Fasting is Filling

By Marcy Stenstrom

     I used to work at a small family owned company in Manitowoc. Every Friday, someone from the office staff would choose a restaurant from which to order lunch. We’d sit and eat around the conference room table together and talk about work or family or plans for the weekend. On one occasion during Lent (and after a convincing homily at our church in Sheboygan) I, for the first time in my life, realized the importance and prayerful act of fasting. I decided to give it a try. My co-workers did not understand this when they questioned that my only food for Friday lunch was an apple and water. “But you’re so thin,” they said. No matter how many

different ways I attempted to explain my religious reasons, they seemed to think I was veering towards anorexia. But I was not doing this to lose weight. It was for filling the spirit.

     The Catholic Catechism glossary states that “Fasting is refraining from food and drink as an expression of interior penance, in imitation of the fast of Jesus for forty days in the desert.” (p.879, CCC). We are allowed one full meal and two smaller meals that are not equal to one full meal. It is obligatory for those ages 19 to 59. (www.usccb.org/lent/fast.shtml) The Catechism also points out that “scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms of penance; fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others.” (1434 CCC) “Fasting and abstinence prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.”(2043, CCC)

     The priest, in his homily, told us that when we fast and deny ourselves food and only consume minimally, it is then that we can relate to our brothers and sisters around the world who have very little to eat. When we feel hunger pangs, we will experience a fraction of what many feel every day. When we fast, we are making a sacrifice and can focus more deeply and clearly on prayer and scripture. Like the catechism says, fasting also offers us practice in self-control and mastery over our senses. Through this symbolic act and offering of self-denial, we gain self-control and a deeper understanding of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. At first it may seem impossible to sustain ourselves with only water and a few small morsels. But once you’ve begun, the grace of God and the Holy Spirit will fill the hunger. As an imitation of Christ in the desert, our fasting for 40 days of Lent can strengthen us and allow us to think and answer clearly as an army for God.

     During lunches over Lent, I felt disregarded and ridiculed by my co-workers even though I explained what I was doing and why. I continued to fast for those 40 days and I learned a lot about myself and about those around me. Sometimes I stayed at my desk on Fridays and sometimes I sat with them and ate my piece of fruit and drank water to show them that I was eating but also to show them that I would persevere. Their opinions would not change the reason for my devotion and perhaps I had made someone else think a little more about this form of prayer and sacrifice.