“Fasting gives birth to prophets and strengthens the powerful; fasting makes lawgivers wise. Fasting is a good safeguard for the soul, a steadfast companion for the body, a weapon for the valiant, and a gymnasium for athletes. Fasting repels temptations, anoints unto piety; it is the comrade of watchfulness and the artificer of chastity. In war it fights bravely, in peace it teaches stillness.” – St. Basil the Great

Why do people fast?  Some might do it to lose weight (not medically recommended for long term weight loss).  A boxer might fast to cut weight to be able to compete in a particular weight-class.  A bride might fast so that she will be able to fit into her wedding dress.  I have a friend who fasts (well, each day he has one 12-hour block of time when he eats nothing) because he read somewhere that it resets the metabolism.

But why do Christians fast, or abstain from a particular food, particularly during Lent?

Fasting (and abstinence) have long and deep roots in both the Old and the New Testaments.  The Prophet Daniel gave up meat and delicacies and wine for three weeks (Daniel 10:2-3), St. John the Baptist fasted and only ate locust and wild honey.  Of course we know that Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert before He started His public ministry.

But why?  Why do Christians fast?  The quote from St. Basil the Great clearly indicates a spiritual reason, and we call this asceticism.  Basically asceticism is a means of disciplining the body so as to strengthen the spirit.  Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we have all suffered from the disordering of our passions, of our desires.  We too often go after the wrong things, or too much of good things.  A slice of pizza makes for a healthy meal.  Eating a whole pizza makes us fat, and if we do that too often can cause health problems.  

St. Paul often wrote about the war between the flesh and the spirit.  By fasting occasionally, or by giving something up that we like for a while, we are disciplining our passions so that they will not so easily lead us astray.  It also strengthens us, so that when we face some difficulty, we can have confidence that we will be able to persevere because our spirit has been strengthened by fasting.

There is another reason why we, as Christians, should fast.  In 2009, then-Cardinal Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) wrote that fasting helps us overcome our indifference toward those who are homeless, hungry, or suffering in other ways. “We show no interest in their lives, their stories, their needs or their future,” he wrote. “How many times did their pleading looks make us look the other way and walk by? When we get used to something we also become indifferent.”
    
Fasting can wake us up from this indifference, Bergoglio wrote. Anyone who has fasted knows the repeating cycle: (1) a pang of hunger, (2) the immediate instinct to find something to eat, (3) a conscious decision to resist that instinct. Each conscious decision to continue fasting should trigger a reminder of what others face. Then fasting becomes a way to create what Cardinal Bergoglio called “solidarity with those who fast involuntarily.”
This kind of fasting should lead us to action.  God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah:

Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed (Isaiah 58:6-8)

And this will lead us to next week’s lesson on the Lenten Practice of almsgiving.