given true freedom, are being put back into prison. Our Lord’s yoke is easy but this German move is anything but….
Hello GrizzlyMariner. Bravo to you for sharing this personal look at your life, and more, for having returned to the church and struggling to do what is required. As I have said on other posts, changing the church teaching on sexuality becomes a slippery slope, because if “kindness” is the only criteria, what can possibly be OFF the table in this area? The frightening answer is “nothing”. In press coverage about what this liberalization means for homosexuals, it’s lost that church teaching applies to all of us. Bottom line, sex outside of a marital situation is forbidden. Period. I was widowed “young” in my 40’s when my spouse was suddenly killed. We had a fabulous relationship. Needless to say in the 20 years since his death, what one is missing in an intimate relationship certainly comes into mind periodically. Its something of a temptation and in todays free wheeling society, it likely would not be hard to find a willing partner for the night. I do not indulge because I could not dishonor my husband’s memory in that way, and because God forbids it. Which does not always feel as simple as it sounds. I would hazard a guess that many, if not most, widows/widowers are in the same boat. I am hugely disappointed in these German Bishops who are inviting people on the road to perdition as you suggest. I would say that seeing that the Pope appears prepared to say nothing to oppose this movement, I hope the Germans go their merry schmatic way, rather than infect the rest of the church in encouraging sinful behavior. I wish you well and encourage you to stay on the path of truth. Remember, you are not alone.
Thank you for your witness, Grizz.
Your experience is particularly salient because your voice is unassailable, uncancellable.
God’s love would not be love at all, but rather cruelty, if he left us in our misery and suffering rather than calling us to repentance.
God bless you for your witness GrizzlyMariner.
Thank you, GM! May God bless you for your courage. I hope that many young or old
suffering as you have, may be encouraged. There should be “hospices” set up in every diocese to help those who need and want help. God have mercy–and maybe justice as well, for those whose definition of “love” is anything but.
Approaching the Feast of Annuncitaion and not too far away from the Feast of St.Joseph …. an artcle that narrates to a shocking extent, how far things have gone astray in our culture – https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/03/the-new-intolerance – narrating how lust becomes aggressive destruction , to even chokking women , instead of the Fatherly attitude to provide and protect , how NFP fosters communication and deeper intimacy .
That evil tendency to also choke off true and gracious communication in families , driving persons to look for alternatives in media as well as believing in lies and labeling from the ideologies around , as the pandemic of identity disordered lives, with the truth and dignity chokked off their lives , trying to do same to others …
Papal prayer intention for March – for victims of abuse – getting answered in the truth being revealed, as the interconnecting dots in all these areas ..
A corroborating exorcism blog post – on demons of chokking , how they are incapable of remorse – https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-232-demons-are-without-remorse .
St.Joseph – in the line of David, sharing the strength with the Lion of Judah – may his prayers too help families and The Church to silence the roaring lions that demand to bite and tear off truth and dignity , that a breath of The Spirit of the Golden Lion crush the heads of the enemy to bring New Life in His image in all areas and memories , receiving The Word with thirsting hearts and open mouths , to help see each other in gratitude for the virginal purity in the Precious Blood as remedy for unruly/ demonic appetites and ways .
FIAT !
Wasn’t it pride that moved Eve to disobey God to be a god? And isn’t it pride, that at any time in history to embrace sin as a good rather than evil? That biological specificity doesn’t matter even if ordained by God?
For Synodaler chairman Bätzing and companions, it’s a form of intellectual pride that assumes Apostolic tradition doesn’t correctly interpret Christ. Although, to be fair Naaman had the advantage that his leprosy was visible. Herr Bätzing and company do not acknowledge the rot within.
Germany’s Synodale Weg plummet into darkness accentuates a reality that distinguishes that truth which conveys the meaning of life, God, and that faith in him revealed singularly in the person of Christ. Accent on one’s intellect instead of the permanency of that revelation distances us from the source of truth and beauty, from the unsurpassable good of divinely inspired love. The further the apostasy the closer the mind, individually, or collectively as in the Synodale Weg, identifies with God’s opposite, evil. Only that realization and repentant return to Christ will save the Church in Germany.
How then do we respond to the German Catholic disparity apart from our just criticism? Christ left us an example of the lost sheep. He placed himself at Jacob’s Well to convert a Samaritan woman, and the Samaritans in Shechem. He placed himself in Sidon to encounter the Canaanite woman and exorcise her possessed daughter.
Saint Augustine gave a lecture on his efforts to convince apostates, schismatics to return to the Church and true practice of the faith. Despite their objections [which would seem to contradict Francis on proselytizing] he engages in dialogue. Catholicism in Germany is typical of that lost sheep.
Thank you George Weigel for some of what I’ve wanted to hear from you for a long time, some street fighting. Lib theologians in the Church do not make innocent errors in mathematic calculations like in engineering or physics, they pridefully try to outperform God. I know you’ve said as much in the past, but it needs repeating now and always so that even you can remember your old self. Libs have gotten away with murder, literally, for decades, and worn down resistance in the Church for so long to where prelates and Church historians, including you, became oblivious to where a moral relativist, wolf in sheep’s clothing got elected Pope ten years ago and it took too long to notice. Can we all get real now.
Incidentally, pride is not “one of the reasons evil happens.” It’s the only reason.
Catholics in Germany should leave their comfort zone in the spirit of love and humility, and see their brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world striving to be faithful to Christ while enduring pressure from the world.
We have many wonderful German-born priests in our country who have brought Christ to us through their ministry and living examples.
We can forget that there are still good, devout Catholics in Germany. And many holy saints have come from there also. How it must grieve Our Lord to see what’s happening in Germany today.
Germany needs prayer & intervention, not condemnation.