Man does not live by bread alone

WE, of course, need to eat bread also. After all, we are also material beings that need to be fed and nourished by material food, such as bread. But since we are also spiritual and supposed to be a supernatural being—in fact, eminently so—we should not limit ourselves to natural food. We should look more for the spiritual and supernatural food that is more proper to us. 

 This could be the reason why from time to time the Church asks us to do some fasting. It’s meant to draw us closer to God, seeking spiritual growth and self-reflection. It is also a good way to practice self-discipline and self-control, the contrary of which we are quite notorious in. It effectively expresses repentance and humility which is the antidote for our tendency to be proud and vain. It helps us to focus on prayer and spiritual nourishment. 

 In short, fasting can deepen our faith. It can prod us to seek guidance and wisdom instead of just relying on our own ideas. It makes us follow clearly what Christ told us with respect to self-denial. We should do everything to make fasting a regular feature of our life. 

 This means that we should always be on guard against gluttony. We cannot deny that, especially in our current world culture, we tend to overeat, consume large amounts of unhealthy or luxurious food and drink. 

 We even give the highest priority to food and drink over other aspects of life. It is also likely that gluttony leads us to ignore health and social duties due to excessive eating and drinking. 

 We really have to make fasting a regular practice in our life. With fasting, we would be more aware of our real needs. It certainly would strengthen our willpower and discipline. 

 More importantly, it helps us to shift our focus from food to spiritual growth and the other more important aspects of life. This is not to mention that fasting somehow cultivates a stronger sense of gratitude as we would be more appreciative of the food we have. Besides, fasting can develop in us a keener sense of empathy as we join in spirit with those who also fast or who go without food. 

 Fasting can also make us more resistant to the temptations of the devil and to the many allurements of the world. And it would make us more attentive to what really matters in our life—listening and living out the word of God. (cfr. Mt 4,4) It certainly would make us more able to dominate our animal self to bring us to our ideal spiritual and supernatural self. 

 Let’s never forget that we also are an animal ruled merely by instincts, hormones and other biological elements. The animal in us should be dominated by our human rationality which also ought to be guided by the spiritual and supernatural will of God in whose image and likeness we have been created. 

 We therefore have to undertake a lifelong process of integrating the animal in us with the rationality of our human nature that in the end should be purified and elevated to the spiritual and supernatural life and nature of God. And fasting, together with prayer and other ascetical means, plays an important role in this. 

 The challenge therefore is how to carry out this very tricky and demanding task of integrating all these aspects. And for this, we should first of all rely on the grace of God, always asking for it even if it is readily given to us. That’s because we often take God’s grace for granted, and thus make ourselves the improper ground unable to take advantage of the grace that is sown on it.

A time for fasting and for feasting

CHRIST explained it well as to when it is proper to fast and when to feast. “Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as along as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.” (Mt 9,15) 

 I suppose Christ was referring to himself as the bridegroom. In fact, in his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul referred Christ as the groom of the Church, that is, us. (cfr 5,22-32) 

 Christ can be regarded as the bridegroom who actually is with us always, but also not yet fully with us, given our human and temporal condition as of yet. We are still on our pilgrim way on earth toward our eternal destiny in heaven where Christ will be fully with us. 

 That is why Christ can be considered somehow as not yet with us, and that’s the reason why we have to fast. It is to train ourselves to seek him. It is to make us realize we need him, and that we actually will find our true and lasting joy with him. At the moment, we are still kind of mourning, as Christ said, because we are not yet fully with him. 

 We have to be clear about the reason why we fast. We should not just fast because we have been commanded to do so. We have to fast because, especially at these times when we are easily carried away by earthly pleasures, we need to sharpen our longing for Christ. 

 Fasting has a dual effect. One is the passive or the negative effect, which is that of disciplining ourselves—especially our senses and our other bodily faculties. This is the self-denial part. And the other is the active or the positive one, which is that of honing our hunger for Christ. This is the following part, as illustrated in the very words of Christ: “If any man wants to follow me, he must deny himself, carry the cross, and follow me.” 

 These two should go together, mutually affecting each other. One without the other would distort the true character and purpose of fasting. 

 And nowadays, we have to understand that fasting should not be limited to matters of food and drinks. It has to be extended now most especially in the use of the many conveniences that we now enjoy, like our new technologies, that have an effective way of enslaving us and blunting our love for God and for others. 

 We need to concretize our resolutions with regard to this need for fasting. This may mean that we have to set aside our cellphones from time to time, that we use the gadgets with clear rectitude of intention, that we refrain from complaining when these same gadgets give us problems as they often do also, etc. 

 We have to understand that everyday, the element of fasting as a sacrifice is actually a necessity to all of us. It’s certainly a time-honored practice that has deep roots in the Bible and in Church tradition. Together with prayer and almsgiving, fasting is the usual pious tool to transform our heart, detaching it from itself so it can give itself totally to God and to others, as we are meant to be. 

 We can never overemphasize the need for fasting. In fact, it should be an abiding practice, and not just a Lenten thing. Given our wounded human condition, fasting offers a continuing corrective to our ever-unstable state of being.

What we need to follow Christ

The gospel of the Mass on Thursday after Ash Wednesday (cfr. Lk 9,22-25) talks about Christ telling his disciples that He must suffer and be rejected, and calls his followers to take up their cross daily and deny themselves to follow him, for losing one’s life for his sake leads to eternal life. 

 There, in a nutshell, are the requirements of what we need to do to follow Christ. If we truly follow Christ, then like him, we should not only expect suffering and death but also welcome them. That’s because in the first place we cannot avoid suffering and death in this life, no matter how much we try. But more importantly, if we have the same attitude Christ had toward his suffering and death, we know that our own would have a positive and redemptive value. 

 This is what Christian suffering and death is all about. It is a consequence of all our sins but is now converted into a means of our salvation, that is, if we suffer and die with Christ. 

 We need to understand well this basic truth of our faith so that we can avoid suffering unduly or suffering more than we ought. In other words, this truth of our faith enables us to suffer and die properly. 

 We all need to be reminded that all our sufferings have a positive and favorable aspect. They are not all entirely bad and negative, though in themselves they will always be bad. But if viewed and lived through our Christian faith, that is, with Christ, there is something in them that can give us a greater good. 

 Our pains and suffering are always the result of sin, ours and those of the others. They are the necessary consequence of our separation, whether temporary or permanent, from God from whom all good things come. (cfr. Ps 16,2; James 1,17) We may not be the direct cause of our own suffering, but in this world, we cannot escape the effects of sin, and so we must be ready for them just the same. 

 We have to remind ourselves that we are not meant to suffer. Our original as well as our ideal definitive state in heaven excludes suffering. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were in the state of original justice, where everything was in order and in harmony. No pain and suffering touched them, until they fell into sin. 

 And as the Book of Revelation would put it, in our definitive state of life in heaven “He (God) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (21,4) 

 In this life, we have to expect and be prepared for the unavoidable pain and suffering. And this means that whether we are guilty or not of our pains and suffering, all we have to do is to go immediately to Christ who shows us how to handle our pains and suffering and who is ready to forgive us if ever we are guilty due to our sins. 

 We should have this Christian attitude toward all our suffering and death in this world! If we are guided by our Christian faith, we know that suffering actually perfects love. And so, not only would we welcome it, but we would also look for it. This is the true mark of love. Short of this, our love is actually only apparent at best.