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Food disguises what only fasting can reveal. Food
can cover a multitude of wrongs, but when we go without food for a while
our anger, bitterness, jealousy and pride all come to the surface and
show us for what we really are. By fasting we are tested and discover
that there is ugliness in our hearts. We find out that we are not that
interested in God after all, but we are rather slaves to food,
television, irrelevant chatter, and constant background noise.
St. Nectarios of Aegina declared that prayer and fasting "serve as means
of self-study, of discernment of our true moral state, of an accurate
estimation of our sins and of a knowledge of their true character."
Fasting humbles us by revealing our true nature. Fasting reminds us that
we've probably been acting like Christians for all the wrong reasons.
Fasting exposes the frailty of our lives and our dependence on God.
Fasting opens our eyes to the misery that most of the world suffers
night after night as they go to bed hungry. And fasting teaches us that
only Christ can satisfy-we need His flesh and blood to live. We are
spiritual anorexics without Christ no matter how much we feast on the
external forms of religion.
As Christians we want rules. We want to have everything laid out for us
in black and white. That's because it is less painful for us to follow
some rules of not eating, than it is to care for orphans and widows, to
show mercy and kindness, and not to scheme against each other. It means
we can feel holy without actually being holy.
We would much rather avoid eating our chicken and ribs for a while than
to have to risk serving God. We want rules that control external
behavior rather than repentance that controls our hearts and minds. We
prefer the ease of external piety rather than the risk of authentic
Christianity. We demand adherence to religious laws and rituals rather
than devotion to the love of God. Maybe this is why the world sees
through our fasting. We are professionals at religiosity but amateurs at
holiness.
Fasting however is but the means to the goal not the goal itself, which
is why fasting, is always interconnected with prayer and service to the
poor. It is the only way to keep us from senseless boasting. There is no
fasting without prayer and service to the poor, and there is no
foundation for prayer and charity without fasting.
Listening to the words of God spoken through the prophet Isaiah we can
see how severely our superficial fasting is contrasted with the true
expectations of God:
You are fasting to please yourselves.
What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
... This kind of fast will never get you anywhere with me.
You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance ...
Do you really think this will please the Lord?
No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
Lighten the burden for those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives
who need your help ...
Then your salvation will come like the dawn ...Your godliness will
lead you forward ... Then when you
call, the Lord will answer" (Isaiah 58:3-9 NLT).
Fasting must lead us to do the opposite of what the world tells us to
do; that is, we must forget about our selfishness and open our souls to
God. Fasting is good and beneficial only when it is lived out with a
genuine effort to change our way of thinking, the things we spend time
and money on. Our fasting must help transform us into new creations. It
must guide us to new, deeper-tangible--ways to serve God. John
Chrysostom wisely wrote that we must abstain not only from food but from
sins: "The fast should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by the
eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all the members of the body."
If our fasting is motivated solely by an obligation to follow some
dietary rules then all we are doing is starving ourselves for a period
of time. At best, we might get some health benefits out of the exercise.
But the joy of getting nearer to God through deeper prayer and greater
desire for Him will be lost. And joy there must be because that is how
fasting should transfigure us, into joyful Christians brimming with the
knowledge that we are near God.
The reward of fasting is drawing nearer to God, to prepare to be in
God's presence. We cannot let our faith be governed by strict rules of
fasting, any more than we can say that Christianity is governed solely
by an ethical code of behavior. It is our drawing nearer to God-coming
closer to the light-that changes our fasting, our behavior and our
hearts and minds.
It is not a question then of 'if' we should fast, but 'how.' Sometimes
we like to impose our idea of religious discipline on everyone. It is an
age-old problem. Yet our Church has always had, in its teachings and
tradition, a more gentle approach of encouragement according to the
strength of each of us. But fast we must, otherwise how can we expect to
control our more sinister appetites or our judgment of others if we
cannot hold on to a simple fast? The Church always challenges us, like
an athlete, to push the boundaries of our prayer, discipline, and
commitment to God, but it does so with a spirit of understanding for our
broken condition in the world. Paul Evdokimov once wrote a poignant
description of a modern, urban discipline that can help change our focus
on fasting from food alone:
Christian ascetism is only a method in the service of life, and it
will seek to adapt itself to the new needs ... Today the combat is
not the same. We no longer need added pain ... Ascetism would be
necessary rest, the discipline of regular periods of calm and
silence, when one could regain the ability to stop for prayer and
contemplation, even in the heart of all the noise of the world, and
above all to listen to the presence of others. Fasting, instead of
doing violence to the flesh, could be our renunciation of the
superfluous, our sharing with the poor and a joyful balance in all
things.
Fasting and its spiritual counterpart prayer can guide us to God's will
for our lives. It can lead us towards the natural progression of
humbling ourselves with fasting to the sorrow of repentance and the
renewal of our lives. Jesus Christ launched His work on this earth
driven in prayer and fasting for forty days. Do we honestly believe
then, that we can make a difference in people's lives on a full belly?
It is time to go fast and then see the world change.
John Kapsalis has an M.T.S from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of
Theology.
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