Fasting this Lent

Ash Wednesday (Feb. 25, 2009) begins the season of Lent. The word lent comes from an old English word for spring, since this period of the church calendar comes during that season. In the early church, it was the practice to baptize new converts at Easter, and to prepare for that baptism with fasting and repentance. Later on, it was common for people who had committed serious sins to return to communion with the church by demonstrating their repentance. So Lent has always been a time to prepare for the mystery of the resurrection by turning from our sin to God, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

The season of Lent is primarily a season of spiritual discipline, in which we deny ourselves and our own desires in favor of God and his desires for us. As I have said, it is also a time for repentance, when we confess any sins (habitual or occasional) that we may have in our lives, and ask for God’s help to put these sins to death in us. As we begin to deny ourselves in the little things, such as food, we will have the courage and strength to deny ourselves in the bigger things, such as sin.

To fast is to abstain, or keep oneself from anything good or evil, especially for the purpose of devoting oneself to God. We do not fast to earn God’s favor; instead, fasting is a step of faith we take, remembering that “humankind does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

The season of Lent lasts 40 days, from Ash Wednesday until Easter, not counting the Sundays in between. These Sundays are feast days celebrating Christ’s resurrection. It will be up to you to decide whether to keep your fast on Sunday. But these 40 days mirror Christ’s forty day fast in the desert while he was being tempted by Satan. While we attempt to cease from sin, we take up fasting as a weapon against the temptations to sin we will most likely face.

There are many ways to fast. We may fast from meat; we may eat only 2 meals per day instead of three; we may choose to fast from breakfast and lunch one day of the week. Many people decide to “give up” something for Lent – options include: dessert, coffee, soda pop, television, video games, make-up, shopping, gum-chewing, unnecessary talk, vain thoughts, distractions, email or internet, unnecessary waste, excessive sleep, sex, alcoholic beverages, meat, cheese, or any excessive or unnecessary habit.