Pet Peeve About Lenten Fasting - Probably not what you think

Happy Ash Wednesday.

As we begin the Lenten Season, I have a pet peeve about recent messages we receive during Lent concerning fasting. There is a new trend whereby the local parish or a priest or even just a friend on facebook will say something like "This Lent, instead of fasting from food, try fasting from [fill in the blank]"

A list of what can fill in the blank could be quite lengthy.

They'll say "Instead of food, fast from:

• Saying mean things to people
• Being impatient
• Complaining
• Grudges
• Speaking excessively
• Etc

The list is virtually endless. The basic point is instead of giving up food, give up one of these other things.

The problem is this would all make a lot more sense if fasting was more prevalent to begin with. If everyone was already fasting from food, but maybe needed work in other areas, then this would be a great message. There is a purpose to fasting from food. It can draw us closer to God spiritually and remind us of our dependence on Him. It can help us relate better to our neighbor who lacks food, shelter, clothing, or just has financial insecurity in general. It can help us mortify our flesh and help take our focus away from the physical and put it on the spiritual.

So there are a lot of spiritual benefits to fasting. It's probably the #1 go-to for mortification of the flesh and detachment from created things. So it should be the primary sense of the word "fasting" when used in the context of Lent.

I'm not against telling people to fast from other negative things or to fast from good things in order to grow spiritually. There is nothing wrong with that. But it seems we have completely jumped over the original and primary meaning of the word in order to broaden it to other uses.

Without fail each year around Lent, there will be an insert in the bulletin saying the message above. "Instead of fasting from food, fast from..." It has been like this for years. A much better message, in my opinion, would be to discuss the spiritual benefits of literal fasting and perhaps offer guidance in how to do so most effectively. After this has all been explained, perhaps go on to explain how we can fast from other things as well and how the ultimate purpose of fasting is to draw us closer to God.

There has become an almost false dichotomy when it comes to fasting. EITHER you fast from food or you go a "step further" and fast from anger and jealousy, etc.

I could be wrong, I have no idea really, but it seems fewer people are fasting from food in any context. Few Catholics now fast from flesh-meat on Fridays even though that requirement has never been abrogated:

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

People will commonly say "Oh they got rid of no-meat Fridays during Vatican II." That's simply not the case. The rule of not eating meat on Friday has remained. The only difference is that people are allowed to substitute not eating meat with some other practice of charity. Are people even aware of this?

Many saints fasted very regularly, especially on Fridays. It was common practice. Now, fasting has fallen to the wayside for the majority of people. Jesus Christ himself says "When you fast", not "If you fast":

Matthew 6: 16

“When you fast,* do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

18 so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you. 

Fasting was just considered a normal part of life for the Jewish people, and continued to be so for Christians all through the centuries. It's for this reason that Jesus actually presumes that people are fasting. His job now is to instruct them more specifically on what they must do. It is only recently that people have abandoned the idea of fasting altogether. So it makes no sense at this time of confusion and laxity in observing these customs that our religious leaders never speak about the practice of fasting and instead focus on other "forms" of fasting.

I want to just reiterate that I am not tooting my own horn here, I'm not saying I'm good at fasting at all. I'm just saying we should hear more about literal fasting. Instead of 95% of messaging being about "other forms of fasting", it should be maybe 80-20: 80% of messages about fasting and 20% about other forms.

One last thing: part of the issue is that many of the alternate forms of fasting have other, more precise word attached to them already. "Fasting from anger" is called patience. "Fasting from judgment" means being merciful. "Fasting from talking too much" is called the virtue of silence. We don't need to use the word "fasting" to describe these virtues, they have their own names already. As an interesting aside, check out this thorough list of virtues prepared by Fr. Chad Ripperger.

Having said that, I hope you have a great and spiritually fruitful Lenten Season. Happy Ash Wednesday!