Abstinence and fasting are two words that are very much associated with Lent for Christians, especially Catholics. On Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent, Catholics in England and Wales are required to abstain from eating meat. The Friday abstinence also applies to the rest of the year except when that Friday is also a “solemnity” (i.e., a particular type of feast day) (Canon 1251). On such solemnities our faith calls on us to celebrate in a manner that supersedes the usual call to Friday penance.
And then there’s fasting which means eating noticeably less than normal, one full meal at the most, especially on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This is the origin of “giving something up for Lent”.
It is interesting that over the years, the real meaning of that tradition has been watered down; many people give up or take up something for Lent as a kind of self-improvement activity, which is fine in itself. But fasting goes much deeper than self-help. The kind of fasting the Church recommends is a spiritual discipline.
However you fast or whatever you give up for Lent, the meaning is always the same: it is an act of repentance and penance. By freely denying ourselves the pleasure of food, for example, we are saying something to God. We are acknowledging the strong tendencies of our fallen human nature that often lead us to self-centred and sinful over-indulgence, in whatever form it may take. Through fasting and abstinence, we are telling God that we are sorry for doing that, and that in spite of the discomfort it may cause us, we are committed to changing our self-centred, sinful habits into self-giving, Christ-like habits. That’s the spiritual meaning of fasting, and that’s why the Church encourages all of us to practise it in some way during Lent.
As Pope Benedict XVI put it:
“Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by His saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God… Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person.”
Fasting and abstinence also serve to remind us that we belong to a universal Christian family, that we are not alone. Each one of us has a unique and personal friendship with Jesus Christ, but that friendship is part of a spiritual network of relationships. St Paul wrote his letters to the various Christian communities because of this: what happened in one community affected the whole Church, for good or ill. Every time we reject God’s will in our lives and sin, we not only damage our own soul, weaken our personal friendship with Christ, and offend God, but we also deliver a blow to the spiritual family of which we form a part, the Church.
St Paul often speaks of the Church as the Body of Christ. If one part of our body is injured or infected, it causes pain and weakness throughout all parts; the same thing happens with sin and the Church. But the same thing also happens with the good that we do. When we pray, for example, we spread strength and grace not only in our own hearts, but throughout the whole body. When we reach out in mercy and charity to our neighbours in need, it exerts a healthy influence not just for the people directly involved, but for the whole spiritual community of believers.
And so, by fasting during Lent, we not only deepen our personal relationship with Christ, but we also pump spiritual vitamins into the bloodstream of the whole Catholic Church. Our sacrifice here and now can give strength and inspiration to our spiritual brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe — what we do matters for them too, and what they do matters for us.