Fasting

Homily for Friday after Ash Wednesday

Both of the readings for Friday after Ash Wednesday concern themselves with fasting. We have all probably heard someone ask, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Fasting is a good practice if it is done for the correct reason. However, the Prophet Isaiah points out today that fasting is not the sacrifice for which God asked his people. Rather, Isaiah maintains that God wants us to unbind those who have been unjustly enslaved, to set free the oppressed, to share our bread with the hungry, and to clothe the naked. Another way of saying this is that rather than giving something up for Lent, God asks us to practice the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.

Those of you whose memories stretch back as far as mine might remember that the church used to ask every one of us to fast every weekday of Lent. We were also asked to practice partial abstinence, meaning that we could only eat meat once a day during Lent. These practices went by the wayside during the pontificate of Pope St. Paul VI. In his great encyclical letter of 1966, entitled “Paenitemini,” he emphasized that the primary reason for acts of penance was to help individuals to repent. He placed great emphasis on acts of charity and seeking justice for the oppressed, much the same as we read in the Prophet Isaiah. The only days of abstinence that were left on the calendar were the Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday. Fasting was limited to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday for those between the ages of fourteen and fifty-nine. Pope St. Paul VI expressed a desire for the faithful to look at the signs of the times to determine what acts of penance would fulfill the desire to bring about repentance and penitence in the church.

Consequently, instead of asking the question of what we are going to give up for Lent, people have begun to ask the question of what we are going to do for Lent, what actions are we going to take to fulfill the biblical notion of penance and repentance. As we all know the need for repentance will still be with us to our last day because repentance is a lifelong process. As Isaiah points out, the spiritual and corporal acts of mercy are good place to start.