I’d like to share the reflection I wrote on the daily readings for March 4, 2022. The process of writing this reflection has helped me become more convicted in the faith and of the necessity of fasting. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a blessed Lenten season.
Jesus instructs us to fast because “the bridegroom is taken away.” Mortification through fasting has helped me grow in virtue where vices exist. In his booklet, “Fasting,” Fr. Slavko Barbarić writes about the necessity of fasting.
“Fasting remains necessary as a sign of our expectation.” Fasting turns our attention to hope for the Lord who is still to come. Too often, we choose convenience over suffering. We cannot fully receive the Lord if our life is filled with conveniences and instant gratification. Sainthood is not convenient; we know not the hour when Jesus will return (Mt. 24:42), and we need the “room in our bodies” to receive Him when He comes.
Fasting is freedom from things that bind us to earth, and freedom is the ability to choose. Therefore, fasting is the ability to choose heavenly gifts over earthly things. Although this world is good, we were made for an even greater good. “Fasting liberates us from a certain bondage and sets us free to enjoy happiness…to love freedom more than slavery to material things.” The money and time we save from not eating or consuming entertainment can be substituted for a heavenly good, such as donating to the food bank or spending extra time in the chapel.
“By prayer, we attach ourselves to God and by fasting, we detach our heart from the good things that tie us to the affairs of this world… we find it easier to pray when we fast and we fast better when we pray… The physical emptiness brought on by fasting helps us to realize our spiritual emptiness and need.” It is easier to cry out to God when we ache. Fasting is not easy, and we must be confident that God will purify our hearts.
Offer your suffering while fasting for a special intention and end your fast with thanksgiving and praise to God our Father. I pray that you may also reap the physical and spiritual benefits of consistently fasting from worldly things and feasting on the heavenly gifts of hope, freedom, and prayer.
Reflection Questions
- What are you fasting from this Lent?
- Why have chosen to fast from it? Name someone or something you can offer your fasts for.
kira vesta 